Sun Country doubles down on Florida this winter, despite Hurricane Ian

In the wake of Hurricane Ian, Sun Country Airlines is expanding, not contracting, its Florida options for Minnesota vacationers. The leisure airline announced new service from Minneapolis to Melbourne Orlando International Airport — gateway to Florida's Space Coast and Cocoa Beach — starting Feb. 3. Meanwhile, it will debut service to Destin-Fort Walton Beach two months earlier than planned, on Feb. 2. That makes 12 Florida airports for Sun Country. The airline did not show signs of reducing flights to the Ian-ravaged Gulf Coast — including Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, Sarasota, Tampa and St. Petersburg — even as many areas face a long recovery. "Despite the impacts from Hurricane Ian, Sun Country will continue to offer service to all of these airports," said chief revenue officer Grant Whitney in a release.

Simon Peter Groebner

The causeway washed out by Hurricane Ian that links Sanibel Island to the Florida mainland reopened with temporary repairs on Wednesday. The 3-mile causeway was badly damaged, with initial predictions that repairs could take months. Instead, the span reopened after just three weeks. The storm killed more than 100 people in Florida, many of them in Lee County, where Sanibel and its famed seashell beaches are a top tourist destination. One lifelong Sanibel resident said having the causeway back will really help the barrier island because so much recovery work remains. "The causeway is our lifeline. It means everything to get it back," said Troy Thompson, operations manager at his family's Lazy Flamingo restaurant.

Associated Press

Four months after raging floodwaters swept through Yellowstone National Park, the park reopened its Northeast Entrance Road to vehicular traffic on Oct. 15. Five sections of the road were significantly damaged in June, when four days of record rainfall, combined with melting snow and rising temperatures, brought flooding and mudslides that tore out bridges and changed the course of rivers. The completion of the work means that 99% of the park's roads are now open. Four miles of paving and 5,000 feet of guardrail are still being installed on Old Gardiner Road, which runs between Gardiner, Mont., and Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo. That road is expected to open no later than Nov. 1.

New York Times

Japan has reopened to visa-free travel, eliminating its daily entry cap and making it easier for visitors to plan their own getaway without a tour operator. After two-plus years of some of the strictest COVID border policies in the world, the marquee Asian destination is welcoming back individuals for travel and tourism without cumbersome quarantine or testing requirements. Nonetheless, travelers must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have proof of a negative PCR test. The Japanese government is luring visitors back by starting a domestic travel initiative featuring discounts on transportation and accommodations. However, the prolonged period of limited international visitors means that visitors should anticipate staffing shortages, from the airport to their hotel and beyond.

TravelPulse

NerdWallet refreshed its annual analysis of points and miles programs and found something unexpected in a sea of bad inflation news: Almost every domestic airline's miles either have increased in value or stayed the same this year. American Airlines' miles rose in value from 1.2 cents per mile in 2021 to 1.5 cents in 2022. Delta SkyMiles rose from 1.3 cents per mile to 1.5 cents per mile. Put simply: Cash prices went way up this year and award prices also went up, but not as much. Airfares were 33% higher in September 2022 than that month in the year prior. Meanwhile, airline miles are valued only 8.7% higher on average than last year.

NerdWallet