In route news this week, the US may require all incoming travelers to get a negative result on the COVID test – something that Canada and Turkey are also doing; a new website helps travelers locate COVID test facilities around the world; JetBlue will add two domestic routes from San Francisco in the coming weeks, and one route to Mexico from Sacramento; Alaska Airlines plans to ban emotional support animals from its aircraft; the first 737 Max planes are back on the air, with more to come; XpresSpa has partnered with Hawaiian Airlines for further COVID testing at airports; Aer Lingus is added to the American Airlines-British Airways joint venture; and Emirates brings a premium economy cabin for its long-haul aircraft.
Inside COVID news for travelers, the U.S. is considering new regulations that would require all international travelers arriving in the U.S. – including American citizens – to obtain a negative coronavirus test before flying here. That would be a dramatic expansion of the mandatory testing rule that the US implemented this week for individuals from the UK, following the recent discovery of a highly contagious strain of the COVID-19 virus there. According to Reuters, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and other federal agencies discussed the possibility of an expanded testing requirement with major U.S. airlines this week.
“Airlines have told government agencies … any new test requirements must be introduced by country and it must be determined whether there is sufficient testing capacity and a willingness to allocate these tests to facilitate international travel before expanding the requirements,” reported Reuters.
Canada is already working on a similar requirement. Under current rules, only a few very restricted categories of Americans are allowed to travel to Canada, and now the restrictions are becoming even more severe. Canada’s government said this week that it plans to require that airline passengers entering the country obtain a negative result in a COVID PCR test no more than 72 hours before arrival – and even so, they still face a mandatory quarantine of 14 days . The new test rule appears to be aimed primarily at Canadians traveling abroad, which the government wants to discourage. In mid-December, the number of air passengers entering Canada fell by about 90% over the same period last year.
The Turkish government also began this week to demand negative results from the COVID PCR test of air travelers arriving in the country, and Turkish Airlines said it will no longer board passengers who are unable to present one. The test must be performed no later than 72 hours before the arrival of the passenger’s flight; the requirement applies to everyone over the age of 6 and will remain in effect until at least February.
With more and more countries (and even U.S. states) demanding negative COVID test results from returning visitors and citizens, some travelers may wonder where they can find pre-flight testing facilities. There is now a website for this, called Test for Travel (www.testfortravel.com). Users simply enter the city where they need a test and the website will list the local labs and test facilities, locate them on a map and identify the types of COVID tests they offer and how long a customer would have to wait for results . (Governments generally require that tests be administered a maximum of 72 hours before travel.) Coverage on the site is worldwide.
Like JetBlue continues to add routes that do not involve its hubs or focus cities (New York JFK, Boston, Ft. Lauderdale and, increasingly, Los Angeles), northern California will be the beneficiary of some new services in the first quarter of 2021. The airline said it will start daily flights from San Francisco International to Austin on February 11, followed by a daily SFO service to Raleigh-Durham from March 4 and up to three flights a week from Sacramento to Cancún, also from March 4th. JetBlue is the only operator operating SFO-RDU nonstop, but faces competition from United and Alaska Airlines between SFO and Austin.
JetBlue’s plans for the first quarter also include new daily flights from Los Angeles International to Jacksonville and Las Vegas to Raleigh-Durham, as well as up to three flights a week from Las Vegas to Cancun, all starting March 4.
Since the Department of Transport recently decided that airlines are no longer required to allow so-called “emotional support animals” on board, Alaska Airlines became the first major operator to announce a new policy. The company said that as of January 11, passengers will only be able to bring “service dogs”, defined as those who are “specially trained to perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability”. This includes “psychiatric service dogs,” said Alaska, but passengers with dogs must complete a form on the airline’s website to verify that the service dog is trained, vaccinated and well-behaved. “Alaska will continue to accept emotional support animals under its current policy for reservations made before January 11, 2021, for flights on or before February 28, 2021,” said the airline. “No emotional support animals will be accepted for travel after February 28, 2021.”
You could fly Boeing 737 Max now that the Federal Aviation Administration has given the go-ahead to start flying again after airlines implement mandatory software patches and pilot retraining? American Airlines this week became the first U.S. airline to put Max back into commercial service with an uneventful flight from Miami to New York’s LaGuardia. But two Latin American airlines – GOL and Aeromexico – started flying their Max aircraft even before American, operating a few hundred flights in December. American plans to continue introducing more Max’s fleet in the coming weeks, soon followed by United, Southwest and Alaska Airlines. Panama’s Copa Airlines, which recently reactivated service between Panama City and San Francisco, is expected to start using 737 Max aircraft on flights to the U.S. on January 4, probably on its SFO and Los Angeles routes.
This is not to say that the public is clamoring for the chance to fly a 737 Max. A new Reuters / Ipsos consumer survey released this week found that when potential travelers are reminded of the plane’s safety issues, 57% said they did would travel on the aircraft, despite new FAA approval; 37% said yes, but only after flying for six months without incident.
A few weeks ago, we reported that XpresSpa and United airlines had entered into an agreement requesting that the first XpresCheck airport facilities provide COVID tests to the airline’s customers, starting at Newark and Denver International. This week, XpresSpa announced a similar agreement with Hawaiian Airlines and the State of Hawaii. The company said it will provide rapid molecular tests COVID-19 (“with results provided while you wait”) for Hawaiian passengers traveling from New York’s JFK, Boston Logan and Phoenix Sky Harbor.
The US Department of Transportation has given final approval for Aer Lingus from Ireland to become part of the transatlantic joint venture that includes American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia and Finnair. (Aer Lingus is a subsidiary of the International Airlines Group, together with BA and Iberia.) The US approval of the joint venture grants antitrust immunity to all of its member airlines for route planning and tariff purposes. “The addition of the Aer Lingus hub in Dublin and its complementary network will significantly increase customers’ travel options and add new European destinations not currently served by any other transatlantic joint business,” said American. “Aer Lingus customers will also gain access to more than 200 new destinations in the USA through the network (joint venture).”
Based in Dubai Emirates is the latest international airline to add a premium economy section to its long-haul aircraft. The company has just received a new Airbus A380 equipped with the cabin, which will also be installed in five more new A380s to be delivered in the next two years. “Emirates premium economy class seats will also be installed on some of its Boeing 777X aircraft, which are expected to join the fleet in 2023. Emirates is considering plans to refurbish its existing A380 fleet,” said a spokesman. The new A380 cabin features 56 premium economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration, offering a 19.5-inch wide seat, up to 40-inch tilt, 8-inch recline and 13.3-inch video screens . On the A380, the section is located on the front of the main deck. “Until we have a viable number of seats in our inventory to bring to the market, we plan to offer the Emirates Premium Economy experience as a free upgrade for valuable customers,” noted the spokesman.
Jim Glab is a freelance travel writer.