Category Archives for Commentary.
One of the things I really enjoy doing is responding to reader questions and it looks like I haven’t really opened things up in a structured way in some time. So here’s your chance.
What happens if someone picks up COVID-19 during their travels? They get tested and need to quarantine?
Ben Schlappig, known as Lucky from the One Mile at a Time blog is contemplating a trip to Iceland next month and the way he frames the discussion, and the ensuing comments, are a fascinating sociological study in how people are reacting to the coronavirus pandemic and travel.
He’s talking about visiting Iceland – which plans to welcome visitors starting June 15, with COVID-19 testing on arrival. He shouldn’t be sheepish or apologetic about this.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly says it is safe to fly again, “We’re doing everything possible to encourage people to come back and fly.”
I’m going to offer what I hope is a slightly more limited and nuanced take, that it is safe for some people to plan now to travel again during the months of June, July and August. This is speculative, but sums up my currently thinking about where we stand.
The U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico are closed to non-essential travel, but agents on the border processing immigration say they haven’t received guidance on what that means and they’re left to make up the rules themselves.
Immigration officers further resent the number of people coming into the U.S., viewing them as physical threats to their health.
The major approaches to ensuring arriving passengers are safe and are not infected all have limitations – so severe that they may not provide much protection at all.
There’s a new analysis of the best cities in the U.S. to be quarantined in. It takes into account average apartment size (very important), prevalence of high speed internet (crucial), amount of park land (so you can get out and still social distance), and number of takeout food options.
In December New York State law began allowing undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses and stopped sharing applicant information with immigration enforcement agencies.
In Early February the Trump Administration announced that because of this law, New York residents would no longer be allowed to enroll in or renew Global Entry. They claimed they needed access to New York’s DMV database as part of their identity verification process. Several New Yorkers are suing.
It’s taken as almost a given that the cruise industry is going to suffer for the long term. After seeing shifts sailing endlessly, not welcomed in any port, and becoming floating petri dishes for the spread of disease, who is going to get back on a ship?
And yet there are reports that cruise bookings are actually up compared to the same point in 2019, with cruise customers saying they’ll sail again.
With United’s Oscar Munoz, Marriott’s Arne Sorneson, and the CEOs of Carnvial Cruise Lines, Hilton Hotels, and Starwood Capital on the important panel to bring back the economy, here are the steps we can expect the country to take.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
