How Travel Is Changing as We Look Beyond the Pandemic
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your money briefing for Wednesday, January 13th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. After spending 2020 in lockdown, more Americans are making travel plans now that COVID vaccines are being rolled out. But the travel industry and the travel experience for passengers is going to look very different in 2021.
The days of sort of the capitals tour of Europe or six different countries across Asia, three days here, three days there, you know, skip your way across the continent. I think that's not a good way to travel anymore.
Our Middle Sea columnist Scott McCartney has been keeping track of how travel has changed since the pandemic. Coming up, he'll talk about what travelers need to know about the latest safety protocols and refund policies. That's after the break.
How is travel demand changing as vaccines roll out and people book 2021 trips?
More travelers are ready to shake off the lockdown doldrums of 2020, and airlines and travel companies are dealing with a flood of bookings. But while passengers may feel more free to travel, the pandemic has caused a tightening of rules and restrictions. That means changes to things like safety protocols and getting refunds on canceled trips. Our Middle Sea columnist Scott McCartney is here with all the details. Scott, thanks for being with us.
Good to be with you, JR.
So Scott, 2021 is almost like a restart for the travel industry. What should passengers expect who are planning trips and vacations?
Look, travel is going to be slower in 2021. There aren't as many direct flights. You're going to be having to make more connections. There are still going to be cancellations and delays and things like that.
What should passengers expect from flight schedules, connections, and cancellations in 2021?
I think you need to build in cushion into your plans. Don't expect to arrive right before the wedding if a wedding is held and you're going to it or even, you know, we're going to start seeing cruise sailings again and things like that. We're really seeing a crunch in bookings for trips on 2021. You know, there is kind of this double-barreled demand situation where you have a lot of trips that were canceled in 2020. They've been rebooked for 2021 and even 2022. And at the same time, there is so much pent-up demand. People are really starting to feel like, hey, I'm going to get the vaccination. I'm going to be able to travel in the second half of this year. And so they're booking now. And I think booking now is probably a good strategy.
You know, last year after the pandemic pretty much shut down travel, it was a struggle for passengers to get refunds from airlines and hotel companies. But there's still a lot of uncertainty with slow vaccine rollouts and spreading infections. So what should passengers expect refund-wise who are thinking of planning vacations in 2021?
It can be even more complicated if you have a credit and you've rebooked for a trip in 2021, and then that trip gets delayed or canceled. Then the terms on the credit, you may have a short expiration window deadline coming up, or you may get a longer window to rebook. It's really going to depend. I think we're sort of rolling into a period of after a year, You know, what happens with all these credits? People want to use them. Do they get extended again? It's really tricky, and I think really tricky to figure out what the terms are for the second round of cancellations, if you will.
But is there going to be pushback on refunds? You know, I'm thinking about the argument that passengers knew the risks of traveling, but they booked a flight or cruise anyway.
So this is also an issue with travel insurance because terms have changed. You could argue in the early days of the pandemic, well, nobody saw this coming. And so this is an unforeseen experience. And you did get some latitude from a lot of airlines and hotels and others. in terms of longer periods to rebook or even refunds. But now things have changed. The pandemic is well known. And you can't argue with a new booking that you didn't know that there was a risk that things might change. So I think what we're seeing is that travel companies are tightening up their restrictions on bookings and more likely certainly to hang on to your money, give you a credit, give you a year or so to reuse the credit, but not give you a refund because you didn't know that there was pandemic.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:59
2
How is travel demand changing as vaccines roll out and people book 2021 trips?
0:59–1:43
3
What should passengers expect from flight schedules, connections, and cancellations in 2021?
1:43–4:48
4
How have refund policies and travel credits changed since the pandemic began?
4:48–11:11
5
Will using loyalty points make it easier to recover value or book upgrades now?
11:11–11:15
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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