Travel Tips

Ask Peter: Scoring Last Minute Deals & Honeymoon Planning

Locations in this article:  New York City, NY Portland, OR

Spring means planning summer travel and crossing summer travel road blocks. Wondering if you should book now or wait for a last minute deal? What should you consider when planning a honeymoon? What’s the easiest way to deal with European currency logistics? Ask Peter! The Travel Detective will be standing by to take your calls Thursday, April 12, (starting at 7am ET) on his Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio Broadcast.

You can talk to him at 1-888-88-PETER (1-888-887-3837), email peter@petergreenberg.com,  tweet questions to @petersgreenberg (use #askPeter), or post questions on his Facebook page

This week, Peter shares his thoughts on American Airlines, his tips for planning kid-free honeymoons, currency exchange in Europe and last minute vacation plans.

Sarah from Highland Park, Illinois wrote: I’m thinking of flying somewhere in August on American. Should I make reservations? I’m worried about them.

Peter replied: Don’t worry about American Airlines. The reason why American Airlines filed for bankruptcy in November of last year was simply to get their costs down and to restructure. The airline has nearly $4 billion in the bank and they’re not going to go anywhere anytime soon. This is not a situation where the airline was cash-starved or on the imminent brink of liquidation – not even close.

When you take an airline that has the mass and the size of American Airlines, it would take a whole lot more than a bankruptcy filing to end their business.

The only question that remains about American – and it’s a significant question – is when it does come out of bankruptcy, can it exist as a stand-alone? Or are it going to have to merge with somebody? Or is somebody going to buy it? We don’t know the answer.

We do know is that their CEO is saying two things because they almost sound like they’re contradicting each other – that they’re open to a merger and they’re also open to buying someone else. I mean which one is it? That’s the same thing Doug Parker says at U.S. Airways and that’s the same thing that Richard Anderson is probably saying at Delta right now. The only people we haven’t heard from are people like Jeff Smisek at United because it’s just absorbing Continental, and trying to figure out what it is going to be doing.

For more information on American Airlines, read Peter’s Travel Detective Blog on American Airlines Bankruptcy, Milage Program and Industry Changes.

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