WEBVTT - Why Some People Are Driving Hours Instead of Taking a Plane

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<v Speaker 1>It's Tuesday. I'm Oscar Ramirors from the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. The airline

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<v Speaker 1>industry was waiting for business travelers to come back, to

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<v Speaker 1>get them back to pre pandemic levels. Well, some of

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<v Speaker 1>that has returned, but flight cancelations and delays are causing

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<v Speaker 1>some professionals to offer the road trip instead to avoid

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<v Speaker 1>delays and missing appointments. They're willing to drive up to

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<v Speaker 1>seven hours to get where they need to be. Alison Poi,

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<v Speaker 1>travel reporter of the Wall Street Journal, joins us for more.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for joining us, Allison, thanks so much for having me. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the biggest things that the airline industry was

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<v Speaker 1>waiting for to help bring the industry back. This is

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<v Speaker 1>after all the closures and everything that was going on

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<v Speaker 1>through the pandemic, was the return of the business traveler.

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<v Speaker 1>And now we're kind of seeing some of that happened.

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<v Speaker 1>It's coming back in a lot more ways as more

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<v Speaker 1>offices are opening up. But man, these travel disruptions, these

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<v Speaker 1>all this travel disruptions to air travel are really wreaking

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<v Speaker 1>havoc on people's schedules and in a lot of case,

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<v Speaker 1>some of these business professionals are just saying, screw that,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm probably just going to drive. Some reports are saying that,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, people are maybe taken up to seven hour

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<v Speaker 1>drives just to get to whatever it is that they

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<v Speaker 1>need to go see clients, these business conferences, all that stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>So Allison tell us a little bit more about how

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<v Speaker 1>the disruptions are really just changing everything. So a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of leisure travelers have experienced these disruptions as well, from

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<v Speaker 1>staffing shortages, COVID absences, weather problems, air traffic control as

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<v Speaker 1>wall and business travelers are right there alongside them. So

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<v Speaker 1>some of them are opting to drive instead of fly

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<v Speaker 1>for work trips. And that means that as opposed to

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<v Speaker 1>driving three to four hours as they might have done

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<v Speaker 1>in the past, they're now driving five to seven hours

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<v Speaker 1>rather than take some of these shorter haul flights. And

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<v Speaker 1>it makes sense. It's that whole mindset of you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I know how long it will take me to drive there.

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<v Speaker 1>At least I can leave when I want. There won't

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<v Speaker 1>be those disruptions of a surprise cancelation or delay anything.

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<v Speaker 1>And they're banking on it's just easier than going through

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<v Speaker 1>the whole hassle of something going wrong with your flight. Yeah, exactly.

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<v Speaker 1>You have to build in the time to get to

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<v Speaker 1>the airport, to wait in long security lines, even the

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<v Speaker 1>pre check lines are pretty long at some airports. Then

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<v Speaker 1>there's the time at the airport itself and hoping your

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<v Speaker 1>flight doesn't get delayed or canceled. So they're taking matters

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<v Speaker 1>into their own hands and choosing to drive. Yeah, almost

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<v Speaker 1>three percent of flights were canceled in June. I mean

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<v Speaker 1>every weekend when you come back on Monday, you're kind

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<v Speaker 1>of hearing more flights for cancel over the weekend. You know.

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<v Speaker 1>It's this kind of this constant thing as you mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>all those problems that were happening with staffing shortages and

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<v Speaker 1>so on, and for companies now trying to adjust to this, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, to allow for their employees to make this travel,

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<v Speaker 1>they're having to a lot more time for that. There,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, saying okay, you don't leave a day early. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>it's just the planning that goes into it is so

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<v Speaker 1>much more absolutely and so that could be an additional

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<v Speaker 1>hotel charge as well. If someone's leaving the day before,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe they are still flying, but they want to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure that they leave plenty of buffer to get to

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<v Speaker 1>that meeting. Hotels are very expensive this year, they're full.

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<v Speaker 1>It also means if someone is canceled or delayed and

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<v Speaker 1>they're trying to return, that could tack on an extra

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<v Speaker 1>hotel stay on the other end as well. Yeah, and

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<v Speaker 1>sticking with the hotels and kind of these other events,

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<v Speaker 1>spaces and whatnot. I know a few people in the

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<v Speaker 1>hotel industry, the hospitality industry, and even they're you know,

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<v Speaker 1>they're getting bombarded by the same things that's happening everywhere.

