What will it take to get travelers back in the air?
Whenwill you decide to fly again? Recent surveys showthat travelers are itching to get going: One such survey, fromOAG, reports that some 73% of North Americans plan to fly internationally within the next six months. Clearly, that’s a lot of wishful thinking, especially given how tenaciousCOVID-19 has proven tobe.
In reality, it’s not at all clearwhen and howairlines, airports, and governments that regulate travel matters will reduce the COVID-19 risk to an acceptable level.
Currently, travelers see almost no consistency or certainty. Many airlines have established mask policies, but without the backing of federal requirements, they frequently encounter passengers who refuse to wear amask. Closure and limiting rules vary among different districts of even just one city— New York, for example. At this writing, several important visitor destinations are still quarantining travelers who arrive fromspecified destinations, often including the
U.S. or Canada, for 14 days.
For the foreseeable future, you have to evaluate the likelihood of encountering three major risks: Catching the virus during travel, being quarantined at a destination, and being unable to take part in meaningful destination activities. Absent governmental
coordination and consistent policies, airlines and airports have improvised approaches that provide some assurances to travelers.
Sanitizing: Many Airlines and airports have been proactive about sanitizing their facilities. They often
promote their approaches. IATA, the most prominent international airline association, claims that fewer than 1 out of 3million air travelers have contracted the virus on a flight.
COVID-19 insurance:
Some airlines include “COVID-19 insurance” when you buy a ticket: If you get hit with a quarantine on arrival, the insurance pays for your medical and extended-stay expenses. As far as I know, Air Canada andWestJet are the only largeNorth American airlines to offer this incentive, but a few European and Asian lines do for some destinations.
Quite a few airlines and airports have established on-thespot testing facilities for air travelers, manywith immediate results. Testing on arrival protects destinations, but froma traveler viewpoint, departure testing is the only rational approach: If you don’t find out about a positive test until after you arrive somewhere, you either have to go right back home or suffer a possible quarantine.
Even where they don’t test on arrival, some destinations require certification of a negative COVID-19 test as a condition of entry, often taken within 72 hours of arrival. The problem you face is getting the test, which can often require aweek or more for results, and may
COVID-19 testing:
be expensive. Again, so far, there is neither a consistent international testing standard nor easy access to testing in many areas.
Vaccine: A “health passport” verifying that you have been vaccinated for COVID-19 is, in manyways, the gold standard for getting back out there. The problem, of course, is that neither a vaccine nor an internationally accepted form exists yet. I know quite a few people who say theywon’t fly again until they get a vaccine— and that means they can’t even start planning a trip yet.
Dealingwith it: At this point, you can’t be certain of any travel plans for the rest of the year or into next summer. Followthe situation in any destinations of interest carefully. Don’t hesitate tomake arrangements, if they’re refundable, but don’t count on being able to use them. Most important: Don’t put any nonrefundable payments on the line until the circumstances for any particular trip youwant to take are firm.