Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Travel, airline industry deal with effects of hijackings
By Jordan Blum
Staff Reporter

Becky Fogarty, a junior studio art major, said her trip to see her boyfriend in Philadelphia last Thursday was put on hold because of flight cancellations.

“I was a little relieved (about the cancellation) because I was worried about being on one of the very first flights after the terrorist attacks, and it also didn’t help that the flight was on American Airlines,” Fogarty said. “Plus, my parents definitely weren’t too happy about me traveling.”

Many people around the nation are experiencing similar difficulties, but Terry Denton, director of Fort Worth-based Main Street Travel of the Carlson Travel Network, said that although the travel industry has many business and safety concerns to work out in the short term, he thinks economic recovery will occur once people get past their shock and go through the motions of healing.

“We definitely have concerns about travel turning south for a while,” Denton said. “But we have a lot of confidence the people won’t let this attack define their freedoms and won’t affect their willingness to travel in the long term. Plus, I feel the security measures put in place will make things safer than ever before.”

Susie Boysen, owner of both Gulliver’s Travel Service and Horned Frog Travel in Fort Worth, said she foresees business problems for the airline industry in the immediate future. She said recent airline flight cutbacks and employee furloughs will help start a period of recovery as the airlines work to regain normalcy.

“I think it’s a good idea for a lot of airlines to cut back on flights 20 percent,” Boysen said. “Many airlines had lots of flights going out 50 percent full or less and that’s not good business. There will be less overall traveling now, but the people who really need to travel regularly will still be on the planes just as often.

“I also think the traveler who buys a ticket for a flight at the last moment is gone. I think arriving an hour and a half before the flight will be fine, but the days of arriving ten minutes before a flight are over.”

Boysen also said she expects airline prices to steadily rise during the upcoming months.

“Prices will go up 30 percent to 40 percent because there will be less flights and seats will be at a premium,” Boysen said. “I think this will last until this whole war is over and airlines can return to some semblance of order from the chaos they’re currently experiencing.”

Denton said many people who booked flights before the terrorist attacks have wanted to get refunds and some have even vowed never to fly again.

“Most airlines are allowing people to rebook flights and use that same ticket a few months later,” Denton said. “But if they want a full refund, that depends on each airline’s individual policy.

Larry Kissinger, assistant business manager of the athletic department and former pilot of 37 years, plans athletic travel plans for TCU athletics. He said he doesn’t think airlines know what they’re doing yet and it could take years for airlines to get back to normal. He also said he believes highly-populated regions like the Dallas/Fort Worth area will be hit hardest financially because of the high volume of commercial travel.

“There will be an increase of security for years to come, because I think this could last for several years and it could take three or four hours to get on a plane,” Kissinger said. “It’s going to be much more involved and restrictive, and I think a lot more people will choose to drive their personal vehicles rather than fly for a while.”

Denton said it would be very difficult for the travel industry to recover if another terrorist attack struck airlines.

“Hypothetically, another attack would drive another major stake through this industry and it would be very hard to ever overcome,” he said.

Jordan Blum
j.d.blum@student.tcu.edu