Tag Archives for coronavirus.
One Mile at a Time asks “What Does New Vaccine Timeline Mean For Travel?” now that the current expectation is enough doses in the U.S. for every adult by the end of May. What he’s really asking, I think, is once you’ve been vaccinated (and waited two weeks for full protection) and once community spread is significantly reduced (from vaccinations, immunity from prior infection, and seasonality), will you feel comfortable traveling?
Lufthansa will set up a Covid-19 vaccination site inside Moscow Domodedovo airport so that people can fly in, get the Sputnik V vaccine without clearing immigration or customs, and then fly back.
Ultimately we need more jabs in arms, the quicker the better, through whatever means necessary. Many governments have been more focused on who gets shots out of a limited supply than making sure people get shots, and increasing supply. That prolongs the pandemic and costs lives.
American Airlines now lets AAdvantage members redeem 12,000 miles for an at-home Covid-19 test and they’re offering slightly more than a penny per point in value with the redemption.
Covid-19 will probably become endemic and manageable, rather than be eliminated. With advances in treatments and with vaccinations, the virus doesn’t seem likely to overwhelm the health care system again. And that means we should look to lifting restrictions, educating people about risks, and allowing them to once again make their own decisions. For some, that’ll mean ‘jab and go’ – precisely the airline message that has been banned in the U.K.
Canadians are used to driving across the border into the U.S. to find cheaper airfare – even to get other places inside Canada. Flying from Canada to Mexico and back to Canada used to be known among frequent flyers as ‘the Mexican Hat Dance’. And the challenge of sky high fares for Canadians may get worse in the future with Air Canada acquiring Transat.
However Canadians have a new reason to make use of U.S. airports: a loophole that allows them to circumvent mandatory quarantine on arrival.
The TSA, which manages security at most U.S. airports, is looking to hire 6000 screeners because they “expect to screen a higher number of travelers regularly by the summer months.”
There’s a worry over faster spread from the B.1.1.7 U.K. variant, and reduced effectiveness against vaccines from the South African variant. But there’s real reason for optimism that even with a virus that spreads faster, and even with one that can better evade antibodies, the summer at least should be ‘pretty normal.’
Two tourists were arrested on arrival in Hawaii last Friday after trying to bribe a Honolulu airport worker out of required quarantine on arrival, since they lacked eligible negative Covid-19 tests.
This tells us 3 things about Hawaii’s quarantine.
Are there risks to using a dental appointment confirmation email to circumvent travel restrictions? Just show up for your appointment while on vacation. Those who use the dental loophole, and prepay might as well get a cleaning out of it rather than no-showing, even though “current law permits travelers to be charged only at the point they attempt the overseas journey, not after the fact.”
Alaska no longer requires a negative Covid-19 test to avoid quarantine on arrival, however they encourage testing: Alaskans already had no cost testing, that’s now available to visitors too.
Confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from Covid-19 are declining. Vaccine supplies in the U.S. are growing. Though more infectious strains of the virus are spreading, we may be entering a lull in the virus due to seasonality. Summer was a peak in the U.S., but in areas where it gets hot and people head indoors, and the U.S. population hadn’t been exposed to the virus before so there wasn’t much background immunity.
We should be on the cusp of beating the pandemic, with enough vaccines for everyone in the country (there should even be approved this fall for tweens and teens). It’s time to get excited about a return to normal life, right? Not so fast.
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 »
