Surge in flight searches departing USA follows Trump victory

A negative kneejerk reaction by UK travellers to the US presidential election result has been avoided, according to global flights search site Cheapflights. However, interest in one-way flights out of the US soared in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory. Cheapflights managing director Andrew Shelton said: “Despite a steady decline in UK flight searches for … Continue reading Surge in flight searches departing USA follows Trump victory

A negative kneejerk reaction by UK travellers to the US presidential election result has been avoided, according to global flights search site Cheapflights.

However, interest in one-way flights out of the US soared in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory.

Cheapflights managing director Andrew Shelton said: “Despite a steady decline in UK flight searches for the USA, which reached 52% in the final week of the [presidential] campaign, Brits resisted a kneejerk reaction to Trump’s victory as overall UK to US searches have remained static, a week on.

“Our annual compass report shows that the USA is the most popular long-haul destination for British holidaymakers with New York being the most searched-for city in the world.

“Whilst there is perhaps no immediate threat to America’s position as a British holiday favourite, alternative destinations such as Canada may benefit in the longer term.”

He added: “Our flight search data shows that in the 24 hours immediately after the US presidential election result, overall US to UK searches rose 11% when compared to the 24 hours prior and now stand 19% higher than one week prior to November 8.

“Whilst flight searches in the first day after Trump’s victory from Democrat-held Los Angeles to the UK fell 25%, major Clinton cities saw remarkable rises including San Francisco by 96%; New York City, 50%; Boston, 22%; and Chicago, 21%.”

“On November 8, there were more than double the searches – up 133% – on our American site for one-way flights to Canada than we saw, on average, in the same time frame across the previous four Tuesdays.

“As the results rolled in overnight flight searches to Canada peaked at 1,000% up on average volumes in the previous four weeks.

“One-way flight searches to the UK, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Germany all jumped up by over 500% between midnight and 8.00am compared to the same time period over the previous four Tuesdays.

“One week after the result, US searches for one-way flights to the UK have dipped 10% when compared to the week before the election suggesting the ‘flight response’ of many has dissipated.”