Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko reflect on 25 years since 9/11 and how the attacks reshaped modern travel, from TSA and airport security to PreCheck, Clear, and the airport gate experience.
They also discuss why New York City hotels are so expensive in September, how peak-demand “compression nights” drive hotel pricing, and what Sarah’s experience using Instinct reveals about the next phase of AI-powered travel booking.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 Remembering 9/11
01:04 Seth’s 9/11 Story
04:22 How Flying Changed
08:40 Travel Resilience Data
11:12 Airlines Consolidate
15:08 NYC Travel Now
17:48 Hotel Rates Explained
23:12 Instinct AI Agent
28:05 Reservation Wars
33:36 Winners and Losers
39:42 Wrap Up and Plug
