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King Charles coronation could bump up air travel to Britain to pre-pandemic levels
Throngs of U.S. fans of the British royal family eager to witness the coronation of King Charles III next week are expected to travel to the U.K. to watch the historic event in person.
Attendance at the May 6 ceremony at Westminster Abbey is an official state event and is by invitation only, with some 2,000 guests expected to participate. But people can still partake in the pageantry through guided tours of palaces and castles associated with the royal family and other regal traditions.
A recent survey by UK Inbound, a trade association focused on tourism, found that 16% of local businesses said they have seen an increase from international visitors in bookings or inquiries related to the King’s coronation and the Eurovision Contest, an international song contest set to take place May 9 -13 in Liverpool.
For example, U.K.-based tour group Tours International has sold out its “King Charles III Coronation Tour,” which includes a visit to Westminster Abbey — the site of the coronation, as well as opportunities to enjoy afternoon tea, see sites associated with the royal family and watch the King’s coronation procession along The Mall in central London. The package even includes an “etiquette” workshop on drinking tea. One sample topic: Do you put milk in the teacup first or last?
First, of course, visitors need to get to England. Data from travel booking site Kayak shows searches for flights from the the U.S. to London during coronation weekend are up 40% compared to the same weekend last year. Travel app Hopper has recorded 14% more bookings to London over May 6 compared to the same weekend a year earlier.
Flights to London over coronation weekend currently average $786 per one-way ticket, up more than 7% compared to the same weekend in 2022.
“Without doubt there’s an increased demand for flights to the U.K. for King Charles’ coronation,” Going CEO Scott Keyes told CBS MoneyWatch. “Air traffic to London Heathrow in the first quarter of 2023 had already recovered to 95% of 2019 levels, and I’d expect that figure to climb further amid the royal backdrop.”
Public interest in the coronation also appears to be driving up the cost of lodging, with London hotels averaging $313 per night, compared to $222 a year ago, according to Hopper.
London hotel bookings for May 5-7 are up 64% over coronation weekend, compared to one year earlier, according to Expedia. Most of that demand is driven by U.S. tourism, followed by U.K. locals as well as visitors from Canada, Germany, France and Australia.
The Conrad London St. James is located a stone’s throw from Westminster Abbey, making it a suitable destination for those looking to catch a glimpse of the procession. Rooms start at $326 per night for two people.
The Mayfair Townhouse, which is close to Buckingham Palace, is capitalizing on the coronation by charging guests for royal-themed surprises, welcome cocktails and souvenirs. Rooms start at $374 per night for two people.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce giant for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized walkouts in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect any impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
Amazon is ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest companies.
At a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City, Atlanta and the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join” them, the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, aren’t its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party businesses, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.“
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
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