Sep 15, 2021, 1:47 pm
Last edit by: NewbieRunner
New thread for discussing 1-day test requirements for travellers arriving in the US by air
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coronavirus-travel/2060730-us-require-air-travelers-provide-negative-test-within-1-day-departure.html
Entry ban from eight southern African countries starting on November 29, 2021
Most non-U.S. citizens who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique or Malaw within the prior 14 days will not be allowed into the United States.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/11/26/a-proclamation-on-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease-2019/
Entry ban by air to be lifted on November 8, 2021 - All travelers should refer to CDC for travel requirements.
3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue (US citizens/LPR not vaccinated will have to test no earlier than 1 day prior) Children under 2 years old do not need to test.
Children under 18 are exempt from vaccination requirement
Accepted vaccines will include:
There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old
Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases
Update on U.S. travel policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination
Last Updated: October 25, 2021
As announced by the White House today, the new travel policy requiring foreign nationals traveling to the United States to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will take effect November 8. The CDC’s website explains that, for purposes of entry into the United States, the accepted vaccines will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines.
COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Exceptions - U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Last updated: October 25, 2021
The presidential proclamations described on this page will no longer be in effect on November 8, 2021. For additional information, please see Safely Resuming Travel by Vaccine Requirement and Rescission of Travel Restrictions on Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (travel.state.gov).
To protect the public health, there are four presidential proclamations that suspend entry into the United States of all noncitizens who were physically present in any of 33 countries during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. They are Presidential Proclamation 9984 (China); Presidential Proclamation 9992 (Iran); Presidential Proclamation 10143 (Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa); and Presidential Proclamation 10199 (India).
What we know so far is
- Confirmed to start on 8 November
- Children under 18 are exempt from the vaccine restrictions, so the varying international standards on jab ages won't be an issue here.
- Vaccines that are OK will include Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, J&J and the two Chinese vaccines.
- Some exemptions from vaccinations are potentially allowed, notably for US citizens, though my guess is airlines will be expecting to see vaccine certificates
- 3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue, so this needs to be a documented antigen/Lateral Flow test or PCR.
- 3 days is potentially more than 72 hours, departure on a Friday afternoon means a test on Tuesday morning or thereafter.
- NHS Lateral Flows and PCRs can't be used.
- Children over 2 years old travelling with vaccinated travellers have to be tested on the same basis (3 days).
- 1 day testing for unvaccinated USA legal residents (testing on or the day before departure), including their children.
- All passengers need to sign an attestment to confirm their negative test result and also a statement to confirm full vaccination status.
- Children who are not vaccinated do not need to get vaccinated but do need to get a "viral test" 3 to 5 days after arrival in the USA
- As a result there is a separate attestion question for unvaccinated children to confirm that the viral test is arranged.
- Vaccination certificates must come from an official source. The NHS COVID Pass app and EU DCC are specifically mentioned as acceptable.
- Vaccination is counted as two weeks from dose2, or 2 weeks after the sole dose in the case of J&J.
- Antibody certification is not a replacement for the need for vaccination, at least for non USA residents.
- 14 clear days need to elapse before travel. So if jabbed on 1 October then 15 October is when you are good to go.
- Booster vaccinations are not a factor here, they don't count towards or against the primary dose process.
- There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old.
- Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases.
- These restrictions do not apply at the land border.
Note that a lot of interpretation onus falls on airlines. For example there is no language requirement for vaccine certificates as far as the CDC is concerned, however you can imagine Air France may be hesitant in accepting a vaccine certificate issued in the Welsh language, to take one example.
CDC link
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...el-System.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coronavirus-travel/2060730-us-require-air-travelers-provide-negative-test-within-1-day-departure.html
Entry ban from eight southern African countries starting on November 29, 2021
Most non-U.S. citizens who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique or Malaw within the prior 14 days will not be allowed into the United States.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/11/26/a-proclamation-on-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease-2019/
Entry ban by air to be lifted on November 8, 2021 - All travelers should refer to CDC for travel requirements.
3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue (US citizens/LPR not vaccinated will have to test no earlier than 1 day prior) Children under 2 years old do not need to test.
