Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is hitting back at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s placing his country’s air safety rating under review, with expectations of a downgrade, and the implications for limiting new flights to the U.S. by Mexican airlines and placing constraints on the ability of U.S. airlines to codeshare with Mexican carriers.
Commentary
Category Archives for Commentary.
A Surprising Snag Travel May Run Into With Vaccine Passports This Winter
Covid-19 vaccines are phenomenal. And they’re about to open up a lot of travel possibilities: so-called ‘vaccine passports’, only we don’t know how long those passports will be valid as a result of virus variants and uncertainty over how long they provide protection.
Much of the world is ordering not just first injections but also booster doses, in case these passports need to be extended. The U.S. hasn’t done this yet.
Planning Vacations Is More Fun Than Actually Traveling
Happiness from vacation wears off quickly once you get back. The middle part of a trip winds up mostly as a blur, it’s the end that counts. You should probably work while you’re on vacation if you want to break up the trip and create more starts and ends and less middle, and avoid doing too many things that you’ve done before while you’re gone.
It’s Time To Lift Restrictions For Entering The U.S.
U.S. travel policies have not kept up with world events, or even the science of Covid-19.
The U.S. should drop its ban on travel from areas with less Covid-19 than the United States. And it should drop its requirement for a Covid-19 test for those that have been vaccinated.
Are Mask Mandates Extending The Pandemic?
I’ve been very ‘pro-mask’ throughout the pandemic, arguing that flight attendants should be allowed to wear them back when airlines forbid it and the CDC wasn’t yet recommending it. I’ve even argued that conservatives should favor mask-wearing as a ‘conservative alternative to lockdowns’. I applauded JetBlue as the first U.S. airline to require masks for passengers. It helped build confidence to travel, knowing that everybody else on board would be wearing a mask.
However the federal transportation mask mandate is no longer useful, and may be counterproductive – even extending the pandemic in the United States.
Are Covid Testing Requirements Spreading The Virus?
The Director of the CDC has stated “vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don`t get sick.” Yet vaccinated Americans have to take a Covid-19 test before flying back to the United States and vaccinated travelers from the U.K., which has far less Covid-19 per capita than the U.S., remain banned from even entering the country.
But what if Covid-19 testing requirements are actually spreading the virus?
Stop Shaming People Who Aren’t Ready To Travel
While travel shaming may have been understandable at the start of the pandemic, and getting out into the world may make sense for many that have been vaccinated, this is a time for tolerance of others’ risk profiles and preferences since we’re in an ‘in-between space’ where there’s still virus spreading and still people at great risk for it, even as an increasing number of people face very low risk to themselves and others.
Confidence In Return To Travel: We Do It By Doing It
The first time back is a little weird at first, but it’s not something that really lingers. You get over the strangeness of it all by doing it. One trip back and you’re an expert at it again.
What does go a long way is a welcome and kind confidence from employees. It makes you feel like they’ve been there, they’re fine, and they know this is all going to be ok.
Is There A Constitutional Obligation To Offer Vaccine Passports?
Some state governors have issued orders against vaccine passports, but these have only limited meaning, such as not requiring state employees to get vaccinated and not requiring proof of vaccination for state business. The Biden administration has said they’ll facilitate but not require vaccine passports.
But do governments have a constitutional obligation to offer vaccine passports? That’s the argument that two law professors make, that government action to protect people from public health risks must use the least restrictive means possible. – and vaccine passports are required because they allow people to escape restriction.
6 Reasons The New Federal Warning Not To Travel To 80% Of World’s Countries Is Bizarre
The State Department announced a ‘do not travel’ recommendation for 80% of the world’s countries. They are explicit that this decision is not their assessment of risk for those countries, but a change meant to mirror what the CDC already says. Indeed the CDC’s current guidance does not match actual risk.
However this is the wrong direction for travel guidance, and it’s the CDC that should be updating risk assessment.