Airlines add more holiday surcharges

Airlines add more

holiday surcharges

If you want to travel on a peak holiday or high-demand travel period, such as spring break or Easter, it's going to cost you more in 2010, says Tom Parsons, CEO and founder of Bestfares.com, a discount travel Web site that tracks airfare changes and travel-industry trends.

Airlines, which have started adding surcharges for traveling on the busiest days surrounding the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, are boosting those fees and adding new dates.

" If there is one day you want to avoid traveling, especially on Delta Air Lines or Northwest Airlines, it is February 8, 2010," Parsons said. Both airlines have added a $50 one-way holiday or peak travel airfare surcharge to their plane tickets.

Parsons speculated it could be a "Monday after the Super Bowl surcharge," since the Presidents Day three-day holiday isn't until the following weekend.

United, Delta, and Northwest Airlines also increased the previous $20 holiday travel surcharge to $30 for the following dates: March 14, 20, 21, 28 and April 5, 2010.

US Airways said it will add a 5 percent surcharge to all U.S. flights on or after May 8. A spokeswoman said the surcharge will protect the airline in case fuel prices rise or other costs increase.

Four stars for

two Seattle hotels

The Forbes Travel Guide has given its first set of four- and five-star awards for hotels, spas and restaurants under the new brand name for what was known as the Mobil Travel Guide.

Local winners are the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle; the Fairmont Olympic Hotel; the Georgian Room restaurant in the Fairmont Olympic; The Herbfarm restaurant in Woodinville; Rover's in Seattle; and the Spa at the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle. A complete list is at www.forbestravelguide.com.

Travel trends changing

The economy is changing when and how often average Americans travel.

Forty-five percent of U.S. consumers will take a vacation or leisure trip between Thanksgiving and March that involves paying for overnight accommodations, according to a survey by Deloitte. But larger numbers said they would travel less and spend less compared to a year ago than those reporting increases in travel and spending. Thirty-five percent say they will spend less this year on leisure travel. Those spending less tend to be younger, with lower incomes and children in the household.

Arch Woodside, professor of marketing at Boston College who specializes in tourism, said the weak economy is disproportionately affecting the travel habits of average-income households.

World's largest cruise ship

The world's largest cruise ship has arrived in South Florida.

Royal Caribbean Cruises' 16-deck Oasis of the Seas has docked at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. The massive $1.5 billion vessel is nearly 40 percent larger than the industry's next-biggest ship and five times larger than the Titanic. It has 2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members.

The ship also features various "neighborhoods" — parks, squares and arenas with special themes. One of them will be a tropical environment that will include palm trees.

The Oasis of the Seas will embark on its first cruise on Dec. 5.

Retail displays as art

Santa Claus is making an early appearance to open a new exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History on the art and business of commercial holiday displays.

The exhibit, which opened Nov. 13, is a first for the museum. It covers the elaborate department-store windows and retail displays dating back to the 1920s, as well as the creation of floats for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

During its heyday in the 1950s, the Woodward and Lothrop department store in Washington, D.C., was known to have featured live penguins in a window display.

The exhibit follows the research of curator William Bird who examined the history of holiday displays from the early 20th century in a companion book.

Compiled by Seattle Times staff and news services.