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<v Speaker 1>A lot of staffing shortages and whatnot. And for some

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<v Speaker 1>of these travel companies that handle with with businesses and whatnot,

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<v Speaker 1>and and the business travelers themselves, they're saying, I'm dealing

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<v Speaker 1>with people I've never dealt with before. You know, so

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<v Speaker 1>many people are taking more, taking on more responsibilities, trying

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<v Speaker 1>to accommodate all this stuff. Right as they're staffing shortages,

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<v Speaker 1>people are doing the jobs of two or three other people.

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<v Speaker 1>So one company that books corporate travel mentioned to me

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<v Speaker 1>that they had an experience at a hotel where the

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<v Speaker 1>director of sales was booking and planning the entire event

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<v Speaker 1>rather than just booking the event. And passing it off

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<v Speaker 1>to on site operations staff. They saw the entire process through,

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<v Speaker 1>and we're even on site with banquet staff to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure that everything went off well. And that can be

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<v Speaker 1>tough for organizers and for the workers as well. They're

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<v Speaker 1>running on firing on all cylinders, and for the organizers,

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<v Speaker 1>it can take a while for things to come together

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<v Speaker 1>because people who are stretched then take a little bit

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<v Speaker 1>longer to respond and coordinate. It's interesting, right, everybody had

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<v Speaker 1>been wanting to get back to normal how it was

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<v Speaker 1>before the pandemic, and you know, we're slowly starting to

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<v Speaker 1>get there, at least when it comes to workplace issues

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<v Speaker 1>and drive, you know, and the travel and all this

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<v Speaker 1>stuff associated with it. But men are those growing pains

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<v Speaker 1>to get back there so difficult and planning a big

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<v Speaker 1>corporate event, which are starting to come back now, right.

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<v Speaker 1>You mentioned one event where they were trying to do

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred and fifty percent event, pretty big, but twenty

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<v Speaker 1>flights got canceled, fifteen percent of the attendees got affected,

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<v Speaker 1>and it just really throws everything for a loop at

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<v Speaker 1>that point. Yeah, because then you have to decide should

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<v Speaker 1>we start the event with the people who are here

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<v Speaker 1>or should we wait for them to get here, should

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<v Speaker 1>we add on extra time at the end? Is there

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<v Speaker 1>even space in the hotels for these people? Are we

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<v Speaker 1>able to get them flights there? And when will they

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<v Speaker 1>rejoin the event? So it becomes really complicated when you

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<v Speaker 1>have people traveling from all over. Yet there is a

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<v Speaker 1>very strong desire for these in person events to reconnect

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<v Speaker 1>with colleagues and clients as well. So the desire is there,

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<v Speaker 1>it's just all of the rigamarole and getting there. And

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<v Speaker 1>any of the people that you spoke to, did they

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<v Speaker 1>mention anything about trouble with actually getting those rental cars

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<v Speaker 1>if they're opting not to do the plane ride, maybe driving,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, if they're not using their own personal vehicle.

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<v Speaker 1>Was there any difficulty there, because it's another story we

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<v Speaker 1>have been hearing too, just the difficulty and the backlog

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<v Speaker 1>with rental cars. Yes, they've been reserved for months. People

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<v Speaker 1>have learned now that they need to make those reservations early,

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<v Speaker 1>and in some cases people are having an issue because

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<v Speaker 1>they only want the car to go one way and

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<v Speaker 1>those book things are pretty rare to come by. So

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<v Speaker 1>if someone has a return flight and they're hoping that

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<v Speaker 1>that goes off as well. They are just trying to

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<v Speaker 1>get to their initial destination, so it can be really

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<v Speaker 1>tough to find a one way rental car, especially on

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<v Speaker 1>such short notice. Yeah, and they'll tack on fees too.

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<v Speaker 1>If you just want to leave it somewhere else, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>oftentimes they say, well you can, but it's gonna cost

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<v Speaker 1>you extra just even for that. So a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>difficulties with getting back to normal, especially for the business

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<v Speaker 1>travelers and the companies that employ them. Alison Polly, travel

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<v Speaker 1>reporter at the Wall Street Journal, thank you very much

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us. Thanks so much for having me. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>Oscar Ramiers and this has been reopening America. Don't forget that.

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<v Speaker 1>For today's big news stories, you can check me out

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<v Speaker 1>in the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So

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<v Speaker 1>follow us in I heeart Radio or wherever you get

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