美国国家公共电台 NPR--Time is running out to book relatively inexpensive flights over the holidays

Time is running out to book relatively¹ inexpensive flights over the holidays

Transcript²

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Time is running out if you're hoping to book a relatively inexpensive flight over the holidays. Airlines say demand is strong, and prices are rising quickly, and that means those airlines are back to pulling in huge profits. From Chicago, NPR's David Schaper reports.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE³: Airline executives are as gleeful as kids unwrapping holiday presents as they report big third-quarter profits.

ED BASTIAN: The demand for air travel remains⁴ very strong.

SCHAPER: That's Delta⁵ Airlines CEO Ed Bastian, noting that pandemic-weary travelers are back.

BASTIAN: After two years of delaying travel, it is clear that consumers are getting out and traveling the world.

SCHAPER: Ed Bastian predicts it'll be a very strong holiday season, a feeling echoed over at United by chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella.

ANDREW NOCELLA: We are definitely seeing a lot of strength for the holidays. We're obviously approaching the Thanksgiving time period, and our bookings are incredibly strong.

SCHAPER: And Nocella notes a significant change in holiday travel.

NOCELLA: The bookings are a little bit different this year in that they're more spread out across multiple days. That definitely is a new travel pattern for us.

SCHAPER: Fewer Thanksgiving travelers are flying out the Wednesday before and heading home the Sunday after. Those who are able to work remotely are staying longer and spreading out their travel over a week or more, so the Mondays and Tuesdays before and after the holiday are busier. And the same is true at Christmastime, too. As for airfares...

HAYLEY BERG: Overall, the Thanksgiving and Christmas airfares are much higher than last year, but last year was still a pandemic-impacted holiday season.

SCHAPER: Hayley Berg is lead economist⁶ for the travel search and booking app Hopper. And she says fares are up 40% or more on some routes because demand is surging while the airlines are not yet back to full capacity.

BERG: Which means we're going to have fewer flights available and more travelers looking to either go home or go on vacation for the holidays. That means that you might be paying a much higher price and not be able to get a seat on the specific flight that you want to take.

SCHAPER: Berg recommends booking holiday travel now because prices are only going to go up more. And she warns that there will likely be some chaos⁷ for holiday travelers.

BERG: We do expect the holiday season to be very busy, and that does mean we'll see higher cancellation⁸ and delay rates. That said, we're not expecting to see such high volumes of cancellation and delays like we saw this summer.

SCHAPER: Across the industry, airlines say they've been hiring and training more flight crew personnel to prevent the staffing shortages that caused widespread flight disruptions over the summer. And they've cut back on flights to more realistically match their schedules to staffing levels. But some in the industry aren't so sure.

DENNIS TAJER: Right now management continues to stuff the holiday turkey with uncertainty⁹.

SCHAPER: Dennis Tajer is a 737 pilot for American Airlines and spokesman for the pilots union there. He says his airline has not yet fixed¹⁰ the problematic scheduling that left little room for error when bad weather hits or other problems arise.

TAJER: I can tell you - I just got my schedule for November. Our schedules are loaded up to the max again. There's not going to be much room.

SCHAPER: Union pilots and flight attendants at other airlines raised similar concerns. But transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg said this week that airlines do seem better prepared for the upcoming holiday travel season than they were for the tumultuous summer.

David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.

1 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

8 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

9 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

10 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。