http://kz.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/19991127travdo$02.frm

High prices, not Y2K, discouraged Jan. 1 travel plans, agents say

More people than expected are choosing to stay close to home as the new century begins.

Sunday, November 28, 1999

BY CEDRIC RICKS

KALAMAZOO GAZETTE

The next century is fast approaching, but many Kalamazoo area residents are bypassing the Big Apple's Times Square or the sunny beaches of Cancun to spend the once-in-a-lifetime occasion in their own backyards.

Area travel agents say far fewer than expected holiday celebrants have scheduled air, hotel and cruise packages to popular destinations to ring in not only another year, but a new era.

"Our millennium travel is down," said Judy Ledbetter, owner and manager of Kalamazoo Travel Service. "A lot of people aren't going anywhere for the millennium. They are staying at home."

And it's not because people are concerned about any impact from possible Y2K computer problems.

More expensive travel packages are generally par for the course for holiday vacations. But, with the year 2000 on the horizon, some air, hotel and cruise companies apparently went overboard on price.

That meant trips to popular holiday spots like New York City, Cancun, Mexico and Las Vegas have been shelved by area residents and that travel companies are now reducing their rates to encourage more travel.

"The prices are astronomical," said Bette Jeschke, executive vice president of Adventure Travel in Kalamazoo.

"The cruise companies and the hotels were doubling and tripling their rates. Now the cruise lines and hotels are lowering their rates. They are begging for people."

Many New Year's trips were planned a year, maybe even two or three years, ago. Early reservations were made for a hotel stay or a cruise, only to be cancelled after seeing final package prices.

"We had all kinds of people booked for cruise lines," said Ledbetter. "But the prices were three times more expensive than in the past."

Earlier this year, one travel company was advertising travel packages to Cancun, Mexico, which included air fair and seven-night hotel stays that ranged from $2,179 to $1,149 for a couple.

By this week, the same Cancun packages were reduced in price with costs for transportation and lodging ranging from $1,469 to $859.

The cost for a seven-day Caribbean cruise also has dropped. Earlier this year, the average price per person was $3,100 but, in recent months, the price was closer to $1,300, said Jeschke, noting that the fee includes travel costs from Kalamazoo to the cruise ship.

"Cruise lines are beginning to realize the bookings are not as heavy as they thought," said Jeschke. "We get millennium faxes everyday telling us space is still available.

"I walk in the morning and I can't believe the faxes from airlines and tour companies begging for business."

Ledbetter has seen the same thing.

"There are some good millennium sales," she said, adding that few clients have expressed any worries about Y2K interfering with holiday trips.

She notes it's true that no one wants to be flying on Jan. 1, but that's not too unusual.

"That's always been the case," said Ledbetter. "People don't want to be in the air during New Year's. They want to be at somebody's party."

Jeschke also is hearing few complaints about Y2K stopping anyone's holiday plans.

"We haven't had any clients say we don't want to go because of the computer scare."

CEDRIC RICKS can be reached at 388-8557.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Tminus32&counting.down), November 28, 1999

Answers

HAH!! That's a laugh! Nice try.

The reason prices are going up is because LESS people are traveling!

The reason less people are traveling... Y2K!

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), November 28, 1999.

Baaaaaloooniiiiieeeee.

It is cheap like hell to travel over the new year. We priced a flight to Europe just for grinns and its less then halve what we paid last year.

-- RickJohn (rickjohn1@yahoo.com), November 29, 1999.

Now as recall, wasn't there a national airline reservation system that was declared Y2K compliant last year and there were over 200,000 reservations waiting to go? Where did all these people go and why have they changed their minds about flying in this date? Is chukkkie reuben going to be flying that night or did his flight get cancelled also???

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), November 29, 1999.

Ha!! This is the BIGGEST lie of them all. RATES are CHEAP as heck. I just booked a flight from san diego to cleve roundtrip via TWA for $167.00 ROUNDTRIP. The cheapest I ever had it before was 352.00. Leaving on 12-15 return date is 1-5,,, yeah right. If the plane can leave.

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), November 29, 1999.