It appears that frustration with costs have been significantly diffused in the last four months, perhaps because the price of oil is now a fraction of what it was during the summer. In fact, just two in 10 Americans (22%) say that cost issues, specifically gas prices (18%), are the most frustrating aspects of traveling. Compared to December 2007, the proportion of Americans who say they’re most frustrated with the price of gas is down six points and down 13 points from August 2008.
"The cost of travel, which is greatly impacted by the cost of oil and gas, has been the major source of frustration for the last year," said Mark Cipolletti, vice president for marketing and communications at Access America. "But now with cheap gas and airline tickets, consumer frustration has plummeted – so much in fact that people don’t even appear to be upset about baggage fees and the loss of free in-flight amenities."
Other aspects of travel that Americans are less frustrated with, compared to a year ago, include airline/airport service (44%, down 10 points), the cost of airline/cruise/train tickets (46%, down 3 points), the cost of lodging or attractions (41%, down 6 points), and homeland security and safety (35%, down 6 points).
By creating an "index of frustration" among those who have traveled in the last three months, Ipsos and Access America have identified the aggregate level of frustration that exists among American travelers. The results have been tallied, and Americans are much less frustrated, overall, than they were a few months ago when it comes to traveling. The index currently registers at 42.6, which is drastically lower than the frustration factor in August of this year (55.1) or even at the end of last year (53.3)
The index also allows for comparisons among various demographic groups:
* Those living in the Northeast (44.6), South (43.6) and Midwest (42.5) are more frustrated with traveling, overall, when compared to those living in the West (39).
* Those with children (45.5) are considerably more frustrated with traveling than are those without children (40.6).
* Interestingly, those who are not married (46.0) are more frustrated by travel than are married individuals (41.3).
* The gap in frustration between business (41.2) and leisure (42.6) travelers has been closed.
Comparing the different modes of traveling, it appears that the calculated level of frustration is still higher when it comes to car travel (score of 44.3) than with air travel (score of 38.4). Car travel appears to be particularly frustrating for those with children (48.8) than for those without (41.3).
Despite a drop in annoyance, fewer Americans report having traveled during the last three months, compared to the same period of time in 2007. One in ten (10%) say they’ve traveled within the last week of taking the survey (down 4 points from a year ago), 8 percent have traveled two to three weeks ago (down 3 points), 8 percent one month ago (down 2 points), and 11 percent two to three months ago (down 2 points).
