Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Book Flights This Summer While Fuel Costs Stay Cheap (bloomberg.com)

Posted by msmash on from the changing-dynamics dept.

An anonymous reader shares an article: It's the best summer for jet setting in more than a decade. As jet fuel costs have sustained near 12-year lows after a global crude market crash in late 2014, airlines are cutting ticket prices and travelers have noticed. Global passenger data show that air travel demand started the second quarter at growth rates unseen in six years, and U.S. carriers hauled more passengers than ever before last year. Worldwide, first quarter air travel costs dropped about 10 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to the International Air Transport Association. About one-third of those costs can be linked to cheaper fuel, according to Savanthi Syth, senior vice president of airlines global research Raymond James & Associates.

56 comments

  1. Please don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Please don't travel more. Burning the fuel for air travel releases massive amounts of greenhouse gases. We need less air travel, not more of it. If you care about the planet, you won't take advantage of the cheap airfare.

    1. Re:Please don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Also, if you do travel do NOT travel to the U.S.A.. They'll seize your electronic devices, snoop on all your media accounts and flag you as a potential terrorist because you were not born in the U.S. of fucking A.

    2. Re:Please don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll make you a deal... if you snuff yourself out, I promise we will do better at the greenhouse gas thing. But to give us that special advantage, we just need to reclaim the resources you're using. I assure you, sincerely, your sacrifice will not be in vain. From all of us who are not a brave as you, we thank you!

    3. Re:Please don't by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I've never been on an airplane in over four decades. I don't plan on doing so either.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:Please don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow you must lead a most exciting life.

    5. Re:Please don't by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

      If you care about the planet, you also won't ask for a private plane:

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

      But, you know, Hillary really cares about global warming and all that, right?

      --
      Do you have ESP?
    6. Re: Please don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like you got cornholed. Good. We don't need any more fucking left wing assholes here.

    7. Re:Please don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but, but, but Hillary!!

      hahhaha

    8. Re:Please don't by ProzacPatient · · Score: 2

      Or even if you are from the U.S.

      Recently I just came back from vacation for a couple weeks and upon re-entry the DHS rifled through all my stuff then they questioned me on where I went, why I went, who I knew there, how I knew them, how long I've known them and what I did while I was there. Then the TSA did the same thing all over again because I guess apparently the TSA does not trust the DHS or something. I honestly did not have anything to hide but I felt really uncomfortable through the whole ordeal.

      Also my captcha just now was "Fascism"

    9. Re:Please don't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You're only partly right.
      You're a potential terrorist even IF you were born in the USA.

    10. Re: Please don't by istartedi · · Score: 0

      But travel exposes people to different cultures, and makes prejudice less likely. Prejudice leads to war, which leads to flights carrying bombs which are much worse for the environment. Send tourists, or send bombs. It really is that simple... with tongue somewhat in cheek.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    11. Re:Please don't by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      Oh for fuck's sake.... You goddamn tree huggers.. How the hell do you expect people to go overseas? A goddamn boat? Do you own a car? How about you do your part and sell it. Once you walk the walk, you can talk the talk. But choosing one thing to bitch about while you pollute with your car... Fuck off ...

  2. As an added attraction by Prof+G · · Score: 1

    Enjoy your strip-search!

  3. Seems legit... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because prices are guaranteed not to go down!

    1. Re:Seems legit... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      As long as only the prices go down...

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:Seems legit... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Prices are low because of improved techniques for hydraulic fracturing and enhanced oil recovery. These improvements are not going to "unhappen", so it is unlikely that we will every again see $100/barrel oil. American frackers, not Saudis, are the swing producers that set the price. The era of expensive oil is over.

    3. Re:Seems legit... by dougTheRug · · Score: 2

      Wait till it takes a barrel of oil energy to recover one barrel of oil.

    4. Re:Seems legit... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Wait till it takes a barrel of oil energy to recover one barrel of oil.

      The energy for processing oil doesn't come from oil. It usually comes from NG, or sometimes even from coal.

      Cost for 1M BTU of NG: $3
      Cost for 1M BTU from oil: $17

      $3 for NG is the Henry Hub price. It is going to be much cheaper in the oilfields, where it is sometimes flared off as a waste product.

    5. Re:Seems legit... by Namarrgon · · Score: 2

      These improvements are not going to "unhappen", so it is unlikely that we will every again see $100/barrel oil.

      Improved techniques have often reduced the price of production and expanded accessible reserves in the past - yet the price still went up later, despite those improvements not "unhappening".

      It's pretty naïve to think that the price of a finite resource, subject to regular market manipulation, that has fluctuated wildly and often in the past, and now with the prospect of significant carbon prices hanging over it, isn't likely to go up ever again, or even soon.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    6. Re:Seems legit... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's more than the prices that are "going down"...

