Election night flying 🇺🇸
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2022
Posts: 783
Election night flying 🇺🇸
Is it traditionally very expensive to fly on Election Night in America to America?
There are crazy prizes showing for Nov 5th to JFK (although going the day before is cheaper) and the couple of days after are also very high.
There are crazy prizes showing for Nov 5th to JFK (although going the day before is cheaper) and the couple of days after are also very high.
#2
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,766
Not sure about flying in, but depending on the result there may be a huge demand on leaving America on the 6th.
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: MSY (finally); previously NYC, BOS, AUH
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Posts: 17,250
This may surprise others, but there’s a shocking number of Americans who don’t have passports. I was dating one when Donald Trump was elected. The next day I made her get her passport application in. (She has since been to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and London.)
#4
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: In the Land Beyond OHare
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Posts: 202
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London
Posts: 18,418
Back in 2004 (the bmi days) it couldn’t have been so expensive as I flew to New York that day with UA, but it was an indirect flight. I arrived at Washington in the election’s aftermath and there was an eeriness to the airport.
The small plane to New York was completely full and the valiant flight crew was doing his absolute best to remain upbeat and chipper during the flight. We made a lot of eye contact and I sent him lots of smiles because the plane was otherwise entirely filled with morose, sullen people. The despair for Kerry having lost the election was palpable, it flooded the cabin and became a molasses through which the FA had to distribute cups of water. I was glad to be there to give him some moral support.
The small plane to New York was completely full and the valiant flight crew was doing his absolute best to remain upbeat and chipper during the flight. We made a lot of eye contact and I sent him lots of smiles because the plane was otherwise entirely filled with morose, sullen people. The despair for Kerry having lost the election was palpable, it flooded the cabin and became a molasses through which the FA had to distribute cups of water. I was glad to be there to give him some moral support.
#6
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: At home
Programs: BA
Posts: 290
I’ll be on a transatlantic cruise from Europe into Miami during the vote, which I imagine will be populated with US citizens of a certain age, not my best travel plan.
#7
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,062
Alternatively,
Is it traditionally very expensive to fly on Guy Fawkes’ Night in Britain to America?
Is it traditionally very expensive to fly on Guy Fawkes’ Night in Britain to America?
#8
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,684
But how many, particularly northern, Europeans get passports simply to travel to a sunny destination for a holiday. US citizens can do that without a passport. How many French citizens have passports, less than half I believe, whilst a much smaller country than the US they possess sun and snow, the main reasons people travel for holidays. As with any statistic context is always important.
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
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#10
Join Date: Jan 2022
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 1,481
Pew says 56% of US adults have passports. And 27% of people have never left the country. Neither of these seems particularly shocking. Plenty of Brits travelling consists of drinking holidays to Shagaluf. The US is big and Americans could do the equivalent in Daytona Beach or South Padre without need for passport. And I imagine there are loads of people in say Puglia who have never left southern Italy.
#11
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: Sir CT-UK - Streaker pour les autres.
Posts: 5,905
Indeed, and cold wet places as well.. Ferry services to the UK over the winter have been desimated due to students not being able to come to the UK to learn English, now Ireland has benefited hugely from this.
#12
Join Date: Nov 2015
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 133
Our wealthy European/North American perspective of the world as a small, easily traveled place is very much the minority perspective.
#13
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: AUS
Programs: AA Exec Platinum/MM, DL Gold/MM, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 6,985
Makes no sense to me. There is really no reason for fares to be expensive on election day. It's a Tuesday, which tends to have lower fares anyway and I can't think of why anyone booking this far out would be traveling specifically due to the election. On election night in 1988 my (soon to be) wife and I flew from NY to DFW to get married the following weekend. Those were the good old days when you had to vote in person on the day of the election, so we had to take care of that before leaving.
The flight was on People Express and I recall the pilot announcing mid flight that the election had been called for Bush.
The flight was on People Express and I recall the pilot announcing mid flight that the election had been called for Bush.
#14
Join Date: Mar 2024
Posts: 15
Pew says 56% of US adults have passports. And 27% of people have never left the country. Neither of these seems particularly shocking. Plenty of Brits travelling consists of drinking holidays to Shagaluf. The US is big and Americans could do the equivalent in Daytona Beach or South Padre without need for passport. And I imagine there are loads of people in say Puglia who have never left southern Italy.
Perhaps Pew is adding Passport Card holders to the mix, a National ID Card that allows travel to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and some Caribbean nations by land or sea, not air. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was what drove the 2007 spike, as a Passport, Passport Card or certain other ID was then officially a requirement for Mexico, Canada and a number of cruises. Basically, until 2001+, most Americans could travel the entire North American continent without a passport, needing just a photo ID like a simple drivers license. The second spike is likely related to the initial REAL ID requirement rollout, a requirement for air travel that has been delayed quite a bit.
#15
Join Date: May 2012
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the evening of Election Day…I’m thinking you might have network press and staff traveling to nyc for evening election coverage.
with many states having early voting options in October you might not have as much surge of voting on the 5th. Because of early voting mechanisms like mail in or drop in voting you are likely not going to have anything decided till Saturday after….so folks aren’t escaping.
I do not know if the Federal Reserve has its meetings in nyc….but Nov 6-7 they have a meeting…if it’s in nyc you have many coming into nyc.
november 3 is the nyc marathon
therr can be other meetings/ conventions occuring in nyc nov 6-8 period