Children under 18 are exempt from vaccination requirement
Accepted vaccines will include:
- AstraZeneca
- BIBP/Sinopharm
- Covishield
- Janssen/J&J
- Moderna
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- Sinovac
There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old
Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases
Update on U.S. travel policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination
Last Updated: October 25, 2021
As announced by the White House today, the new travel policy requiring foreign nationals traveling to the United States to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will take effect November 8. The CDC’s website explains that, for purposes of entry into the United States, the accepted vaccines will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines.
COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Exceptions - U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Last updated: October 25, 2021
The presidential proclamations described on this page will no longer be in effect on November 8, 2021. For additional information, please see Safely Resuming Travel by Vaccine Requirement and Rescission of Travel Restrictions on Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (travel.state.gov).
To protect the public health, there are four presidential proclamations that suspend entry into the United States of all noncitizens who were physically present in any of 33 countries during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. They are Presidential Proclamation 9984 (China); Presidential Proclamation 9992 (Iran); Presidential Proclamation 10143 (Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa); and Presidential Proclamation 10199 (India).
What we know so far is
- Confirmed to start on 8 November
- Children under 18 are exempt from the vaccine restrictions, so the varying international standards on jab ages won't be an issue here.
- Vaccines that are OK will include Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, J&J and the two Chinese vaccines.
- Some exemptions from vaccinations are potentially allowed, notably for US citizens, though my guess is airlines will be expecting to see vaccine certificates
- 3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue, so this needs to be a documented antigen/Lateral Flow test or PCR.
- 3 days is potentially more than 72 hours, departure on a Friday afternoon means a test on Tuesday morning or thereafter.
- NHS Lateral Flows and PCRs can't be used.
- Children over 2 years old travelling with vaccinated travellers have to be tested on the same basis (3 days).
- 1 day testing for unvaccinated USA legal residents (testing on or the day before departure), including their children.
- All passengers need to sign an attestment to confirm their negative test result and also a statement to confirm full vaccination status.
- Children who are not vaccinated do not need to get vaccinated but do need to get a "viral test" 3 to 5 days after arrival in the USA
- As a result there is a separate attestion question for unvaccinated children to confirm that the viral test is arranged.
- Vaccination certificates must come from an official source. The NHS COVID Pass app and EU DCC are specifically mentioned as acceptable.
- Vaccination is counted as two weeks from dose2, or 2 weeks after the sole dose in the case of J&J.
- Antibody certification is not a replacement for the need for vaccination, at least for non USA residents.
- 14 clear days need to elapse before travel. So if jabbed on 1 October then 15 October is when you are good to go.
- Booster vaccinations are not a factor here, they don't count towards or against the primary dose process.
- There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old.
- Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases.
- These restrictions do not apply at the land border.
Note that a lot of interpretation onus falls on airlines. For example there is no language requirement for vaccine certificates as far as the CDC is concerned, however you can imagine Air France may be hesitant in accepting a vaccine certificate issued in the Welsh language, to take one example.
CDC link
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...el-System.html
US reopened on 8 November 2021 (& subsequent entry restrictions for non-citizens)
Oct 3, 2021, 8:15 am
#2476
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
Programs: UA 1K, MM *G for life, BAEC Gold
Posts: 10,227
I wonder how quickly the airlines will add back some flights if this materialises. And how much notice they need to do that.
Oct 3, 2021, 10:12 am
#2478
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: FB Gold • LH Senator • BA Silver • ITA Premium
Posts: 216
Oct 3, 2021, 10:14 am
#2479
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 710
Prices for Polaris to LHR have gone from $3500 to $7000 90 days out. 😕
Oct 3, 2021, 2:03 pm
#2480
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: CDG
Programs: SK Gold, AF Gold, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,729
Entirely expected. The pent-up demand needs to clear out over the holidays before it's back to business as usual. I expect fares to normalise from mid-January onwards.
Oct 3, 2021, 3:15 pm
#2481
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 1,197
The ticket I was moved to was £15k if I'd wanted to buy it. Laughable.
Oct 4, 2021, 1:35 am
#2482
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: where lions are led by donkeys...
Programs: Lifetime Gold, Global Entry, Hertz PC, and my wallet
Posts: 20,346
Every time there's a new post to this thread I think "Is this the one with the dates?". 
C'mon Joe, wake up, we're ready!
C'mon Joe, wake up, we're ready!
