The window is closing fast, use your frequent flyer miles now to capture business class tickets to Europe and the world

The COVID travel tsunami that hit us one year ago appears to now be on the downhill slide and people are now aggressively making vacation travel reservations once they get the vaccine. If you want to get the best value out of your frequent flyer miles you should use them for international business class seats. I checked several flights to see if I could find “saver” miles space for business class tickets around the world. I was amazed to see how many flights had business class seats still available that I could redeem for miles. Now is the time to take advantage of this amazing window to capture business class seats using your airline and credit card frequent flyer miles.  

Another one of my predictions about the COVID vaccine is coming true – Back in January, I made 60 predictions about the travel industry in 2021. #7 on the list was the following prediction: “We will actually have millions of unused COVID vaccines available by the Fourth of July”.  I took a lot of flack for this prediction as people in the medical profession said I was misleading people. Well, last week President Biden said all Americans will have access to the COVID vaccine by May 31, 2021. I may not have a Ph.D. or M.D. in my name but I have been blessed with the title of C.S. or Common Sense. Some people think I have a B.S. degree, which I actually do. That of course stands for Bachelor of Science.

Make your vacation reservations before Memorial Day or you may pay double the price – This is hard to believe but the pent up demand is so big to travel later this year that those that wait to make reservations after Memorial Day will be flabbergasted to see shortages of flights and resorts at reasonable prices. Basically, the tsunami of pent-up demand to travel caused by COVID will be much bigger than the supply of airline seats, car rentals, and resorts after Memorial Day. High demand mixed with low supply means much higher prices if you wait too long. The airlines are telling us they think airline ticket prices could skyrocket as it appears that they can’t transition getting their airplanes out of mothballs fast enough to potentially meet the demand that could bounce back faster than many have anticipated. I think the $1400 stimulus payment to everyone that is about to pass congress will also be used by some to purchase tickets to travel the world, further accelerating the quick thawing of the travel industry. Call one of our friendly travel advisors today (402-435-8888) to help you navigate to find the best value for your next trip.

The airlines are quietly and quickly adding Boeing 737MAX  planes to their fleets – If you fly domestically in 2021 you will probably fly on the Boeing 737MAX. Everyone has heard of the Boeing 737MAX debacle that has grounded over 1000 new Boeing 737MAX airplanes for the last year. The Boeing 737MAX is now recertified and hundreds of them are now being quietly and quickly added to many major airlines’ fleets. The odds of you flying on one of these new birds is really high as the airlines have thousands of older planes they have taken out of commission because of COVID and they want to bring the fuel-efficient Boeing 737MAX back in their place. If you do not want to fly on the 737Max for any reason most airlines will allow you to reschedule on another flight without a fee. I personally think they may now be the safest airplane in the sky and I would not hesitate to jump on board one of these cool new planes.

One year ago I was returning from a trip to Germany, next month I am planning my first international trip in a year to India – In the last year, I have been on 5 domestic round-trip flights. This compares to a normal year when I would be on about 30 RT flights. I must admit it has been nice to slow down from the rat race this year but I am hearing the “Call of the wild” and am ready to conquer the world again. Next month I hope to fly to India to visit some factories we do business with. Obviously, the flights are cheap and there is lots of space on the flights. It looks like we have to have a COVID test pre-travel and since I had COVID in January I should not be at much risk for COVID in the coming months. I expect in the next 30 days there will be many changes in the requirements to travel to most companies around the world related to COVID. I just hope they are positive and not negative.

If COVID taught us anything it is that if you plan to travel you are foolish to not use a professional travel advisor for your travel – I am amazed at the number of people who don’t use a professional travel advisor who have called this past year for advice. This virus is the perfect example of why “YOU” should use a friendly travel advisor for all your travel reservations. Not only do we provide great value, options, and advice, we help you out of a mess like this virus when you find out you are up a creek without a paddle. If you are looking for someone to coach you through times like these we would view it as an honor to help you on your next trip.