drklain

United has $20K If my money in flight credit from cancelled tickets when international borders shut down. I haven’t flown since February and it appears borders may not open to Americans going to Europe or the Middle East until late fall or next year. I want to give United my business right now but literally can’t.

manstein58

I am in the same boat. Have 10k that I cannot use

RAPUAFlyer

My last flight was March 12th. United holds $15k of my money in flight credits - most of which would have been spent in late March and April. I have no plans to fly until near year's end, if then.

wanderingkev

X2 ,sadly as it is a national v airline issue ,until they get this cluster sorted out here I can see borders staying closed to us for a while maybe cycling shutdowns if there are other waves. A moderately populated, infected continent with regional hot spots connected with a hub airline system in realty means for other countries that they let everyone or no one in. As you are currently bank rolling UA maybe you can get LIBOR rate interest on your note ...every little helps

drklain

wanderingkev Funny. I agree. My best guess is that (assuming the EU has the political will to actually close off to travel from the US...in the past I would have said "no", right now I think it is 50/50) travel will not open up until the US gets things back under control OR there is a viable vaccine and it is widely deployed. I could see it being a requirement that a person traveling to Europe from the US has to provide proof of vaccination as well as possibly pass a rapid Coronavirus test at the airport before boarding. Effectively that means things opening up sometime in early 2021 UNLESS the US gets things under control quickly. Remember that the blow up in Europe was Really in March (about two weeks ahead of the blow up in the US). The difference is they effectively did close to a continent-wide lockdown, they pushed the curve down and are now reopening for business roughly 100 days later. The US failed to do this (I don't want to make this a political discussion). The result is that some parts of the country which did the total lockdown (New York/New Jersey/Connecticut) are now effectively where Europe is. Other parts are still exploding. If the US did a total lockdown now, we could conceivably be where Europe is by September/October. Unfortunately I don't think that is likely which is why I am assuming travel won't open up until the start of the year.

I am considering flying over to Europe and just quarantining for 14 days, then doing 3+ weeks of business, then flying home again sometime this fall. My fear is if I don't do that, I won't get over there until next year. The downside (from United's perspective) is that means what would have been 3 trips/sets of tickets would be combined into one mega-trip with effectively only 2 flights on United.

wanderingkev

There is no doubt that the current climate will lead to some creative travel planning. Of course doing business (whatever that means) might also be a challenge outside of in company business as again not politicising I am not sure how much welcome/access we would get given how the management of this is viewed in other parts of the world. I have dual nationality and was thinking once things open up to travel to the UK , sit with family then go on to Europe as they are now discussing trans channel opening which is less hassle than two weeks in a Euro hotel.We will see.

ballerinajz

Americans will remain barred from European travel as the EU gradually reopens its borders https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/30/amer...an-travel.html

Does that mean there is no nonstop flight between IAH and FRA ?
I still see available flights IAH and FRA in July.

WineCountryUA

This is no different than today and UA does have flights for those eligible to enter those countries. So this does not neccessaily led to cancellation of all UA TALT flights,

Will UA adjust some scheduled flights, perhaps. we will need to wait for the next intl schedule update (which should be soon)

ballerinajz

Does that mean US passport holder can't even board on the lufthansa carrier for USA - FRA flight ?

I m not a US passport holder, if take a flight from USA - FRA - IST (turkey), is there any problem?

Luv-2-Travel

I did wonder if United will cancel all the transatlantic flights. However, perhaps United will make money from Europeans traveling to the US?

g289t

I think Europeans have been banned in the US since March, at least for non essential travel. Also, from what I understand, it's not technically American citizens that are banned. It would be travelers from the US that are banned. I'm not sure on this though...

sfo

There seems to be a lot of bookings for mid July and August going to Frankfurt from SFO. Seat charts are back to normal, no spacing. If the EU ban holds for a month or two or more regarding US residences, those who have already booked non refundable tickets are going to be in pickle. I would assume that UA will have no mercy upon their souls.

notquiteaff

The uncertainties of future travel restrictions what change waivers etc. are meant to cover.

azepine00

non-schengen transit should be ok

cesco.g

I have been watching flights into LH & LX hubs. Sofar in May and June all flights have been operated as in the schedule announced some 4-5 prior to the beginning of each month.
For July SFO-FRA is up to daily from 3x/week, with EWR & IAD-FRA holding up too. Service to Switzerland is to relaunch with IAD-ZRH on 6-July.
Cargo might contribute to make the pax flights worthwhile, due to much higher airfreight rates these days; the cargo flights ORD-ZRH seem to stay on as well.