Peter - so far it is heading the other way.
(from USToday)
Millennium tickets go on sale
By Laura Bly, USA TODAY
After months of feverish speculation about Y2K crashes and a stampede of reservations, airlines are finally selling tickets to revelers who want to ring in the new millennium away from home.
A few carriers have been booking millennium trips through their own computers for several weeks. But since most major airlines and computer
reservations systems don't sell seats more than 331 days ahead, Thursday was the first day most travel agents could book post-1999 flights.
The good news: Worries about Y2K-related snafus proved unfounded, and tickets for travel on Jan. 1, 2000, were processed without a hitch.
The bad news: Despite reportedly lackluster bookings, airlines have clamped down on year-end discounts and made all fares nonrefundable to select cities.
Between Dec. 16, 1999, and Jan.10, 2000, many major carriers have made even first-class and full-fare coach tickets nonrefundable to such popular destinations as Florida, Hawaii, Denver, New York City, Las Vegas and New Orleans.
The airlines say the tighter restrictions, which include purchase within 24 hours, are necessary to keep travelers from making speculative reservations and canceling them at the last minute. Similar rules have applied to such major events as the Super Bowl and the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
At least one airline, Continental, is going even further by eliminating all discount fares to those select destinations.
"The prices we're seeing are ludicrous," says travel agent Stacy Billiard of Norwalk Travel in Norwalk, Ohio.
Case in point: She checked this week for Continental flights leaving Cleveland for Orlando on Dec. 28, 29 and 30 --and learned that the trip would cost $1,636 round trip vs. a current advance-purchase fare as low as $220 round trip. As for hotels, "a Caribbean resort that was $250 a night is now charging $400, and what had been a 7-night minimum is now 10 nights."
"So far," says Billiard, "all the customers I've talked with are saying, 'It's not worth it. I'll stay home instead.'" Airfare expert Terry Trippler, consumer advocate for the Web site 1travel.com, notes that "there's no set pattern" for millennium rules and fares, making it imperative to comparison shop.
We'll have a pretty good idea of what's happening by early March, but right now nobody knows what's going on," says Trippler. Best advice for on-the-fence celebrants: Sit tight and gamble that if demand continues to be sluggish, restrictions and prices will tumble.
That's already happening at some cruise lines, which logged massive cancellations after travelers balked at paying fares that were, in some cases, more than triple their normal holiday rates.
"You've got to be able to play poker," says Thom Nulty of Associated Travel in Santa Ana, Calif. "I think there's going to be more space and lower prices, but the real savings might not kick in until October."