Tag Archives for europe.
It’s clearly time that Europeans should be allowed to enter the U.S. There’s no good virus-related reason to keep them out. But what about letting American’s visit Europe? The European Commission is recommending new guidelines for save travel, and the U.S. is on its way towards meeting their criteria.
Right now much of the world is closed to U.S. tourism. On the whole the Caribbean is opening, and the Maldives opens July 15. Turkey and Serbia are open. But most of the world that will accept Americans at least requires coronavirus testing on arrival or two week quarantine.
The E.U. is trying to come up with a list of countries whose citizens will be allowed to enter starting July 1. The U.S. isn’t expected to be on it.
The E.U. acknowledges that travel vouchers are a bad deal for customers. They might expire unused. Fares might go up. And airlines might go out of business. Individual airlines and governments should work to resolve these issues to make vouchers more attractive, and once that happens they think vouchers should be endorsed as an option. However the E.U. stands behind its requirement that cancelled flights entitle a customer to a refund.
Plans to re-open the economy in phases are still speculative, and still just plans. They haven’t yet hit the reality of local politics (sustaining closures in the face of a struggling economy) or European politics (and pressure, perhaps coming from Germany and in exchange for economic aid, to follow a more unified approach). Thus pronouncements about re-opening Spain ‘at the end of the year’ and Italy ‘after March 2021’ are at this point merely suggestive of the challenges that international travel will face, rather than something to be taken at face value.
Americans will be required to get an ‘ETIAS’ (European Travel Information and Authorization System) in order to travel to Europe, which is essentially what the US requires of Europeans (an ‘ESTA’). It’s advance permission to travel.
Of course the game of tit-for-tat is far from over. Two years ago the US Secretary of Homeland Security said he wanted to revisit allowing Europeans to travel to the US with ‘only’ an ESTA. By the way the number of people killed by terrorists who entered the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program is zero.
Airline investor Indigo Partners threw Wow Air a lifeline and Wow Air is partying with $49 flights to Europe.
From BWI I see January 21 through March 11 available to Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, London, and Iceland. There are similar offerings from Newark, Detroit, and Boston. This sale ends January 18 but limited inventory will sell out faster than that.
News and notes from around the interweb: Looks like all your can jet private flight app company JetSmarter is imploding. In the beginning they offered amazing deals (and burned tremendous cash). I only ever used them when they gave free trial memberships to customers with elite status and big mileage balances. The LAX Tom Bradley Terminal finally has PreCheck Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on flying coach: When speaking to the Royal Aircraft Association back in 2002, Prince Philip commented on the British royal family’s air travel conditions. “If you travel as much as we do, you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort,” he said, “provided you don’t travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly.” Pan Am 103: Robert Mueller’s 30 year search for justice bet you…
U.S. travelers are certainly aware of the challenges of dealing with visa applications to visit certain countries, and how much simpler it is to visit somewhere that either doesn’t require a visa for U.S. citizens or allows for visa on arrival.
The U.S. won’t allow foreigners without approved visa or ESTA to board aircraft headed for the U.S. That raises the transaction costs of coming here, which makes doing business with the U.S., spending tourism dollars, and supporting U.S. industry more difficult for little security benefit in exchange.
Last month I mentioned American Airlines matching British Airways’ megabonus for premium class tickets to Europe, and said that United couldn’t be far behind. Indeed, United is offering 42,000 bonus miles for first and business class roundtrip tickets to Europe flown by December 31. Registration is required.
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 »
