USA opens borders
Let's get away from vaccination points of view.
It was announced that vaccinated Europeans will be accepted in the USA "from November" (although all the journalists seem to have been allowed over there last week for the summit). When in November, and what procedures apply ? Show vax certificate ? Can we trust some additional regulation not to be snuck in, like "has to be certified". Any lateral flow test required before departure or on arrival ? When are the carriers taking bookings from ?
It was announced that vaccinated Europeans will be accepted in the USA "from November" (although all the journalists seem to have been allowed over there last week for the summit). When in November, and what procedures apply ? Show vax certificate ? Can we trust some additional regulation not to be snuck in, like "has to be certified". Any lateral flow test required before departure or on arrival ? When are the carriers taking bookings from ?
I’ve just booked our flights to Denver for Christmas to see the family. Booking accepted, ESTA renewed, we are both double AZ vaccinated, which is apparently fine. Assume we’ll need some sort of test 48 hrs before leaving UK but nothing required to fly home.
is all that going to work OK ? ..,.. at BA’s highly inflated flight price ?
is all that going to work OK ? ..,.. at BA’s highly inflated flight price ?
Yep. Those who were in essential employment/reserved occupations in the entertainment industry had exemptions as the authorities realised that if these celebrities weren’t regularly appearing in the media, we might forget who they were and that would have been appalling. Plus, they also needed to be able to travel freely in order to attend award ceremonies too…
I was more thinking along the lines of foreign companies that invested heavily in the US (critical infrastructure etc.) that could send their foreign workers to the US. Also people for compassionate reasons, like close relatives dying etc.
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Any rumours when in November it'll open up? My missus hasn't seen her parents for nearly 2 years so we gambled and bought tickets flights to the US for mid November. Keeping fingers crossed for dates and the AZ vaccine being accepted, just because Dr Fauci says it shouldn't be a problem does not mean that it won't be.
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Just came back frm a family visit trip US-Netherlands-US, this time not as crew.
Neg covid test b4 dep USA +proof vaccination +health decl, required for dep. At check-in airline needed to check all this in order to issue boarding passes. We travelled non-rev, 40 pax on a 787-9 . All non-revs in bussn ofc.
Most pax seemed not to fall under the exemption rule ( European travel ban )but all entered through immigration (SPL) without issues, at SPL they checked neg covid test and health decl paper for entry, no proof of reason travels required.
Upon dep SPL proof of neg covid test(within 48 hrs of dep) and proof vaccination was required to issue a boarding pass, entry into the US immigration/customs required nothing special(just yr passport eg).
So now great time to fly non rev between USA and Europe because of light loads, from November on that will probably change quickly.
Handling agent told us that most flights are pretty empty(pax) but full bellies earning the revenues.
Neg covid test b4 dep USA +proof vaccination +health decl, required for dep. At check-in airline needed to check all this in order to issue boarding passes. We travelled non-rev, 40 pax on a 787-9 . All non-revs in bussn ofc.
Most pax seemed not to fall under the exemption rule ( European travel ban )but all entered through immigration (SPL) without issues, at SPL they checked neg covid test and health decl paper for entry, no proof of reason travels required.
Upon dep SPL proof of neg covid test(within 48 hrs of dep) and proof vaccination was required to issue a boarding pass, entry into the US immigration/customs required nothing special(just yr passport eg).
So now great time to fly non rev between USA and Europe because of light loads, from November on that will probably change quickly.
Handling agent told us that most flights are pretty empty(pax) but full bellies earning the revenues.
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tdracer
Maybe the travelling public are still spooked and can't tell the difference between a -900 and a MAX? Also, the -900 has more seats so would have a lower occupancy when the same # of pax travel.
Maybe the travelling public are still spooked and can't tell the difference between a -900 and a MAX? Also, the -900 has more seats so would have a lower occupancy when the same # of pax travel.
Delta doesn't have any MAX aircraft - and I'd think most people who care would probably know that, so I doubt that was a major part. Seat wise, Delta configures for 132 on an A319 and 180 on a 737-900 - I doubt there were more than 90 people on the return flight so there's more to it than that.
What WHBM wrote is interesting and plausible - it's just not the way we did things when I was working. We avoided flying on Sunday - messes up the weekend and we didn't get paid to fly on weekends (engineering - the machinists did get paid to fly weekends so they didn't mind as much). With laptops, we could still do most of the stuff we could do in the office while on the road, so not much rush to get back to spend Friday in the office (I used to like to stay at places like Embassy Suites that had evening receptions - I'd go down and drink beer while I worked through the day's email - made the email go much easier
). So we'd typically leave to head home on Friday - with the 3 hour time difference between the east and west coasts, we could fit in nearly a full day on Friday, take an evening flight, and still get back to Seattle at a reasonable hour and have a full weekend.
What WHBM wrote is interesting and plausible - it's just not the way we did things when I was working. We avoided flying on Sunday - messes up the weekend and we didn't get paid to fly on weekends (engineering - the machinists did get paid to fly weekends so they didn't mind as much). With laptops, we could still do most of the stuff we could do in the office while on the road, so not much rush to get back to spend Friday in the office (I used to like to stay at places like Embassy Suites that had evening receptions - I'd go down and drink beer while I worked through the day's email - made the email go much easier
). So we'd typically leave to head home on Friday - with the 3 hour time difference between the east and west coasts, we could fit in nearly a full day on Friday, take an evening flight, and still get back to Seattle at a reasonable hour and have a full weekend.
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https://apnews.com/article/4826edefa...37684e4f64d553
Land borders to reopen for nonessential travel. Visitors must be vaccinated. I assume air travel restrictions will be lifted soon as well, as we go into the holiday season.
Additionally, your trip needn’t be scrapped. You can fly to Miami, then take a ~1hr (block time) flight to Tampa.
Land borders to reopen for nonessential travel. Visitors must be vaccinated. I assume air travel restrictions will be lifted soon as well, as we go into the holiday season.
Additionally, your trip needn’t be scrapped. You can fly to Miami, then take a ~1hr (block time) flight to Tampa.
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In that article is still no date, apart from the “early November”.
I know there is a surge in US bound ticketsales and as BA apparently cancelled on nov 13 they either know more or they still don’t and want to avoid last minute cancellations.
So, indeed: when, when when?
I know there is a surge in US bound ticketsales and as BA apparently cancelled on nov 13 they either know more or they still don’t and want to avoid last minute cancellations.
So, indeed: when, when when?
Last edited by golfyankeesierra; 13th Oct 2021 at 18:29.
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Thanks, I didn't expect a persons name 
UK govt I assume? There are several agencies who have a say in the US administration, I'm not sure who has the final say on the date.
29th or 30th November would still meet the intent to reopen in November, and from a practical perspective I can understand why you would want to push it back until after Thanksgiving which is traditionally the busiest time of the year for airports. But it would be massively disappointing to the thousands of us who have booked flights in November to go visit family we haven't seen for 2 years.
UK govt I assume? There are several agencies who have a say in the US administration, I'm not sure who has the final say on the date.
29th or 30th November would still meet the intent to reopen in November, and from a practical perspective I can understand why you would want to push it back until after Thanksgiving which is traditionally the busiest time of the year for airports. But it would be massively disappointing to the thousands of us who have booked flights in November to go visit family we haven't seen for 2 years.
Unfortunately it's all down to The US who says when, which leaves everyone else in the dark!
I Have just heard that there is a new rumour going round that it could now be earlier! So I guess it's a case of watch this space!
I Have just heard that there is a new rumour going round that it could now be earlier! So I guess it's a case of watch this space!