Oil nearly $11 barrel now...what about vacations (summer, drive)

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by warptman

Can make a special stop on the way down and pick you up...

Is Kalispell on your route?

[warptman]

Originally Posted by cobolt

Is Kalispell on your route?

My brother lives in Baker, eastern Montana. Can drop the parents off and go back to the park or something. We'll see what goes on in a couple months.

[DannyL]

what's a vacation????

[warptman]

Its something you do to forget about day to day life.

[akck]

We're making a run from Haines to Anchorage at the end of the month. I figured $4.25-4.50 average price (figured it would be cheaper on both ends), so now I'm thinking a $5.00 average. Too late to change plans since we bought ferry tickets, but the gas prices makes the flying option plus car rental more comparable.

[rotorhead]

It truely does look like we're in the midst of an airline meltdown. We were already overdue for a correction in the US, there are just plain too many airlines perpetually on the edge of bankruptcy. I suspect it'll go back to some form of govt. regulation if it gets bad enough, and while air travel might just get a little less unpleasant, it's not going to get any cheaper....ever.

I suspect that the days of the "$99 fare to anywhere" is long over, and that the new higher prices will become the default. We were living in a temporary "bubble" of unrealistically cheap airline travel, and we're only now coming to terms with it's disappearance. In many ways it'll be like going back to the old days, when airline travel was a lot less common and a much bigger deal than it is today. Not a good deal, as in price-wise, but a big deal as in "it's my first time in an airplane" big-deal.

[Arcticthaw]

#2 heating oil today is $4.37 a gallon. unleaded is about $4.18. Maybe I should consider swithcing the boiler to gas..... Well the insurance company might not like that.

Have a trip around Alaska planned for later this month. 1700 miles aproximatly. Figure on about $1100 in fuel for the motorhome.

Remember this summer motorhomes won't be slow they will be conserving fuel!

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by rotorhead

It truely does look like we're in the midst of an airline meltdown. We were already overdue for a correction in the US, there are just plain too many airlines perpetually on the edge of bankruptcy. I suspect it'll go back to some form of govt. regulation if it gets bad enough, and while air travel might just get a little less unpleasant, it's not going to get any cheaper....ever.

I suspect that the days of the "$99 fare to anywhere" is long over, and that the new higher prices will become the default. We were living in a temporary "bubble" of unrealistically cheap airline travel, and we're only now coming to terms with it's disappearance. In many ways it'll be like going back to the old days, when airline travel was a lot less common and a much bigger deal than it is today. Not a good deal, as in price-wise, but a big deal as in "it's my first time in an airplane" big-deal.

And it's really going to get interesting if/when the airlines start charging passengers according to their weight. Of course, those of us who have taken the puddle jumpers in AK know about the whole weight and balance issue, but by in large, the airlines and American public don't work this way. I'm sure the heftier of the lot will start class action law suits and the like for weight discrimination, but I digress.....

More mergers or chapter 11, elimination of routes, leaner, and of course, more expensive. All those frequent flyer seats will be harder to obtain too as flights become fuller and less of those seats are reserved for actual paying passengers. Flying probably will become less of a commonplace thing.

[Barkingowl]

Originally Posted by cobolt

Flying probably will become less of a commonplace thing.

That'll be unfortunate.

[BudinAk]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

I was reading that stocks plummeted today 400 points and oil neared $140 barrel. I could just scream!! Gas in Anchorage today was 4.09, in the Valley it's 4.17, but just wait, it'll be going up "again."

Anyone have any vacation plans? We were going to drive down to the lower 48 but may have to rethink this whole thing.

I wish I could get gas for $4.09.....here in Seward it is $4.62 to $4.72, depending on what station you are at. Diesel is $5.36 and fuel oil is $4.55. Heating our homes this coming winter promises to be a real problem on our checkbooks, if these prices hold up....
We have cut our out of state vacations in half already...like maybe once every three or four years...and it may very well get worse....


Bud