    7. Re:Seems legit... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Improved techniques have often reduced the price of production and expanded accessible reserves in the past

      That is true, but it has never before happened on the scale of what is happening today. In the past, the improvements were incremental, and never deprived the Saudis of their ability to set the price by adjusting their production. Today, America is on track to being the world's largest producer of oil. The Saudis have cut production and instead of stabilizing, prices have continued to fall. Saudi Arabia can't afford to cut production any further, and are in the process of selling shares in ARAMCO, which is tantamount to auctioning off their reserves, just to keep their economy afloat.

      My prediction (you heard it here first): Within ten years the Saudi Royal Family will be gone.

    8. Re:Seems legit... by Namarrgon · · Score: 1

      You may be right, though I think other factors will be more important than America's production levels - US production has ramped fast, but demand could fall just as fast. And Russia has been out-producing the Saudis for years anyway, plus there's a number of other non-OPEC countries which add up fast too.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  4. United Airlines says they can't be beat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or was it you won't be beat?

    1. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Southwest: We beat the competition. Not you."

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by Osgeld · · Score: 2

      Take a beating on the plane, not baggage fees

    3. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Take a beating on the plane, not baggage fees

      Or learn to travel light. Even for a two week trip, everything I need fits in my backpack. If I fly SWA, I am not subsidizing people that bring an extra 50 lbs of crap.

    4. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Take a beating on the plane, not baggage fees

      Or learn to travel light. Even for a two week trip, everything I need fits in my backpack. If I fly SWA, I am not subsidizing people that bring an extra 50 lbs of crap.

      Actually, the reverse. If you fly an airline such as SWA that does NOT charge extra for checked baggage, then it's not just the passengers who check bags who are paying for their transportation cost, it's everyone on the plane, including.... you.

    5. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Take a beating on the plane, not baggage fees

      Or learn to travel light. Even for a two week trip, everything I need fits in my backpack. If I fly SWA, I am not subsidizing people that bring an extra 50 lbs of crap.

      What are you gaining by not using the "free" bag checking that you paid for in your ticket price anyway?

      It's always interesting when someone is proud of not using something that they've already paid for.

    6. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we know it was a feeble attempt at humor, but does it really require a elitist sounding protip from someone who apparently wears the same underwear for several days in a row

    7. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      it was a joke

    8. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by istartedi · · Score: 1

      Bags fly free, so there's no excuse not to bring your mother-in-law.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    9. Re:United Airlines says they can't be beat. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      it was a joke

      I am an Aspie. I am immune to jokes.

  5. News for nerds because? by davidwr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wish I could downmod this off the front page as doesn't sound like "news for nerds," but I will make two small concessions:

    1) it's possibly of general interest, which includes nerds. Take to to a general-interest forum, not /. Next up on Slashdot, tomorrow's weather forecast....

    2) nerds travel to industry conferences and other industry events. Okay, maybe, but it's very tenuous. Slow news day???

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:News for nerds because? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AIRPLANE!

  6. hauled more passengers than ever before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, all that talk about the 'draconian' US rules and procedures affecting travel is a bunch of bullshit, eh? Figures. Just more anti-Trump hysteria from the democrats

    1. Re:hauled more passengers than ever before by r1348 · · Score: 2

      You're that much of a moron, that you didn't notice that the data refers to last year.

    2. Re:hauled more passengers than ever before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your 'cheap' fuel prices will make the same numbers just as valid this year. Wake up! You all will sell your souls and vote for Hitler to get a cheap ticket. Oh wait, you already have!

  7. Re:shi7! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MOD PARENT UP OR DIE.

  8. SouthPark "It" by bussdriver · · Score: 1

    Americans will gladly take it in the ass and bitch about it... but continue to do it especially if you throw them a bone.

    SouthPark It

    --
    Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
  9. Reasons not to fly by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    1) Beatings. Obviously, the beatings.
    2) Date-rape scanners
    3) Illegal search and seizure
    4) Increasingly obscene rules about laptop use
    5) Sardines get more legroom
    6) Increasingly obscene rules about carry-on bags
    7) If you live in central USA, it often is faster to drive than to deal with the airport. Particularly if you have to check bags
    8) Flights are often late, connections are often missed. Bad if flying alone, horrifying if flying with young kids
    9) Flying with other people's young kids (Not that mine are angels, but I suffer from them regardless of venue)
    10) Going to go back up to beatings, because that's worth two mentions

    1. Re:Reasons not to fly by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

      *ahem* reasons not to fly on commercial airliners

      None of them apply if you fly general aviation aircraft.

    2. Re:Reasons not to fly by mjwx · · Score: 1

      1) Beatings. Obviously, the beatings.
      2) Date-rape scanners
      3) Illegal search and seizure
      4) Increasingly obscene rules about laptop use
      5) Sardines get more legroom
      6) Increasingly obscene rules about carry-on bags
      7) If you live in central USA, it often is faster to drive than to deal with the airport. Particularly if you have to check bags
      8) Flights are often late, connections are often missed. Bad if flying alone, horrifying if flying with young kids
      9) Flying with other people's young kids (Not that mine are angels, but I suffer from them regardless of venue)
      10) Going to go back up to beatings, because that's worth two mentions

      Hi, UK resident here. I'd like to state that reasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 10 are just reasons to avoid flying to the US.

