Delta dissatisfies
Delta Air Lines is one of two carriers along with JetBlue that saw a decline in satisfaction in the American Customer Satisfaction Index, a survey conducted April 2022 through March 2023. Delta saw its customer satisfaction score dip 1 point to 76 on a 100-point scale, putting it in near the middle of a ranking of U.S. airlines. Delta's high airfares may be a factor, since it has seen declines in ratings on "perceived value," according to ACSI. Delta saw the number of complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation nearly triple in 2022, to 4,616 complaints, from 1,594 in 2021. That's significantly higher than the 963 complaints filed against Delta in 2019.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Japan drops restrictions
Japanese officials announced that international travelers would no longer be required to deal with COVID-related border restrictions starting May 8. Travelers heading to the island nation currently need to show proof of full vaccination or a negative test conducted within 72 hours of departure. Japan has slowly reopened to international travel, first welcoming individual travelers last year through guided tour companies, but several rule changes led to confusion and stifled tourism's rebound. In October, Japan reopened to visa-free travel from dozens of countries, eliminating its daily entry cap on tourist arrivals and making it easier for visitors to plan their own getaway.
TravelPulse
Yosemite falls
Massive snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has transformed Yosemite National Park, and the impacts are likely to last all summer, perhaps longer. The park's world-famous waterfalls are thundering now as billions of gallons of melted snow cascade 1,000 feet or more down sheer granite cliffs. Flooding is likely through early July, which could close the park at times. "The meadows are wet and lush," said Cory Goehring, lead naturalist for the Yosemite Conservancy. "The Merced River is rising. It's raging. And the waterfalls? They are so loud, they sound like an airplane taking off." It's likely that the public won't be able to drive Tioga Road or to the end of Glacier Point Road until after July 1, the latest ever.
San Jose Mercury News
Camp-etition
Avid campers are painfully aware of how challenging it has become to secure camping reservations. Getting a spot was five times harder in 2022 than before the pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the Dyrt website and app. Its 2023 Camping Report found that an estimated 80 million people went camping in the U.S. last year, 7.2 million for the first time. More than 58.4% of respondents said they had a hard time finding campsites in 2022. That number was only 10.6% in 2019. The two most popular kinds of camping were via RVs (35.8 million) and tents (30.6 million).
Denver Post
