Tag Archives for immigration.
A passenger off of a transatlantic flight to New York has shared what happened when they were accidentally directed straight out of JFK airport – instead of being directed to immigration.
They were sent a note by the airline that they had to return to New York JFK airport the next day and given a specific time to do so in order to present themselves to the U.S. government.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency is proposing to require that all passengers on flights in and out of the United States provide a U.S. address; two phone numbers, and an email address – or be denied boarding.
Foreign visits to the U.S. are down substantially compared to pre-pandemic times. That’s bad for airlines. It’s bad for hotels. But it’s bad for the entire U.S. economy, too. And it’s an own-goal, with the U.S. government slow-walking people who want to visit here from around the world.
There’s speculation that migrants could be headed to President Biden’s home next, based on filed flight plans for one of the planes that was chartered for the Martha’s Vineyard trip.
Did you know that foreigners cannot visit the United States and then make Canada or Mexico their next destination, at least if they’re from a Visa waiver country in Europe or somewhere like Australia (and not actually getting a Visa, something almost no one does)?
One Australian learned the the hard way that the rule is onward travel must be to somewhere “other than a contiguous territory or adjacent island unless they permanently reside there.”
Friday afternoon’s United Airlines flight from Dubrovnik to Newark was delayed about an hour and a half on departure. On arrival passengers were let off the aircraft and staff opened a door into the terminal instead of directing passengers to immigration and customs.
The mistake was caught quickly, and as one passenger on the flight put it, the airline worked to “round up all of the people that headed off into the terminal.” Passengers were then held “until they figure out what to do next.”
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.
Last summer Hilton disavowed the government’s use of its hotels to house undocumented immigrants. Marriott declared that their hotels shouldn’t be used to temporarily house people picked up in immigration raids.
So you would be forgiven for thinking that Hilton hotels were no longer being used to detain migrants.
Wait times at London Heathrow immigration hit 7 hours on Monday and a passenger collapsed. An airport executive told U.K. parliament that “police were being called to deal with tensions that flare up as people queue for hours at a time.”
Manual U.K. Covid processing – checking of forms and tests and evidence of booked future tests – is taking so much time that it’s potentially increasing the spread of the virus.
Canada’s hotel quarantine rules had a loophole. Passengers returning to Canada by air had to spend three nights at a government quarantine hotel waiting for Covid-19 test on arrival results, while those who crossed the border by land could quarantine at home.
This can be avoided by flying into a U.S. airport near the Canadian border and renting a car or taking a cab. That’s exactly what’s happening.
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 »
