Or for me because of status I can book a points trip tie up the seat and cancel last second with no penalty and get my points put back in both for the room and the airfare..

The low airfares and maybe cabin fever have contributed to lots of visitors from the mainland. 

The only deduction is the cost of your lunch with Ashish.Here is a good common sense test: would a reasonable person pay for airfare, hotel and whatnot just to interview a potential new CPA?

I have always invested closest to home so all the little emergency things can be handled locally our network of Contractors Plumbers,Electricians are also all local. out of state plan on at least 4 tripts in the first year if renovating Air fare X4 Hotel /Motel Rental Cars all can drag you into a negative cost cycle. unless the size of the deal makes Travel expenses irrelevent add them to your buget forecasting. 

That's what occurred with airfares and may make the rates be more transparent.  

Then in March 2003 I received foreclosure papers.I have had to fly out to Florida from Arizona for a 12 hour derogitory, then again for a hearing in a Judges quarters, at a cost of over $3k each trip for motels, airfare, meals, rental car etc.

Also, remember that foreign students have much higher and different hoops to go through from domestic - just to get a student visa, they have to show they have been accepted to the university, and full documentation to the US government that their source of funds is at a minimum enough to pay for roundtrip airfare, the out of state fees for a year, plus lodging and food/health insurance and then some.

Then, consider airfare, fuel costs, general inflation higher, gets more expensive for average folks to travel.

If you are operating a STR in what is primarily a "fly-to" destination, your downside in a recession is much greater, simply because airfare can dominate a travel budget. 

As long as your trip is primarily for your rental activity, you can add a ­vacation to the end of the trip, make a side trip purely for fun, or even enjoy evenings doing vacation activates, and still deduct your entire airfare, rental car, or standard mileage rate if using your own car.