BCT Travel Blog

Natural Disasters and Manmade Local and Worldwide Conditions

Any disruption in air travel affects the price of airfare whether that be
manmade like a union strike or war or whether it a natural disaster like a
volcano or earthquake to name just a few reasons. Of course the swings in
the economy also affects airfare prices domestically and internationally so
it’s little wonder then  what airfare prices are so up and down in these
uncertain times!

Computers Set Airfares

Like stocks, airfares are the sums of very complex equations. Computers
weigh the variables of those equations and adjust accordingly. Is Airline B
offering a fare so much lower on this route that it is stealing customers?
Adjustment. Are there too many empty seats on this plane to make the flight
profitable? Is it time to cut the losses and sell those seats at a reduced
rate? Adjustment again. What are fuel prices looking like at this hour? You
get the idea.

Most of us understand at least one thing about computers – we have a love
and hate relationship with them especially when they are the culprits in why
airfare is so tumultuous! Now more than ever!

The merger between Continental and United will really have an effect on air
prices and here is why:

Airlines closely monitor each other’s fares and are quick to react anytime
another airline introduces a low fare to poach on its “cash cow” routes. The
usual technique is to plop a low fare into the middle of a “cash cow” route
of the offending airline. Just recently Delta and United slugged it out on
the Honolulu routes out of Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit,
Miami, Minneapolis and St Louis. Sometimes it is an introductory fare, or a
fare intended to “test” a particular market. Generally speaking competition
is what drives airfare bargains but with the Continental and United merger
that will certainly change things for many flight segment airfares!

We are printing the 2010 tour line-up and will be sending it soon!
However, what you’ll notice about our new ‘catalog’ is that it’s not
actually a catalog at all, but in fact, a postcard with an overview of
our tours. Why this change? Like so many businesses in today’s
economy, we’ve found that making full use of our website is a better
way to keep our Brothers and Sisters fully informed of the latest
changes and additions to our tour lineup (and without the cost of
sending paper documents)! This will be our final paper delivery of our
tour catalog and  we will, from here on out, deliver updates and
information via the internet (email). Therefore, to make sure you keep
up-to-date with our tours, please make sure we have a current and
reliable email address to give you new information*, and make sure
your friends and family know of this change as well. We appreciate
your choosing us as your tour company to enjoy a Bethel vacation and
apologize for any inconvenience this may possibly cause.

* You can help us by adding email@bethelcoachtours.com into your email
services trusted senders list. That will help keep BCT on your email
providers ‘approved’ list for email domains. Never will we send you spam or
give/sell your email address to other businesses!