Outrageous Airfare - Dive Resorts Must React

[South4Scuba]

CARIBBEAN DIVE RESORTS AND TOURISM DEPARTMENTS TAKE NOTE!

Airlines are very aggressively taking away the affordability of scuba diving in the Caribbean. Minimum airfare from Houston IAH to almost any Caribbean destination is over $500. Some are closer to $750. Houston to Cozumel is over $500 booked 6 months in advance. That's crazy.

I just did a quick survey online for travel in September 2012. Not only have non-stop flights all but disappeared, but the prices appear to be up anywhere from 25 to 40%. United just announced they are cancelling flights from Houston to Bonaire in September and on into October and November for certain flights. The announcement from Bonaire Insider was not completely clear on the changes.

Since I live near Houston, TX I am especially attune to the actions of United Airlines (AKA Continental). Since we started diving 10 years ago I have seen airfares from Houston to almost all Caribbean dive destinations increase substantially. Since United swallowed up Continental there is no longer any committment to providing a link to the Caribbean through Houston IAH.

I am reaching out to dive resorts all over the Caribbean to work with your tourism departments to let the airlines know they are killing the dive business. Diving is expensive and adds a few hundred dollars to a week long trip to the Caribbean. With airfares adding another few hundred dollars, we are quickly reaching a point where many divers will just stop diving for a while to wait out the cost increases. I know I am having second thoughts about my annual fall dive trip. We have taken two dive trips per year since we started diving, but we might cut back if the airlines continue to gouge travelers. It is likely that increases in airfare will have to be absorbed by the dive resorts in order to fill their rooms and keep operating.

I understand fuel price increases, but it seems the airlines are using that as an excuse to raise fares much more than the percentage that fuel has increased.

Don't let the airlines ruin the diving industry. Everyone needs to share in the profit from tourism and diving.

Please comment if you have similar experiences with the airlines.

 

[DevonDiver]

...and then the implication of the words "Global Recession" sink in...

 

[Mark Derail]

They have to make a profit somewhere...

Blame Expedia.com and other online services that optimize pricing by encouraging plane hopping.

To get the price to below 1200$ per person from Montreal to Grand Cayman, I had to travel +1 day to Dulles airport to take a 7am non-stop, bringing the price down to 700$ pp.

Also in the last few years I've notice the rise in use of the small jets & turbo props. I now "shop better" to pay an extra 10-15$ pp for large jets with a single layover. Downside is sometimes two flights of 3hrs or less, instead of one long(er) one., and making sure there's at least 2 hours between flights.

* Most Hated Airport * LAX
LAX is so damn behind the times compared to Newark, Dulles, Dallas, Denver...With an over 2hr layover between flights, with the same airlane, I nearly missed my flight due to such a bad airport design. Avoid LAX unless it's your final destination...

 

[Wookie]

Sounds like you need a little local diving, like Flower Gardens, Florida Keys, North Carolina, Guaymas MX, etc. Puerto Rico is still $200 airfare from most of the east coast. Our stewardess just found $200 airfare to PR from Denver. Maybe the worn out destinations like Cozumel and Bonaire are expensive, but there are still very affordable airfares to the Caribbean.

 

[scubafanatic]

Sounds like you need a little local diving, like Flower Gardens, Florida Keys, North Carolina, Guaymas MX, etc. Puerto Rico is still $200 airfare from most of the east coast. Our stewardess just found $200 airfare to PR from Denver. Maybe the worn out destinations like Cozumel and Bonaire are expensive, but there are still very affordable airfares to the Caribbean.

Frank, when we go to war against Iran over their nuclear program later this year, and the giant fuel price spike hits, we won't be able to afford any trips to the 'near abroad' either...... not to mention peoples' reluctance to get anywhere near an airplane as Iran retaliates with their terriorist hit squads.

 

[Wookie]

ll just be another war we don't need to be in, Karl. Americans forget so fast.....

But maybe that's a better argument for the Pub.

 

[JamesK]

If they are cancelling the flights is because the routes are not profitable. Airlines are not going to fly routes they can not make money on. Plain and simple. No pun intended.

What would you have the tourism department of foreign countries do? Push for US Government regulation of airlines? Fuel is making everything go up. It's not just the fuel in the jets, but the fuel in ground support equipment, and all the way down to the cost of the flight attendant getting to and from the hotel they are laying over in. Prices are going to go up. I do not see it as airlines gouging their customers.

You said it yourself, diving is expensive. Try spending your dollars here in the US and find local destinations that fit in your budget.

 

[Mike]

I think we will all survive without multiple vacations every year. You do what you can afford to do. Cheap airfares aren't a right, they are a convenience.

Reminds me of the thread a while back where the poster was complaining about some sort of credit card mess up that cost her a couple of hundred dollars. The 2 hundred dollars emptied her checking account and made checks bounce or something and she was stating how she lived pay check to pay check. Meanwhile it was all in regard to her travel on vacation. I'm sorry. You're living on the edge financially but you're going on international vacations and complaining about not having a couple of hundred dollars?

If you can't afford the airfares to go on vacation 2-3 times a year, you'll just have to go 2 times or only once a year or God forbid and save up over multiple years to go.

 

[Bill Parker]

Yep. Between peak oil, threat of war, declining purchasing power of the US
dollar, and oil speculators the price of oil is going up. Add in local airline
monopolies gouging customers and the price of tickets are going up. And
to top it off you get crammed into a tiny seat after enduring the TSA and
then ripped off by mini-monopoly vendors at the airports makes flying most
unpleasant. Like Wookie said there are plenty of stuff you can do
domestically and you don't need a plane ticket to do it.

 

[herbdb]

Just returned from Bonaire last month and have been looking at booking another trip in August. Fares are up almost 50%. I do have a trip (driving) in July for some diving in NC and SC. That may be it for the year. I'll get a lot of use out of my Dutch Springs season pass.