The travel industry continues to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic two and a half years after it was first detected. Summer has been frustrating for travelers as they have dealt with canceled flights, lost luggage, escalating prices, and chaos.
Will this trend continue into the holiday season? Experts predict holiday travel this year and share tips for keeping stress to a minimum.
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Holiday Travel Will Be Even More Popular This Year
Phil Dengler, the co-founder of The Vacationer, said, “While I still think 2022 holiday season travel numbers will lag behind 2019, they will be well above 2021 and 2020 totals. It is expected that the summer travel demand will continue into the holiday season in the same vein as in 2021.
Consequently, Travel Issues Will Persist
Dengler said, “Unfortunately, the demand this summer exceeded the supply of pilots, so cancellations and delays were common and frustrating for millions of Americans.”
As in 2020 and 2021, Dengler predicted that 2022 holiday cancellations would be more related to lacking pilots and other staff than COVID-related sick calls.
Expenses For International Travel Will Rise
Travel within the country has increased since the pandemic. Kelly predicts that Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukkah will see more people retaking international trips.
He said, “I also foresee a surge in international travel, especially to places in Asia, as those destinations continue to reopen.”
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Airline Passengers Need More Transparency
It would benefit passengers to feel more secure about air travel reliability over the holiday and new year.
Brown said, “I would like to hear from the airlines with a postmortem of what happened, and the steps they are taking that will ease, if not make, these problems disappear.”
Don’t let your anger affect the airport or flight employees, no matter how frustrating things get. There is no control over schedules or corporate policies, and they share many of your frustrations.