What is new in Women’s Group Travel in 2024
Immediately after the pandemic, travel was slow, then grew, then exploded. 2020-2023 travel was named “revenge travel”; with feeling safe splurges. 2023 was a banner year for travel. Prices stabilized. Tour groups were full to capacity and flights busy.
2024 flights are expected to reach 40 million world wide with 4.7 billion travelers. How will this effect you?
So far in 2024, US domestic fares are 6% lower. International fares are 3+ higher. Why the latter? There are several reasons: fuel is higher for one.
Airlines are paying for more sustainability; upgrades are expensive. Before 2020 few of us knew about sustainability or what carbon neutrality meant. Today airlines brag about carbon neutral status. Here is an easy ‘made up’ example: an airline uses a number of units of greenhouse gas; it pays the equivalent to plant a forest. You are now an expert.
In Europe where trains are replacing planes and climate change is more discussed, there is actual talk of eliminating frequent flier programs. The thinking is the programs tempt us to fly more.
Airlines are upgrading older fleets. In the past, most of us did not notice if our plane was old. We concentrated on price, seating and how large a carry on we could drag. For myself, I now notice if a seat is worn or a lavatory has a cracked toilet. And if I like my seat, I make a note of the aircraft type. Sometimes the aircraft is old but has better seating; so you have to be an expert on cabin charts and keep notes. I recently paid for $900 upgrade into a new fancier cabin area. The $900 was a waste; the seats were more comfortable maybe a few inches wider. We got potato chips for dinner.
Here is why you can afford to travel.
In our favor, is the high dollar vs. low Pound and Euro.
Many credit cards offer good exchange rates with no fees. (Business cards less so). Again do the math then use the benefits: I have a $500 personal card. $500 sounds crazy but once you add up $50 for each lounge visit, $175 for Clear, $200 towards baggage, $10 monthly for Uber and the extra miles you get plus plus….it is worth the $500.
Low season for Europe (Oct-March) is the bargain time and climate change makes November in Italy comfortable and December in Europe a mere winter coat situation. Conversely, Summer’s peak travel is less attractive with heat waves. An industry issue is how to re-define peak shoulder and low seasons. Take advantage of the misconnect now.
There are new airlines: ITA from Italy hoping to replace Alitalia. There are more flights from current discounters like Easyjet. And Turkish Airlines is in front of everyone, for best and cheapest flights- you need to connect via Istanbul. But you can get a free/cheap stopover in Istanbul on Turkish.
What has not changed is the barrier for the solo woman traveler. It is called FEAR. Not seats, carry on’s, lounges, credit cards or anything else. Just FEAR. Travel tips from award winning, The Women’s Travel Group. Contact us here. See our tours here.
