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Biden considering reopening US to UK in May
According to CNBC, a well respected US business news channel, President Biden is considering reopening the US to some countries by mid-May. There has been speculation that the US would reopen by July, but I have always thought that should both the US and UK have low cases and good vaccine rates, it could well be sooner.
Apparently, a London-New York travel corridor had previously been agreed but President Trump blocked it. A one-month extension of a ban on land crossings at the borders with Canada and Mexico has been given until 21 April 2021. Extending that for only one further month would bring us to 21 May which perhaps could be what they are looking at in terms of reopening?
Now the Biden administration is looking toward the middle of May to relax restrictions on travel across the land borders with Mexico and Canada and on inbound international travel from the U.K., Europe and Brazil, according to sources. I’ll admit I can’t understand why on earth he would consider Brazil being allowed into the US, given the variant that is widespread there and potentially resistant to vaccines. However, the UK would certainly be high on the list given the falling rates of cases and deaths plus the fact that around half the adult population have now been vaccinated. By May the first 9 groups will have been vaccinated in the UK, with nearly all the first 5 groups having had a second vaccine. The president has also promised that every adult in the US should be offered a vaccine by May.
There have not been any official statements and the focus is currently on limiting the variants amongst states. However, a senior administration official said, “There is going to be a sea change in mid-May when vaccines are more widely available to everyone,”.
AA reinstates A321T and beefs up Transatlantic schedule for summer
American Airlines has just announced that it will start ramping up its flights to Europe in the next few months which would fit with the premise that the US could open up from mid-May. Ten routes will be restarted from the US to Europe including London.
As part of American’s alliance with Alaska Airlines, they will launch a new service from Heathrow to Seattle which starts on 30 March three times a week. However, this grows to daily by 3 June which would seem to tie in with the thoughts of the US reopening around May time.
Other Heathrow daily connections will be added to Miami from 27 March, plus Los Angeles and Philadelphia from 28 March 28. Currently, they are serving Dallas, New York and Chicago from London.
Services will also resume from Dublin, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Rome.
In other positive news, American Airlines had downgraded transcontinental service toonly a two class B777-200. Even though this gave passengers the chance to get a proper long haul seat, it meant there was no first class. Once we are back needing tier points, routing to the West Coast via JFK can add in another 140 tier points each way in business class or 210 in First class plus gives a new flying experience. You can read my reviews of both business and first class on the A321T here.
AA has now relaunched its A321T flight from Los Angeles to New York (JFK) earlier this month. Initially, there is only one A321T flight a day. From April there will be almost a normal schedule for flights with multiple departures each day, all with the A321T. There will also be three flights a day between JFK and San Francisco on the A321T from April according to the current schedule.
Croatia discusses travel from UK
Croatia has joined the list of countries in discussion with the UK government in discussions on reinstating travel between the two countries.
Yesterday, the Croatian Minister of Tourism and Sports, Nikolina Brnjac held a meeting with the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Croatia, Andrew Dalgleish.
At the meeting, Ambassador Dalgleish and Minister Brnjac exchanged information on the current epidemiological situation, the importance of continuing tourist trends, and discussed the European Commission’s proposal to introduce the so-called Green digital certificates and positioning Croatia as a desirable destination for digital nomads.
Minister Brnjac also presented the Safe stay in Croatia project, a web platform that provides information about the health and safety measures that are in place across the tourism sector in Croatia. Travellers can get information about what they can expect during their time in Croatia and also see which Croatian businesses certified with the Safe Stay in Croatia label.
Ambassador Dalgleish said that he hoped that the United Kingdom will soon open for tourism, which is positive news. Minister Brnjac also said that Croatia would be ready to receive tourists from the UK as soon as it is safe to do so. So it sounds like we should be able to put Croatia on the list of likely destinations this summer. Last year Croatia allowed tourists back and generally had a low level of cases, so it looks promising for 2o21 as well.
3 comments
Thank you to all the team for the great articles to keep us dreaming of travel , let’s hope for a reopening to the US in time for summer!
I’m interested in options to book the transcontinental flight from New York to Los Angeles to earn tier points later in the year , how can you book these as part of a trip as the stand alone prices seem expensive?
The easiest way to find one is to use a multi-city booking on BA.com or AA.com routing Heathrow-JFK-Los Angeles. Currently, prices to the US are very high so I would advise waiting a little as there are likely to be sales after 12 April once the government announce their travel roadmap. You can also search for a flight from Heathrow to Los Angeles on ba.com and it should show you all the connection options. You need to make sure you stop for less than 24 hours in New York to get the ticket for the same price as direct.
Thank you for the detailed advice Michele, I’ve checked and see what you mean about the 24 hours . Let’s hope for some good sales in April!
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