Dieuwer

Airline are delusional if they think that the average American who can barely afford a vacation for a family of four to Mexico or Europe will take the risk of getting stranded. Not to mention paying for 8 (!) tests. My take is that they will stick to the US. After all, you can have a beach vacation in Florida too.
For business travelers the testing program is a good idea though, but I doubt that TATL travel can survive on business travel only.

azepine00

Unlike Canada (which with all due respect is not a hub of tourism most of the year) you will only see the same throngs of people packing American destinations. I saw elbow to elbow crowds in national parks last year and it only will get worse.

I'd support the measure a year ago when we needed to prevent virus entry but it serves little purpose now.. our spread is community and family based, removal of travel will only make it worse.

Visconti

Ah, never really thought about it, but "awash" wouldn't describe my understanding or lack thereof. Here's what I do understand. A CX passenger from SFO to HKG may have access to an immediate on clinic test in the terminal with results ready in about 15 minutes. I'd imagine, on the other end in HKG, there'd be a similar procedure. As to how this will or may be implemented is probably determined by each destination and per supply/demand. My interest is only in the pockets where it may be feasible for me to travel to without or with lesser restrictions.

One of my regrets during the pandemic is that I was unaware of this. I think my horizons were too narrow when this thing started, and hopefully they've broadened. On my to-do list is to take my first leisure vacation to a third world country (however that's defined), and am looking forward to it.

rankourabu

Isnt intl OPM flying pretty much dead anyway? Who would want to fly for work and risk getting stranded? What company would take on that liability?

susiesan

Doubt it. I'll be watching to see how quickly the airlines start canceling their imminent flights to the few countries you can travel to now. I am all set to fly to Costa Rica with AA next week Jan. 20 returning Jan. 30. I am expecting AA to cancel the flights all together when those of us booked for the next month have to cancel our vacations.

LAX_Esq

Why doesn't the CDC require a negative test for domestic travel? It would certainly keep us all safer. Too many powerful airline lobbyists would fight it?

Ski_Bum

I'm wondering if we will be able to waive the requirement with proof that we receive the vaccine...

rylan

Absolutely mind boggling that airlines would be pushing for this. Immediate effect is going to be the rapid death of what little international travel there was. Hardest hit areas I suspect will be leisure travel/vacation destinations such as the central america and Caribbean. Small countries and islands don't have the infrastructure or capacity to be testing an additional 1000+ visitors a day when that is a 2x or more increase over what they are doing now for their own citizens.

It simply won't be possible to get a test within 3 days of return, and even then people (and businesses) won't take the risk of being stranded in quarantine in another country. So in a nutshell - kiss what little business travel there was goodbye, along with killing whatever recovery there was in leisure travel.

destone

Uhm, maybe don't vacation abroad in a global pandemic? Does vacation sound like "essential" travel to you?

rylan

Yup, there basically is no intl business travel currently, and this will kill whatever was left along with any shred of leisure travel.

rylan

There is nothing to indicate that this would be the case. There is currently no evidence that the vaccine prevents one from being a carrier and spreading the virus to others.

destone

Perhaps this is because of the Europe travel ban when you consider the extent of international business between the US and Europe. If testing replaces a blanket ban, I am all for it.

freedom2020

Yes but I could not find the original letter. I would be shocked if the airlines really want to lobby a death sentence to themselves. Again, I thought the plea was to remove UK ban with a condition to test. Not a UNIVERSAL test.

Also, the airlines got nothing yet. "The CDC did not mention easing entry restrictions in tandem with the new testing requirement". It's more like a signal from new administration?

rylan

I'm sure there are many in the upcoming administration that are just itching to implement something like this, along with a full lockdown.

Please explain how that would keep anyone safer? Just look at most of the EU that had full lockdowns before and they're in the same situation as other countries that did not shut down everything... and are delusional expecting that more lockdowns will change anything.

rylan

When the airlines cancel flights because there are only a dozen pax on board, it will effectively become a blanket travel ban.