It’s been a confusing time since 9PM EDT, when President Trump made his announcement to the people in regards to action the US will take on Covid-19.
There’s always a brighter tomorrow.
Let’s start with the Department of Homeland Security announcement
President Donald J. Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation, which suspends the entry of most foreign nationals who have been in certain European countries at any point during the 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival to the United States. These countries, known as the Schengen Area, include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This does not apply to legal permanent residents, (generally) immediate family members of U.S. citizens, and other individuals who are identified in the proclamation.
To reiterate this covers:
- US Citizens can re-enter the USA from the Schengen Area.
- Those who meet US residency requirements
- Non-Schengen Countries can enter the USA – UK and Ireland in particular.
- If you are a non-resident of the USA, and have been in the Schengen Zone for past 14 days, you cannot enter the USA.
The ban is based on countries visited.
Major airline groups begin adjusting capacity
I’ve gone through the PR’s of most major airlines to discover their stances. In summary – Expect Schedule Changes
Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, Swiss, Austrian)
Lufthansa Group Airlines will continue to offer flights to the USA from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium, operating flights from Frankfurt to Chicago and Newark (New York), from Zurich to Chicago and Newark (New York), from Vienna to Chicago, and from Brussels to Washington beyond 14 March.
All other U.S. flights will be suspended until further notice due to U.S. administration restrictions, including all departures from Munich, Düsseldorf and Geneva.
The Lufthansa Group will continue to serve all destinations in Canada until further notice.
Air France
From 14 to 28 March 2020 included, Air France plans to continue operations to Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco and Washington. At this stage, Air France is awaiting clarification from the US authorities on the possibility to continue service to Miami, Boston and Houston.
Air France is working with its partners KLM, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic on implementing a plan to continue service to the United States for its customers beyond 28 March 2020.
KLM
Due to the coronavirus and in order to safeguard the health of customers and employees, KLM will examine on a daily basis whether adjustments to the network are necessary and what operational measures need to be taken. As it now stands (12 March 2020), KLM will maintain the network to destinations in the US where passengers are screened, for the next two weeks as long as possible, also to give customers the opportunity to travel home. The current flight information can be found on KLM.com and in the KLM app. KLM will keep a close eye on all developments and is in direct contact with the health and aviation authorities.
Details: https://news.klm.com/us-statement/
American Airlines
No changes as yet – but one on of the best explanations of how they’re handling passengers back to the USA.
Delta Air Lines
Delta will operate a nearly full schedule of flights from continental Europe to multiple U.S. gateways through Sunday, March 15, to ensure eligible customers can return to the United States as the airline responds to a new U.S. government travel directive.
After Sunday, Delta will fly a significantly reduced U.S.-Europe schedule while monitoring customer demand. Delta will continue to help customers affected by these schedule adjustments, including notifying those whose flights have been impacted by these changes
United Airlines
United Airlines have capped fares to the United States from countries affected by the government-imposed travel policy.
The airline will continue to fly its regular schedule from Europe to the U.S. through March 19. After that, we expect to fly daily to Zurich, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Manchester and Edinburgh, maintain multiple flights to Frankfurt and Munich, and operate 18 daily flights to and from London, three to Dublin and four flights a week to Lisbon, all while continuing to monitor demand.
Schedule changes will take place this Saturday, March 14.
Finnair
Finnair are cancelling flights to/from USA between 14 March – 12 April
The cancelled flights are as follows:
- Flights AY007/008 to/from Miami between 14 March and 12 April
- Flights AY005/006 to/from New York between 19 March and 12 April
- Flights AY001/002 to/from Los Angeles between 17 March and 12 April
- We will operate flights before these dates to carry customers who are returning home.
Details : https://www.finnair.com/en/flight-information/travel-updates
British Airways
Whilst the public website is a little dry, the trade site is showing the commercial changes allowed.
rebooking onto an alternative British Airways or AJB service for travel between 12 April and 01 August 2020. Waive change fees but ticket will need to be requoted and any difference in fare charged to the customer. For BA ticketed customers yet to start their journey, the value of the original tickets may be held and used as part payment towards a future booking. This must be redeemed for travel on flights taken within 12 months from the date of the first flight in the original booking.
Details https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/latest-information / https://ba-assistant.eu-gb.mybluemix.net/emails/external/#4dc131d776e5b825c51b11c661031d69
Virgin Atlantic
If you’re currently booked to travel to the US from a country unaffected by the US Government restrictions, your travel plans remain unchanged.
If you’re currently booked to travel to the US before 30th April 2020, but no longer wish to travel on your current date, check the no change fee policy.
Details: https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/news/coronavirus.html
EDITORIAL: A few things from me
Firstly – please wash your hands. You can even do it to the tune of Baby Shark or Taylor Swift
Credit: https://washyourlyrics.com/
Also at this time, please act human. The person on the other end of the telephone or you’re talking to in the terminal didn’t write the policy their airline laid down, nor is responsible for any governmental action that has put us where we are today.
In these times… being kind will help.
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