Just read due to the situation in the Middle East airline fuel prices have risen by 71%. Airlines are expected to significantly increase air fare costs to cover this.
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Yup, not a single positive thing about this. I have lots of sits booked up in England for the coming months - but Iām not sure in each case where the HOs are travelling to, so that could impact the stability of those sits.
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Well traveling, as much as I love it, is bad for a lot of things that I love more.
The war is bad. The consequences of the war to the people who are safe from injury and death are great. The consequences cap over-consumerism, and in addition they motivate the common person in safety to act against the war, so that they can continue to get their coffee at the non-living-wage price they are used to, and their flights at the overly-substituted-low-prices they are used to.
Sure I also am sad that I dont get to go to Asia with the Trans Siberia rail. Due to the āsituationā in Ukraine, where white christians are harmed. Somehow I just dont feel comfortable to complain about that, must be because it is easier to care for them.
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Just done 2 overseas sits, glad Iāve only got a few Uk sits booked, but. as mentioned, they could be at risk. Looks like the situation is getting worse.
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Yep weāre in āEurope onlyā mode this year ā¦. with a few River Cruises already booked mostly using trains/tunnel/ferries or just short hop flights from Gatwick. We were due to go to Taiwan and Thailand but theyāll be on hold for the time beingā¦. and happily we saw our Son and his wife (who live downunder) whilst they were visiting Austria back in January so no Perth WA trip this year for us thank goodness!
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I also feel the reality of this war is far greater than the inconveniences of losing out on [a trip for HOs/a sit for sitters], but also that cancellations on either end are really stressful.
I never post a sit until Iāve purchased my tickets to wherever Iām going, and hopefully existing sits are equally firm (and that sitters already purchased any tickets needed to get there), so maybe the cancellations wonāt be so great, but this is going to impact travel a ton. Iām more sad for the state of the world than for travelers (including myself in that category), and I just hope everyone has a bit of grace for any unexpected changes or hiccups that happen.
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Yes to a bit of grace. I see so much in the media at present āthe government is terrible, they havenāt helped usā, all kinds of governments. I get that people are scared and god forbid inconvenienced, but when a war breaks out everyone is on the back foot. The only good solution here is for countries to stop bombing other countries!
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I have already been in contact with my next few house sits to confirm the HO hasnāt cancelled or is thinking of cancelling their plans. Even local trips are in jeopardy due to the shortage of fuel storage as Australia only has 1 monthās supply and people are stocking up already which means it wonāt last the month. Itās the same with groceries, the shelves in the supermarkets are already out of stock or very low. Very similar to the COVID panic purchasing.
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Where abouts are you in Australia @petintuition as I havenāt noticed the supermarket shortages yet where I live? At least I wonāt need to stock up on toilet paper!!
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Iām in Queensland, I was going through the northside of Brisbane and stopped to purchase groceries for my sit. I always take my own toilet paper, food, kitchen, bathroom and laundry supplies and couldnāt believe what I was seeing. Unless they hadnāt received their stock order as yet but people were as shocked as I was. And yes toilet paper was in low supply as well sorry to shatter that illusion for you. Speaking of world events, I noticed a HO asking the electricity be paid for by the house sitter for the time they were at the home. Is this a usual request?
@petintuition I have 48 rolls of Who Gives A Crap toilet paper at home so Iām okay!! Iām in Victoria and I havenāt noticed supermarket shelves getting low yet. Also, there were no queues when I filled up with petrol this morning but price had certainly gone up.
Being asked to contribute to utility bills needs to be included in a listing so if thatās where you read it, host can ask and applicants can decide whether to apply or not.
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I am in Scottsdale, AZ and have to head back to Toronto on Tuesday. I filled up before prices went up. And topped off two days ago at Costco, which had gone up, but not so bad. It will cost me more to drive across, but doable.
@richten1, quick post to say thank you 
for heads-up. Read this thread on Friday, pondered and thought smart insight.
We needed to book transatlantic flights and were pausing to explore connecting housesits. But decided book international flights and work domestic logistics in future.
For the nerds out there, Perplexity (AI) is fabulous vs conventional platforms for searching flights where there is significant flexibility in departure or arrival airport, and/or dates (e.g. fly from Canada location X to anywhere in UK/Europe across date range).
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Iāve only seen very sporadic requests for sitters to cover utilities and that was a sit in Oz where there were no pets to care for just the home and plants, and maybe one in England but through another platform. I think requesting sitters to be rational with their usage is completely rational, particularly if the sit is somewhere like the UK where gas/power bills are anywhere between 100 and 200 quid per month, with conservative use, and depending on the size of the home. Iāve never been asked to cover utilites - not here in the UK, not mainland Europe, not in the US, and no matter what season itās been. As far as toilet paper is concerned? I donāt know that you need to worry that so much, lovely. 
Well, Iāve been sitting internationally for the last 17 or so months and have seen a slight increase in fares but nowhere near a 71% increase, not by any stretch. Airlinesā stock/shares have plummeted, but Iāve not yet seen a dramatic rise in cost of fares. Not yet, anyway. The scramble for rebooking-flights, flights that were to leave the Middle East or were going through the Middle East, led to massive fare hikes but that was merely because of the competition for those seats, a LOT of people were trying to get from A to B and not having an easy time of it. My current sit had to rebook from Oz to the UK so she goes through Singapore instead of Doha and it cost her a FORTUNE. Not because of fuel costs but because 3000 other people were trying to get home too.
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Iāve only been looking for US sits in the current world situation and everything is set through mid-summer. And both the HOs and I have our flights booked.
I do weekly checks of all of my trips to see the airfares have changed (with Delta you click on āchange a flightā and you can see the current prices - in the last week, Iāve seen a few fares go up were I to rebook the same trip, but Iāve also seen one go down by $75.
So I selected change and picked up a $75 credit good for the next year.
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Watching the news itās suggested airlines and certainly UK utilities have stockpiled some fuel but many of the airlines and UK utility companies suggest supplies may only last a month at most.
Many airlines buy fuel on contract, say for the next quarter or two. That means the price will adjust with the new contract, depending on market conditions.
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We are US based and have a trip planned for July (within the US). Typically, we donāt buy airfare this far out (4 months) but in light of world events, should we get them now?
Thoughts?