As I’m sure you are well aware, the world is currently experiencing a pandemic the likes of which haven’t been seen in a very long time. Each day the numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to grow and with the increase come large swings in the financial markets, government involvement and directives, and as it relates to this blog, travel restrictions. Things are changing at incredibly dramatic speeds that it’s hard to keep up. More importantly, it’s harder than ever to get away from our screens and take a break from the news cycle.
Personally, I’ve decided to take the whole social isolation directive very seriously. In the past week I’ve only left my tiny apartment for essentials, nothing else. I’m taking this pandemic seriously because I don’t want to risk potentially infecting others. I don’t need to leave my apartment for work so I plan to stay home as much as I possibly can. With that, I’ve also not seen any family or friends since about 5 days ago when I started to social isolate.
Now that all of that’s out of the way… the only thing I’ve made sure to do is to stay in contact with others to maintain my sanity. That means frequent FaceTimes, Zoom Calls, and phone calls with others to catch up. During most of these conversations, my friends all ask the same question: “Are you booking a ton of flights?” to which I always respond “No.” While it might seem like a great time to book airfare (prices are cheap), I am not booking anything for the time being for a few important reasons.
Travel System Overload
One of the main reasons that I’m not booking any travel is because I don’t know when I’ll actually be able to fly. So, if I book something for May, I might not actually even be able to fly. That means that I’ll have to call the airline to try to rebook, get a refund, or cancel. Doing so isn’t hard, but it means that someone will have to be on the other end of that call. That same person is dealing with literally thousands of calls a day from millions of people all trying to do the same thing.
What’s more, I don’t have to travel. So, in taking that place in line with the call center, I could further delay someone that actually needs to change their plans and potentially needs to travel. For now, I don’t have anywhere I have to be nor do I have any plans of traveling anytime soon. That means, I’m not going to speculatively book anything until I need to.
Also, with airlines cutting capacity and grounding flights I would again hate to take someones seat who actually needs to fly. Obviously load factors are light at the moment, but who knows what will happen in the future.
Bottom line, I don’t have to travel, so I don’t want to add to the mess by booking something and having to call in to cancel, etc.
Financial Responsibility
Another huge reason I’m not booking any flights right now is because of financial uncertainty. We have no idea what my retirement savings will look like at the end of all of this. We have no idea how long it will take the markets to recover. I’ve always maintained a significant amount of my savings in a brokerage account invested in the market. I understand that over the next 30 years the value of the market should go up and that my savings should grow over time. However, that’s not the case at the moment.
Furthermore, as the economy slows the chances of losing a job increase substantially. If I were to lose my job, my primary source of income (shocker, it’s not this blog) would disappear as well. Now, more than ever, it’s important to build up a rainy day fund to plan for any eventuality.
Because of that, spending money on airfare with airlines that might not even exist in a few months, doesn’t seem like a smart decision. Instead, every disposable dollar I have is going directly into an FDIC backed savings account. One day it will make sense to spend on travel again, but that isn’t today.
Elite Status Waivers
Another reason I don’t think it makes sense to spend money of airfare is because I don’t think I’ll need to for elite status. We’ve already seen some major international carriers waive elite status qualification requirements and I suspect that trend to continue with other carriers globally.
Most of the international travel I do is (yes for fun) to earn elite status. I basically pick where I’m going to fly based on where I get the best deal which yields the most elite status qualification accruals. Generally, I base my vacations of those trips as well. I find this way of traveling is a lot of fun and allows me to see places I normally wouldn’t otherwise visit.
Again, because I think airlines will begin to waive elite status requirements for 2020, I don’t think I’ll actually need to fly to maintain elite status this year. If the requirements aren’t waived altogether I suspect airlines will reduce the requirements based on the duration of this pandemic. At the moment I’m about 50% of the way to Executive Platinum elite status with American so I think I’m in a good spot for either eventuality.
Already Booked Travel
Part of the reason I’m not booking any new flights is because I’ve already managed to book a few flights this year. Specifically, I’ve already booked a trip to Kyiv on Qatar Airways and a trip from Paris to the US on British Airways. Both of those trips together should get me within striking distance of Executive Platinum elite status for another year (if the requirements aren’t waived). This means that I really don’t need to book any new trips until we know more about the future.
Public Safety
This one goes without saying, but I haven’t said it, so I think I need to… A HUGE reason I’m not traveling is because it’s not safe right now. Confirmed coronavirus cases continue to increase around the world with no end in sight. I really don’t think it’s safe to travel anywhere right now for myself or others. Even worse, I’d hate to become sick and potentially pass the illness onto others. So, until it is safe to travel again, I’m not even going to think about getting on an airplane unless I absolutely have to.
Final Thoughts
What a completely incredible situation we are all in. I’m writing this post partly because so many people have asked me that simple question. However, I’m also writing this post to put some of my thoughts on paper.
I started this blog as a sort of journal when I was traveling around the US for work. At the time I found myself in hotel rooms all over the country trying to figure out loyalty programs and credit cards. However, while traveling I realized how amazing of an opportunity this was to travel all of the US to very forgettable places and I wanted a way to never forget. I started this blog so that one day, I could look back and remember.
Over the years though, this blog as become so much more. It’s taken me to some incredible places all over the globe. It’s taught me how to fly in some of the worlds best airline cabins for significantly less than I could have ever imagined. Furthermore, it’s served it’s purpose in helping me document it all along the way. That’s what I hope this post will do as well. I hope that one day I can look back and know exactly what I was thinking and feeling in these moments. So for now, I won’t be booking anything, but instead will sit at home and try to help slow the spread of this virus.
