Delta’s Meltdown, Venice’s Money Haul and Biz Travel Winners

Skift Take

Today’s podcast looks at Delta’s fifth day of chaos, Venice’s successful tourism fee, and U.S. cities where biz travel has rebounded.

Rashaad Jorden

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, July 24, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. 

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Episode Notes

Delta Air Lines is facing mounting pressure from travelers and the U.S. government as disruptions caused by a recent IT outage continue. The Department of Transportation is launching an investigation into the carrier, writes Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi. 

Delta has canceled more than 5,000 flights after the outage last Friday caused systems relying on Microsoft Windows to crash. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said on Sunday that the airline would provide Delta SkyMiles and travel vouchers as a “gesture of apology.” However, some customers said they haven’t received any vouchers and report long wait times to reach customer service where some have gotten conflicting information. 

In addition, the Department of Transportation said the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection would conduct the investigation due to the ongoing flight disruptions and reports of customer service issues. 

Next, Venice implemented a roughly $5 entry fee for day trippers earlier this year as part of its strategy to combat mass tourism. Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam provides three takeaways from Venice’s experiment.

Habtemariam notes the number of day trippers to Venice during the 29 days the entry fee was in effect decreased compared to 2023 levels. Venice collected more than $2.5 million in fees, which local officials intend to use to improve the city’s infrastructure. In addition, a city spokesperson said Venice is considering raising the entry fee next year and expanding the number of days it’s in effect. 

Finally, as business travel spending worldwide is expected to boom this year, American Express data has revealed the five U.S. markets seeing the fastest growth based on commercial customer hotel transactions, reports Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill.

As business travel spending in North America has already reached pre-Covid levels, O’Neill reports college towns Princeton, New Jersey and Durham, North Carolina occupy the top two spots in Amex’s rankings. Amex compared business travel spending occurring between April 2023 and March 2024 with the same period a year earlier.