Fishing Travel News – Early October 2021

We continue to monitor news that may affect our favorite past destinations and bucket list future destinations – as well as tidbits that impact our friends’ travels. Here are a few things we’ve come across since the beginning of the month that seemed pertinent: 

United Airlines Expands Their Reach in Southern Africa

Our Fall 2016 three week trip to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia only gave us a small taste of what that region has to offer and we are determined to get back and see more. That may be made more affordable and beneficial via United’s recent expansion of services down there. They’ve partnered with South African airline Airlink to service all of those countries we visited, plus more (a total of 12), so we’ll be able to use our miles to get there and earn more of them along the way. United will continue to partner with South African Airways. 

Qatar Unbundles Business Class

As we’ve documented before, the best flight experience of our life was a business class route from Dulles to Johannesburg, through Doha, on Qatar Air. We saved our miles and found the juice to be completely worth the squeeze. So that leaves us unsure of what we think of Qatar’s decision to “unbundle” their biz class tickets into four different fares. Depending on which one you choose, you may not earn the same number of frequent flier miles, you may not be able to pick a certain seat, and/or you may not get access to their lounges. If this is a truly an unbundling, with each feature being offered a la carte for a flat rate, that could be good for consumers who don’t care about certain features and would otherwise not be able to justify the cost of an upgraded ticket. I just always worry that these developments hurt the consumer because rather than a reduction of cost it just leads to a budget minded consumers paying the same amount and those who want the full experience paying substantially more. 

Air Seychelles Goes Into Bankruptcy Protection

I’ve made no secret of the fact that the Seychelles is high on my bucket list of destinations, although any trip there will likely have to wait at least five or six years, at which point Hanna and I should have more time to head across the globe. Unfortunately, that trip may become more difficult and/or more costly since Air Seychelles is now entering into bankruptcy. It may be reorganized and saved, or may ultimately be dissolved, but fewer options to remote destinations is always a tough pill to swallow for long-distance and budget-conscious travelers like us. 

Limited Goliath Grouper Harvest Allowed

Goliath Grouper are a species that many of our fishing travel friends and influences have chased. They grow to massive dimensions and are readily available in U.S. waters, making them one of the most easily-accessed trophy species for domestic bucket listers – assuming that you have the muscle power to get one in the boat. In recent years they’ve been heavily protected, which is one reason why you see so many “hero shots” of them with the angler in the water, but now Florida Fish and Wildlife may allow some limited harvest in certain waters as early as 2023. Up to 200 will be harvestable, with “tags” awarded randomly and a slot limit and fees imposed. I don’t know if this is a good or bad direction for the state to take – there were comments both in favor of and opposed to the proposed rules. 

Canadian Flights Restored

For our Canadian friends traveling to fish, particularly those looking to escape the winter cold and head to warm destinations like El Salto and Picachos, there’s some good news: Porter Airlines has resumed all of it’s year-round routes after a pause of approximately 18 months due to COVID restrictions. Of course, this could also be great for U.S. anglers who’ve been shut out of their Canadian fly-in trips over the last couple of summers and are anticipating hitting those relatively unpressured fisheries in 2022. 

Bicycles Not an Upcharge on United, But Fishing Rods Still May Be

Following the example of other major U.S. domestic carriers American and Delta, United has dropped the oversize baggage fee for bicycles checked as luggage and packed appropriately. Unfortunately, they made no such change to their fishing rod regulations, which read in pertinent part as follows: “First or second checked bag service charges may apply. The items will be subject to standard service charges for oversized and overweight bags.” I recognize that more people likely fly with bikes than full-sized rod tubes, and that ticketing agents may therefore be more used to them, but someone with more power than me needs to reach out to them and get this changed.