      I rate the best airports to go through, in this order, Singapore-Changi, London-Heathrow and Amsterdam-Schipol. Note none of them are in the United states, personally I rate Bogata-El Dorado better than any American airport. We just don't have the same problems as you, English, Dutch and Singaporean security staff are polite and respectful, we use standard X-rays at Heathrow, the whole belt thingo is a pain but it's over relatively quickly and I've bought trousers with elasticated waists so they don't end up around my ankles. At my last visit to Heathrow, I was airside having an ale withing 15 minutes of arrival. That was checking in, dropping bags and going through security. It took just as long to walk from the aforementioned bar to the gate where my flight was boarding but that is a problem inherent to all large airports. If you do choose to fly I advise flying out of the United States so you only have to go through the process once.

      Now onto your other points.

      5) Sardines get more legroom

      Fly better airlines. I try to avoid American and UK airlines because of this. Singapore has 19" wide seats and 32" pitch on standard economy seats. Many airlines call that premium economy.

      8) Flights are often late, connections are often missed. Bad if flying alone, horrifying if flying with young kids

      See the above point. Better ATC and better scheduling means fewer flights are late. Also non-budget airlines are better as they aren't cycling their equipment as fast (meaning they aren't scheduling so many flights for the same plane per day).

      9) Flying with other people's young kids (Not that mine are angels, but I suffer from them regardless of venue)

      This is luck of the draw, so I'll grant you that.

      That being said, they tend to put kids up front, so book yourself a seat down the back and away from the bulkhead to minimise your chances.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    3. Re:Reasons not to fly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot 11) Being bumped from a flight because of legalised fraud.

    4. Re:Reasons not to fly by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Reasons to fly:
      1) My car has issues driving over the Atlantic.
      2) Spending 6 hours in a plane gets you further than 6 hours in a car.

      But I agree with the sentiment, at lest the two points you made which apply outside the USA anyway.

  10. TFS reads exactly like a click-bait article. by sconeu · · Score: 1

    n/t

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  11. I'll do as they do, not as you say by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Your head prophets of the Warming is Harmful religion all travel by private jet and thereby spread more carbon in a year than I will in a lifetime flying commercial.

    Even if they didn't fly, the energy used to heat and co the modern palaces they live in spread more co2 than I ever could...

      I'll treat warming as a crisis when the people who say it is a crisis start acting like it.

    Throw down your cowl of devotion and open your eyes. You can see, if you choose to.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  12. WTF, /. by kwerle · · Score: 2

    Seriously. This is just advertising. It's not even tech related.

    Story: -1 offtopic

  13. Breaking news! by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    I just heard that United is offering beating at half price!

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  14. Slashdot is now just a place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    to repost msm crap.
    Fuck I wish I could go back in time and fix this shit.

  15. Planes is last on my preferences for travel method by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    I don't plan on flying with the shit passengers have to put up with. It's bus or car for me.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  16. Air travel is better than driving by Solandri · · Score: 1

    A Boeing 737 Max has a 3515 nautical mile range (4045 statute miles) and 6853 gallon fuel capacity. With 162 passengers, this works out to 95.6 MPG per passenger (2.46 L/100 km). Competitive with most cars carrying 3 people.

    Their massive fuel burn from air travel is because of the long distances they travel, not because air travel is inherently worse than other forms of transport. If you're planning a weekend getaway by car, you'll probably only have enough time to travel a couple hundred miles, thus limiting your fuel consumption. But if you fly, you can travel a couple thousand miles in the limited amount of time.

    For trips of the same distance, flying is usually more environmentally friendly than driving with 1-2 people, sometimes more friendly than driving with 3-4 people.

  17. no need to rush by gravewax · · Score: 1

    Fuel prices aint going to ever rebound to those previous highs. for the last few years a ceiling has been installed on the prices by the fact a heap of high cost producers are sitting and ready to jump in the market the second the price gets to a moderate level that makes them marginally profitable, this has taken away a lot of the power of OPEC to inflate prices, they only have the ability to sink prices to keep them out of the market.

  18. Not just fuel by houghi · · Score: 1

    The prices are highly based on what people are willing to pay.
    e.g. a flight Brussels-NYC-Brussels is much cheaper than NYC-Brussels-NYC if you take the same flights.
    And when I compare US prices to prices in Europe with the same distance in flight, the fuel must be a lot cheaper in Europe. No, not only looking at cheap airlines. Yes, I verified that the distance was similar.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  19. If fuel is so cheap, why did ticket prices rise? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Last year I booked a ticket from New York to Arizona. 1st class, $875

    This year, the same ticket, same airline, still 1st class, $1185

    If fuel prices are so low, why the hell did the ticket price rise by 35%?