Time to fly

Q: I am a frequent business traveler who has recently noticed something that I would like you to comment on. I depart to the client site on Monday mornings and return home on Friday evenings and inevitably the plane is overcrowded. I can understand that this is a prime travel time for business travelers, but many times I see that at least half the passengers are vacationers and retirees. I mention the latter as I live in Florida, a state where retirees clog all travel arteries like human cholesterol. It amazes me that people who can choose any time to travel never use a brain cell to make their travel more pleasant. As business travelers we have little choice. But the vacationers and retirees still think Friday afternoons and 6 a.m. Monday flights are the cat’s meow. Please do an article to let these dimwits know that early Saturday flights along with Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the least stressful travel times.

–Scott Womack

A: Alright, everyone. You heard the man. If you don’t have real business, stay off those overcrowded Monday and Friday flights. Ya hear?

I wish it were that simple, Scott. Truth is, it’s going to take more than the complaints of a few business travelers to get us to change our flying habits. I can think of a few reasons why:

The Saturday Night-Stayover. Airlines raise the prices on tickets that don’t include a Saturday night stayover so that they can make more money from corporate travelers. Carriers know that someone with business won’t want to hang around for a weekend, so they’ll gladly shell out a few extra hundred dollars to get home for the weekend. This nifty practice means that planes will be loaded to the hilt on Friday afternoon — and all but abandoned on Saturday.

The Weekend/Weekday Schedule. Most leisure travelers take the Friday before their vacation off, giving them an extra two days — Saturday and Sunday — that they can be away. Then they time their return for the following Monday morning maximizing their off-time further. They’ve only taken six full days of vacation time, but they’ve effectively had 10 days away. This loads the Friday and Monday to the gills.

Stupid Pricing Tricks. Airlines have responded by lowering fares that leave midweek and return midweek, which in theory should encourage leisure travelers to travel on less crowded days. But once a vacationer does the math, factoring in the additional leave time he or she will get by playing the weekends for what they’re worth, the price differential is insignificant.

Wait! There’s More! Don’t forget that the carriers are here to make as much money as possible, not to ensure you’re on a less crowded flight. One of the more recent developments — special weekend fares — aren’t exactly helping the beleaguered business traveler. For starters, these fares are hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of dollars less that what a road warrior would pay. That can’t be too terribly good for morale in the cabin, when passengers start comparing notes. But the weekend supersavers are also bad because they really do cram a warm body into every last seat on the dreaded Friday and Monday flights.

You want a solution? Tell the airlines to stop charging ridiculous fares for passengers who don’t want to stay in town over a Saturday night. Tell companies to give their employees a month’s vacation, like they do in other civilized countries. And tell the airlines to stop being so greedy that they stuff their cabins to the hilt, without any regard for the human rights of their passengers.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

1 comment