The best and worst of travel
Dragging out the good, the bad and the ugly of holidaying in 2017.
Bums were out atop Mt Taranaki, a passenger was being violently bumped off a United flight, protests continued over too many tourists, the rise and rise of cruises sailed on while a collection of airlines collapsed into administration: just a taste of some of the travel-related stories which grabbed headlines this year.
What can we learn from it all? United Airlines paid a very high price for asking a United States federal officer to remove a passenger who refused to be bumped from one of their flights: $1 billion was temporarily wiped from the company’s market value while its stock sank and its (already rather poor) reputation was left in tatters. All thanks to the video footage filmed by a fellow passenger which was beamed out on thousands of websites and TV news bulletins globally.
Surely a golden rule for all airlines to follow: Don’t make your passengers bleed. Just an idea?
Overbooking is a norm across the airline industry to maximise revenue – remember you simply make a reservation for a seat, if you have the time and inclination your ticket terms and conditions will explain this in lethal legal lingo.
However, the passenger’s reluctance to be bumped from the flight also suggests to anyone with half a brain that United might need to up its offers when too many passengers show up at the check-in desk.
But it could be worse for United – at least they are still financially solvent. Not so for European airlines AirBerlin and Monarch, which both collapsed into administration in the second half of the year. Jobs were lost, routes were scrapped and in Monarch’s case it involved the British Government borrowing planes from Qatar Airways to repatriate tens of thousands of Brits back from their summer holidays.
Meanwhile, Italian flag carrier Alitalia teeters on the brink and has had to go cap-in-hand to Rome to stay afloat. If the demise of these formerly solid airlines isn’t excuse enough to cough up for travel insurance, then nothing is. In the era of cut-throat competition and budget carriers, traditional airlines have to be all things to all people (although, as United learned, don’t be a club bouncer).
A pair of cheeky buns on a cultural landmark seemed a regular occurrence in 2017, none more all-round condemned than those of Playboy playmate Jaylene Cook atop Mt Taranaki. I’m no prude and I hate to that the quick tourist buck gives us leeway to ride all over customs and ways of life built over centuries – hopefully 2018 will see a decline in unwanted asses at tourist sites.
Speaking of perma-tanned round things, US President Trump this year seemed to be putting off tourist visits to the US – apparently it’s not just United’s service levels making many steer clear of the stars and stripes.
The US federal tourism office in Washington found tourist visits from nearly every corner of the world were down for the first half of 2017 year-onyear. Avoiding destinations for political reasons is nothing new (just as destinations like Cuba, Iran, Israel and Myanmar found out) but perhaps this one is the one that has left the American tourist boards struggling: to ignore their leader’s bumbling ways and focus tourist attention in other facets of Stateside culture; or to embrace their perma-tanned overlord with that infectious Yankee enthusiasm? It will be interesting to see if the dent in numbers expands in 2018.
While I wish cringe-worthy travel trends like beg-packing (that’s when you put a cup out, physically or digitally, to extend a backpacking holiday), overhyped drone photography and the overly smartphone-centric nature of travelling would die down a little, we have much to celebrate in this industry.
More people are tourists. That may be a dirty word in some circles, I think it’s an amazing opportunity.
You may opt for a fly ‘n flop on occasion, but travel offers us all an unparalleled view into another world, lets us keep learning and bridges often disparate communities and long may that continue in 2018 and beyond.