Oct 4, 2021, 2:03 am
#2483
Join Date: May 2008
Location: ARN
Posts: 3,472
Everybody is talking about this pent-up demand, but it's important to also notice that the blue line shows a peak which is still 30-40% lower than the same figures for 2019. U.S. bookings peaked at around 30% lower than 2019 numbers in July but have since fallen to around 50%. We can easily end up in a situation where the pent-up demand will only sustain around half of the pre-covid flights.
Oct 4, 2021, 2:53 am
#2484
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: CDG
Programs: SK Gold, AF Gold, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,729
Well, there's still a lot of uncertainty, and it's safe to say that if FlyerTalkers are nervous about booking, the average traveller is probably five times so. When I said pent-up demand I was referring primarily to business owners/stakeholders that haven't been able to get a NIE, and family members that got stuck at either side of the pond. Both these groups are likelier to book premium cabins than a random European going for Xmas shopping in NYC. So I wouldn't expect overall demand to go back to 2019 levels before 2023, but I do expect more-or-less full J cabins until New Year.
Oct 4, 2021, 2:58 am
#2485
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,095
To me it seems that VFR travelers are less likely to book paid premium cabin travel than elderly package tourist travelers headed to Europe.
If the business and first class cabins are full in all of November, my guess is that it will be at least as much a supply issue as a demand one.
Airlines have been playing on demand elasticity at least as far back as the late 1970s. And the “we must travel” crowd is more likely to pay the “fleece ‘‘em when we can”price even with high prices in economy class, and so they will try to do so with reopening or even otherwise.
Mileage tickets are perhaps at times a way to get around the “crazy high” prices. They were for TATL trips during the “closing” and they are with additional “re-openings” too for Europe-US and US-Europe travel.
If the business and first class cabins are full in all of November, my guess is that it will be at least as much a supply issue as a demand one.
Airlines have been playing on demand elasticity at least as far back as the late 1970s. And the “we must travel” crowd is more likely to pay the “fleece ‘‘em when we can”price even with high prices in economy class, and so they will try to do so with reopening or even otherwise.
Mileage tickets are perhaps at times a way to get around the “crazy high” prices. They were for TATL trips during the “closing” and they are with additional “re-openings” too for Europe-US and US-Europe travel.
Last edited by GUWonder; Oct 4, 2021 at 3:06 am
Oct 4, 2021, 3:10 am
#2486
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
Programs: UA 1K, MM *G for life, BAEC Gold
Posts: 10,227
Looking to fly mid November to the West Coast and there appears to have been no change in inventory to reflect the opening. UA is still flying without any Premium Economy offering and prices, apart from Business, remain very low. I am surprised that, with the airlines' Book With Confidence guarantees, more people aren't filling in placeholder reservations.
Oct 4, 2021, 5:26 am
#2487
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Falkirk, Scotland,VS Red, BA Gold, HH Diamond,UK Amex Plat
Programs: Master of the Privy Purse des Muccis
Posts: 17,916
Looking to fly mid November to the West Coast and there appears to have been no change in inventory to reflect the opening. UA is still flying without any Premium Economy offering and prices, apart from Business, remain very low. I am surprised that, with the airlines' Book With Confidence guarantees, more people aren't filling in placeholder reservations.
Hi.
HeadforPoints on the BA forum is reporting that the A380 is coming back on some north American routes in December ( miami, dfw and Los angeles) so we may see more inventory being displayed shortly.
regards
tbs
Oct 4, 2021, 7:48 am
#2488
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: RBKC
Programs: AA EXP and Eurostar Carte Blanche
Posts: 3,851
Wonderful news. Maybe I should hold off on booking my LHR-LAX return for a few days then… Pricing around £5,000 in First which I suppose is reasonable for the holidays.
Oct 4, 2021, 7:53 am
#2489
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,252
Oct 4, 2021, 7:10 pm
#2490
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Paradise
Posts: 1,617
I've heard from someone November 16th is the target date, courtesy of two separate groups of people (both viable) they spoke with.
Take that with a grain of salt, although everything this person has spoken about in the past has come to fruition. I will say this is a Intl destination, so agents here are alerted ahead of time by corporate on policy changes/announcements.
Take that with a grain of salt, although everything this person has spoken about in the past has come to fruition. I will say this is a Intl destination, so agents here are alerted ahead of time by corporate on policy changes/announcements.