Experts, Please
 

I am looking to quote some frequent travelers who have, or have not changed their traveling habits due to terrorism or SARS, or even videoconferencing. Please reply to [email protected] Thank you. Sarah Gorman

Sarah, welcome to FlyerTalk. However, most members of this community would want to know much more before they agreed to be quoted: Like -- Quoted where? Who are you working for? The Press? An article on spec? Or are you a student working on a paper? If so, where? You can understand, I'm sure, folks' reticence to be quoted for an unknown purpose in an unknown venue. Perhaps you can elaborate?

I agree with cblaisd on the "who are you and what are you writing?" issue, but for the record, my personal travel has not been altered at all by any of the issues you mentioned. In fact, I am traveling more this year than ever, mainly because general fear of travel = very cheap airfares + lots of FF seats available.

Sorry to appear so cryptic, but I feel that way about this piece. It is for an article on spec and I was half expecting that a poster might email me to discuss. I hope to address the subject about why people are still reluctant to travel and whether there is any light at the end of the tunnel for the industry. Thank you. Sarah Gorman

I don't want to start a huge discussion here, but I don't think that Flyertalk is the place to be looking for people reluctant to travel, inseed, many of the folks here are actually hoping for bargains in that part of the world because nobody is on the planes.

People here have already asked when Baghdad will be open for tourists this just isn't the place for people reluctant to fly.

Sorry again for the confusion. I am hoping that frequent travelers can give some insight to those who insist on staying home. Sarah Gorman

OK. Here's my insight. Anyone who alters their flight plans due to terrorism is a weanie.

Exactly. SARS on the other hand....

Sarah,

I for one would be most curious for what publication this is ?

A "weanie" is exactly what I have been thinking. My sense is that the media blows things up and makes people more afraid than actual danger exists. Delta had to cancel almost all of its NY- Europe legs because "passengers are not flying because of the war" was the agent's response. So I was left taking 3 legs to get home. As far as I remember Congress did not declare war. This is an article on spec (not yet sold to a publication) that I am trying to form into some solid evidence that people should go back to flying (or why exactly they are not doing so). Thanks for the input. Sarah Gorman

This is entirely true, but hard to avoid. When I talk to my non-freqent traveler friends, any mention of most of the places I travel to (for both work and vacation) usually gets a reaction of "Oh my God, you're going to ____? Isn't it really dangerous there? Aren't you scared?" Well, no, but you wouldn't necessarily know that it's really pretty safe unless you're already a very experienced traveler who realizes that media reports are usually vastly exaggerated. Same goes for the chances of being blown up on a plane or attacked by shrieking bands of Parisians (I've heard a lot of people mention both of these fears lately).

The only issue that did make me slightly hesitant to travel was the fear of repeating the monstrous inconvenience that I experienced over the September 11 period. I was supposed to be flying from Warsaw to NY on September 12, which of course didn't happen--I ended up stuck in Warsaw for five days and then stuck at CDG for another night. This was a major pain and I wouldn't want to deal with it again. Of course, if it did happen a second time, I'd probably be able to deal with it better.

I did postpone my already planned and reserved (but not booked and paid) flights to Asia - indirectly because of SARS.

Not (or less) because I would be much afraid of getting the infection, more because I just don't want to take the risk to be in quarantine for some 10-12 days.

Also because Gisela argued against, me going (alone), which may be surprising after 33 years of marriage ...

For what it's worth, my travel plans have not changed one iota, as far as I'm concerned it's business as usual

I had wanted to fly up to Toronto for a weekend of Yankee/Blue Jay baseball in July but I'm certainly rethinking this. MLB just gave ball players travelling to Toronto warnings and directives as to what they are to do and what they are not to do. 12 cases in one city so far.

Of course with 5 cases of SARS already in NJ, I'm not sure why I should change my plans to fly to Toronto. I commute to NJ daily. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

I haven't changed my flight plans due to war, etc (more so due to UA's new SWU/Hfare policy!). I'm still flying & will continue to do so. If I had a trip to Asia (I don't), I would rethink that due to SARS & perhaps postpone until it seemed to be more handled/under control, especially because of the potential quarantine issue. Can't be out of commission for that length of time.

Frequent flyers aren't really going to change their travel plans that much; leisure travelers are more affected by the media, misconceptions (I'm always getting the 'doesn't it take a couple of hours to get through security now' comment/question), generic fears. I've had a boatload of friends tell me they're not flying overseas this year or postponing trips because of war, worries about terrorism, how we'll be treated overseas.

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Sharon

The people on this board who choose not to fly do so because:

(1) they want to spite the airlines for decreasing benefits of elits
(2) don't want to pay for a first class upgrade that has few perks over the coach cabin
(3) the frequent flyer miles weren't valid for ticket redemption on the day they wanted to travel
(4) choose the less-invasive yet just as secure bus, train, or automobile for short-distance travel