Time To Kill Me Some Chuzzles

[salmon_pink]

Can I ask a quick and random question of the Americans on my Flist? Is there something ... significant about the 16th of May? We're planning our holiday next year with that date set for departure, and for some reason all the flights out there are far more expensive on that Saturday than any other. Just wondering if anyone might have any idea why?

Comments

[chibi_trillian]

Spring Break's a bit earlier, generally. And Mother's Day was the weekend before, so it's not that. On the other hand, that is about the time that American college students are finishing up spring semester/graduating. I suspect that's your problem right there, combined with unbridled optimism by the American airline industry, which seems to be under the unfortunate delusion that the economy will totally recover in early spring and air travel will pick right back up! :D

[salmon_pink]

Ah, I see, thank you so much. I'll have to prepare myself for the potential onslaught of graduates then. Hopefully they'll be my kind of people - I know I celebrated my graduation with a trip to Florida, even if it did mean three years of balancing work and uni and saving like a mofo.

We're getting similar stuff over here, with the decline of the economy and all that. If I hear the words 'credit crunch' one more time, I'm liable to shoe someone to death. Lots of 'scrimp and save, have a tight little Christmas, everything'll be better by Spring, honest'. It's almost enough to make me feel guilty for buying that Wii. Almost...

[sevendials]

If I may just jump in, can I add that I'm sick to death of hearing the words 'credit crunch' as well and if you do decide to shoe someone to death because of it, I'll be quite willing to hold your coat for you?

At this stage I want to just have the recession and get it over with, God damn.

[salmon_pink]

Urgh, yes, please.

It's bad enough to get the constant supermarket ads, where they proudly exclaim "credit crunch, argh, be frightened, here, we've taken 2p off our own brand of baked beans, SEE HOW WE HELP YOU PEONS!" But then there's the media withering on about the credit crunch and all the great sales in the same sentence, which would be great if they were sales on daily-used items, but it's always "look, this AMAZING dress is reduced from a grand to five hundred, SUCH a bargain, you should totally go for it. And, oooh, look at these tiny ornate teacups that are too small to hold a single sugar cube. You should get them, they're on sale, it makes sense in this terrifying finacial environment."

We just had a 99p Store open in my hometown, and there was a letter in the local paper that said we may as well now change our name to ChavCity because of it, so apparently not everyone got the memo about the recession. I'm guessing the letter-writer has been holed up in their mansion since last year, or something.

[mishagirl]

I would say that is the beginning of summer as far as school vactions are concerned. Like College for me went from mid August-to may...then in the summer there was May term, and Summer I and Summer II terms which were optional.

So College is out around may...and in the south a lot of high schools/middle schools are out in June.

Students + Teachers on vacation mean primo time to plan family vacations. Early in the season and late in the season is where the deals for hotels are...so the airlines are trying to cash in on the timing.

Spring break is usually between feb-April, depending on the school and the way the calender falls that year.

[salmon_pink]

Oh, okay, that makes a lot of sense, thank you. Here in England, schools tend to break up mid-July, with final exams for applicable years at the end of June, so it's a bit confusing for me. I'm hoping May will work out okay though - I've been stateside for 4th of July before, and it's not a good time to be in Florida. :(

[sevenblades]

Part of this may actually be to detract Canadian fliers like myself who have a long weekend around that time!

[salmon_pink]

Ooooh, evil. I know flights to Europe often go up around UK bank holidays, it sucks muchly.

[mcdoh1902]

Haha...no idea. Some schools start getting out around that time? And this mythical Spring Break is usually ALWAYS connected with Easter. :D

[salmon_pink]

Ah, good to know there won't be any SPRING BREAK IS AWESOME MTV parties around, since television has told me Spring Break only exists as spontaneous pool parties.

[cosmiko_ling]

:S I'm reading the comments to this thread with much interest, cos I'm planning a holiday to the US during the mid May period as well. orz Seems like it isn't a very good time..? I dunno, schools on vacation = sound like crowds = not very good? D:

[salmon_pink]

Yeah, seems like higher education lets out around that time, or near the end of May, but I'm hoping it shouldn't be too much to worry about. The reason we picked this time of year was thanks to a nice reliable DisneyWorld message board that claims mid May presents a nice lag just before the summer holidays crowd hits, in the same way the end of November/first week of December are quiet because everyone's waiting until nearer Christmas to travel. So it shouldn't be too bad, fingers crossed, and a lot of people in touristy places will likely be couples without children or groups of adults, who tend to be able to be more flexible and therefore less irritable and terrifying than families.