It's a cyclical low for passengers, but the usual response is to offer targeted or limited-date fare deals to fill seats. Many of us with time flexibility who were maintaining elite status on our own dime would wind up doing disproportionate amounts of qualifying travel during the spring and fall lulls simply because that's when deals happened or when seats became available.

OTOH, I think the economic distress this year, and especially in recent weeks, is enough to keep a lot of discretionary travelers away. Airlines haven't been passing on lower fuel costs (they've cut flights rather than doing discounting), and taxes on hotels and especially rental cars aren't looking very fair in light of the current economy. You've also got places like Las Vegas that are doing discounting but have taken so many flight cuts that it's hard to get there cheaply from some places.

To make a long story short, I'm one of the people not being seen this year who has been there in past years. I think there are quite a few.