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Air travel in the summer of 2022 has been, well, turbulent. What’s making flying so bad right now? Have we ever seen this level of disruption before? What can travel advisors do to help their clients who are flying this summer? On this week’s episode of Trade Secrets, we dig into it with Flight Centre’s Marc Casto. Then, after the break, we share some listeners’ tips for their fellow advisors booking air travel now.
Theme song: Sock Hop by Kevin MacLeod (License)
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In This Episode
- 1:08 - Meet our guest, Flight Centre’s Marc Casto
- 1:52 - What is going on with air travel? Delays and cancellations abound - why are things so bad?
- 3:09 - Has air travel ever been this disrupted in the past?
- 4:24 - What can travel advisors do to help their clients who are taking to the skies?
- 2:27 - If a traveler doesn’t buy a refundable airline ticket, do they have a right to get their money back?
- 8:00 - If an agent didn’t book someone’s ticket, can they still step in and help if they wanted to?
- 9:06 - There’s another big story about airlines this summer: a potential merger between Spirit and Frontier or JetBlue. Will that have an impact on the larger air travel space in general?
- 10:05 - Marc is a frequent traveler. Have rampant flight delays and cancellations changed the way he travels recently?
- 12:42 - Is there any end in sight to what’s going on with airlines?
- 15:02 - A PSA from Emma: Sign up for trusted traveler programs!
- 15:45 - An addendum from Marc: Use biometric services, too!
- 16:00 - And Jamie’s secret shame: She’s only had PreCheck since 2019!
- 17:45 - In the second half of the show, we’ll hear from two listeners: Sarah Johnson of Paper, Ink & Passports Travel, and Ronda Helton of the Travel Connection Group. They share some tips and tricks for dealing with air travel this summer.
Marc Casto, President, Leisure Americas, Flight Centre Travel Group
Credit: 2022 Jenn MartinsResources Mentioned in This Episode and Related Reading
Marc on LinkedIn
From Travel Weekly and TravelAge West
A Guide to the Programs That Help Expedite Travel
A ‘Perfect Storm’ for Summer Air Travel
Surviving the Summer of ‘Airmageddon’
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If you're a travel advisor with a question about the latest travel news, trends, best business practices or more, please call our hotline and leave a message at 201-902-2098 or send an email to [email protected].
About Your Hosts
Emma Weissmann is the Digital Managing Editor of TravelAge West, a print and online magazine for travel advisors based in the Western U.S. She is also the co-host of Humans of Travel podcast, where she interviews notable individuals in the travel industry about their lives — the highs and lows that make them human.
Jamie Biesiada is a Senior Editor with Travel Weekly. She is an award-winning journalist, including being named the American Society of Travel Advisors’ 2019 Travel Journalist of the Year. Her roots are in community journalism, where she was the editor of several local newspapers and a regional entertainment magazine.
About the Show
Trade Secrets, a podcast from the editors of Travel Weekly and TravelAge West, is where travel advisors ask — and answer — questions. On each podcast, our editors will ask a veteran travel industry insider to join them and field listeners’ questions. Topics will range from business advice to industry trends, history and more — as long as it’s travel-related, we want to address it! Find Trade Secrets wherever you get your podcasts, or at www.travelagewest.com/podcasts/trade-secrets.
