Dow is CEO and president of the U.S. Travel Association, a D.C.-based organization that promotes traveling — and what better time than the holidays? Happy Thanksgiving! What are your plans?
I’m going to be in the Palm Coast of Florida, on the beach in 78 degrees with my family.
Very jealous. Are a lot of people choosing to fly this year?
Holiday travel is going to be up about 4 percent over last year. Air up 2 percent, and traveling by car is up about 4 percent. The majority of travelers, or 38 million of about 43 million, are traveling by cars. The roads are going to be tight this year. Never let the tank drop below half-full, because you can run into traffic jams for hours. For air, preprint your boarding passes if you can. Travel light. If you have presents you want to bring, FedEx so you can be nimble. The overnight rates aren’t as crazy as you would think.
Why is travel up, even when the economy is still lagging?
Logic would say to you if the economy is tough and people are unemployed, they’d travel less — but travel is up more than the Dow. That says to us, “Hey, I’m going to get away from all this and enjoy my family.” Friends and frugality are going to be watchwords for the holidays.
Sounds good. Any secret travel tips for Washington-area folks?
At Dulles International Airport, few people know there’s a check-in area for passengers on the baggage level. Only frequent passengers know to go there. On Thanksgiving, if flights back up, we get dropped off in the arrivals area. Sometimes the traffic backs up fierce for departures, so if you go to arrivals you zip right through and head up the escalator. But the most important thing is to travel light and be flexible.
— Lisa Gartner
