Inflation and delays don’t seem to be dampening demand for travel

With the last day of the school year fast approaching, the summer travel season is about to kick into high gear.

But if you're heading out on a trip soon, travel expert Jim Byers says to prepare for delays if you're flying.

An alert posted to Halifax Stanfield International Airport's website cautions passengers of potential line-ups. Travellers are being asked to arrive at least two hours before a domestic flight and three hours for those heading to an international destination.

Line-ups could be even longer if you have a connecting flight, especially when returning from overseas, as seemingly endless queues to get through security and customs have been reported at Canada's major airports.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Press reported that in May, nearly half of all passengers arriving at Toronto's Pearson airport from destinations abroad were held up.

In total, some 2,700 flights arriving from outside the country were delayed at Pearson last month. In May of 2019, there were only four.

“When people are coming in from overseas and have to go through Canada customs, those lines have been taking quite a long time,” Byers told CItyNews Halifax. 

“They're worried about too many people in the customs hall, there maybe aren't enough customs officers and things get delayed, so a lot of people end up spending sometimes an hour or more on the plane waiting to go through Canada customs, and that's pretty frustrating.”

Delays and cancellations have also been plaguing American flights due to labour shortages, people calling in sick with COVID and bad weather. And it's not just a North American issue.

“London Heathrow the other day was described as a 'sea of luggage' because there were all these problems,” Byers said. “London Heathrow even went so far as to ask some of their airlines to cancel or delay some of their flights until they could get their baggage problem solved.”

“Amsterdam's airport has also seen lots of problems over the last few weeks.”

Those frustrations may have some rethinking their method of travel, but with the price of gas and lack of rental cars, there are also downsides to driving so many still aren't being deterred.

“It depends on who you ask but if you talk so some of the bigger travel companies, they're saying there are hassles, there are high prices, but we are still seeing that really strong demand from those people who really didn't get to go anywhere for two years,” Byers explained.

“It's kind of like, 'Come heck or high water, I'm getting on the road. I don't care what it costs me, I'm going to treat myself.'”

A recent survey by Rakuten.ca found 68 per cent of Canadians are planning to take a leisure trip this year. And although visiting family and friends is high on the priority list, 45 per cent are thinking of travel internationally because it can often be cheaper to fly overseas than within Canada.

But Byers said that's starting to change thanks to ultra-low cost carriers like Swoop, Flair and Lynx, which all service Halifax. Canada Jetlines is expected to join the mix later this year, but it hasn't yet released information on a launch date or routes.

Byers thinks the pent up desire to travel is trumping higher prices and squeezed budgets due to inflation right now.

“Even people like myself who are paid to keep an eye on the industry, I'm a little bit surprised by the voracity by this rebound. It's been really, really crazy,” he said. 

“Business travel is probably the one thing that's a little bit slow in terms of the really big conventions and things like that, we haven't seen that maybe bounce back as much, but leisure travel, in some cases it's even surpassed what it was in 2019.”

Byers said the travel surge may die down a bit as we approach the fall, but it's likely to return once the temperature drops.

“Don't forget, when those first snowflakes fly, you know what we Canadians are like. We're pouring over those trips to Cozumel and Jamaica.”