Even as the grounding of the Max 9 prompted Alaska Airlines to cancel thousands of flights in January, the carrier came out relatively unscathed in the first quarter. And that’s partly because its business travel fully recovered to 2019 levels.
30.03.2024 - 22:05 / insider.com
During the earliest stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans reminisced about the things that used to bring them joy. They never stopped thinking about that last big trip with their families or that last in-person concert they enjoyed with friends.
Four years later, American consumers have mostly moved on from the pandemic and are spending more on experiences than ever before.
Prioritizing experiences, however, has led to a major shift in their financial lives: The personal saving rate in the US has declined considerably.
The Washington Post recently reported on how consumers in the US have embraced a sort of YOLO — or "you only live once" — mindset. In 2023, consumer spending on foreign trips and live entertainment rose by nearly 30 percent, according to the newspaper.
Spending levels have so far continued to rise in 2024, too. In February, personal consumption expenditures increased by $145.5 billion compared to January, with $111.8 billion spent on services, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Related stories
At the same time, perhaps predictably, the US personal saving rate has declined, according to the bureau.
In February, the personal saving rate was 3.6 percent, a drop from 4.1 percent the month before. (The rate sat at 4 percent last November and 3.9 percent in December.)
Once consumers were able to spend freely on their wish list trips and attend concerts and festivals without onerous health restrictions, they started booking flights and hotel rooms and purchasing tickets to see the artists that they love.
So instead of continuing to put away money for the future, which is what many people tried to do in recent years, many consumers now want to make up for the time they lost during the pandemic.
"When you live through a crisis, it gets ingrained in your brain," University of California at Berkeley behavioral finance professor Ulrike Malmendier told The Washington Post. "The official economic reports might say everything is coming back to normal, but we are different people than we were before the pandemic."
Malmendier told the Post that after the Great Recession, many Americans overhauled their financial habits; many consumers started to save more of their money.
But the angst of Americans during the pandemic unleashed a different sort of sentiment, Malmendier said.
"The adverse effects of Covid weren't necessarily financial; people got jobs quickly and the government stepped in with support," he told the newspaper. "Instead, it's about all of the things we were starved for: human interaction, socializing, travel. People are spending money on the things they missed most."
Even as the grounding of the Max 9 prompted Alaska Airlines to cancel thousands of flights in January, the carrier came out relatively unscathed in the first quarter. And that’s partly because its business travel fully recovered to 2019 levels.
Skytrax has released its annual ranking of the world's best airports — and if you're a frequent flyer it may come as little surprise that none in the US made the top 20.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday announced a new partnership with more than a dozen state attorneys general to investigate consumer complaints against airlines.
Certares, a leading travel and tourism investment firm acquired FTI Group, the third-largest tour operator in Europe.
International travel is back. In 2023, the number of global air passengers reached nearly 8.5 billion, or 27 percent above 2022 levels, and 94 percent when compared to 2019 figures, according to Airports Council International (ACI).
The United States' 63 national parks draw huge crowds.
Planning a vacation this summer? Yeah, you and just about everyone else.
Independent British manufacturer Swifty Scooters has just launched a groundbreaking product that marks a significant milestone in British transportation history. The Swifty GO GT500 is the first e-scooter to receive official approval for road use in the UK, becoming the first road-legal e-scooter that a consumer can buy.
If you're looking to get away this summer, you may find inspiration from Google Flights' list of the top searched destinations for the summer of 2024.
Holland America Line is celebrating a pair of sustainable seafood certifications—one from the Marine Stewardship Council, and the other from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.
Tenor Jonathan Tetelman, a Castro, Chile native, stars as Ruggero in The Metropolitan Opera’s La Rondine, streaming Live in HD to cinemas around the world on Saturday, April 20th at 12:55pm ET.
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in almost 25 years shook the island of nearly 24 million people at 7:58 a.m. local time on Wednesday, causing buildings to crash, landmarks to crumble, and landslides to topple roadways and train tracks. As of press time, there are 10 reported deaths, as well as 1,099 people injured, 705 trapped, and 11 missing, according to an update from Taiwan’s Fire Agency posted Thursday morning.