Airline Bankruptcies this week

This week alone, 4 airlines have declared bankruptcy
- Aloha Airlines
- ATA
- Champion
- Skybus

Alitalia is having major issues since a planned merger with Air France fell through.

Yes, the price of fuel is outrageously high- as we all know as we fill up our cars and that is likely a contributing factor but not the only reason these airlines shut their doors. One of the other is competition.

Aloha has been around for 60+ years. GO Airlines was a new start up from Mesa Airlines offering low cost flights between the Hawaiian Islands with smaller planes. In order to compete, the other inter island airlines had to lower prices. With the price of fuel, coupled with the higher operating costs, Aloha left thousands of travelers scrambling for alternate flights when they shut down on Monday with only 24 hours notice.

My clients have been re-accomodated on different airlines since I book all of my clients through reliable tour operators who have been working day and night to re-assign airlines. Those who booked on their own, or thru online agencies may not have fared as well. Money may be lost, much more money might need to be laid out and they are probably spending many hours trying to take care of this.

There are 2 suggestions that I can make in instances like this:
1. take out travel insurance to protect your vacation investment
2. continue to book your vacations through me, since I will only book through reliabe tour operators and will look out for your best interests.

Yes, it was an interesting few days in the world of travel!