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Richard Turen
Moving can be fun. There’s the Maillard family who come down from northern Canada every summer and find bread in their driveway. I have closely followed humpback whales as they come to summer on many waters in Alaska before heading south to winter in Hawaii.
Known as the king of migration, the arctic tern travels the longest distance of all, flying from pole to pole each year to follow the summer sun. They prefer to fly over water and like to glide, so flying long distances is rarely a problem.
These species travel for very good reasons, and most of their journeys are without much trouble or frustration.
Then there are people.
We are trying to vacation in Europe this summer. But our species exhibits an innate ability to throw obstacles in its own way. Some of us are trying to escape the summer heat, only to find that England, Spain, Germany, France and Italy are experiencing extreme heat and humidity. Temperatures in Great Britain can be as high as 103 or 104 degrees, creating a British calm. Unfortunately, only 4% of the homes in the country have air conditioning.
And here we are. And with the host completely unaware that company is coming, Europe seems largely unprepared this summer. Amsterdam’s Skihol Airport was so crowded with unsorted luggage that the airport authority asked passengers to stop driving for flights.
The British were asking for calm until British Airways announced the cancellation – and this is not a misprint – of about 10,000 of their international trips until next March. The SAS service (in its words) was “severely affected” by the 15-day pilot strike in July, which left most of Scandinavia with far fewer tourists than expected. For some, a good thing. Ja!
Then there was Delta Flight 9888 from Heathrow to Detroit in July. The flight began with no one sitting in business or coach, but the belly of the plane was crammed with about 1,000 pieces of luggage, and they met their owners who had already arrived.
In France, there was a labor strike that closed Charles de Gaulle Airport and canceled thousands of flights. In early August, Spanish airports warned travelers that a planned strike would result in multiple cancellations. American Airlines simply canceled its ticket sales to Amsterdam when it was advised that the airport could no longer accommodate incoming passengers – and definitely stopped their luggage.
And while all of this is going on, professional travel planners sit at our desks seven days a week trying to navigate our incompetence.
Indeed, I have spent the last six months as a “traveling firefighter.” Not the job I signed up for, but I can’t impress my wife Angela in uniform.
Although I do not sell air. We provide all air tickets to the best experts I have found in the US. We have served you well for 36 years. But this summer I was involved in helping to remove the artificial barriers that made it incredibly difficult for our guests to fly to Europe.
Indeed, airline experts have a simple explanation, which they shared on the investor call. “We are amazed at the number of Americans traveling this summer.”
true?
Locked in the house or apartment for 24 months watching reruns of “The Office” and sitting in drive-thrues trying to score Popeye’s Spicy Chicken Sandwiches, is it any wonder that Americans want to spread their wings and visit Europe again?
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