October 23 Travel News Review…

Air Travel On The Rise

This last Sunday, the U.S. hit a milestone in terms of increasing air ridership; over one million people went through TSA lines in order to fly.  That’s 60% below that time a year ago, but still a sure sign of increased confidence and better things to come.  The last time the airlines crossed the one million mark was in March.

Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) have joined forces to increase public confidence in air travel.  Under the assumption that travelers are still distrustful of flying, especially international flights, the goal is to unite public and private sector efforts to bring stability to and confidence in flying.

Alexandre de Juniac, Director General of IATA commented that, “The safe opening of international borders to tourism is essential.  Tourists want to feel safe, and they want to be confident that their travel plans won’t be affected by last-minute changes to rules and regulations.”  Global air travel is down 92%; they have their work cut out for them.

Canada Border Remains Closed

While Americans have been able to travel to Mexico for some time now, the border with our northern neighbor continues to be closed.  The U.S.-Canadian border has been closed since March 21.

Speaking during a recent radio interview, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “The U.S. is not in a place where we would feel comfortable reopening those borders.  We see the cases in the United States and elsewhere around the world, and we need to continue to keep these border controls in place.”

NOTE:  Since writing this post Canada has announced that the U.S.-Canada border will remain closed through November 21.

Travel Picking Up For The Holidays?

Travel booking app Hopper commissioned a survey in September which found that 55% of respondents who are planning a holiday trip this year are traveling for the first time since Covid-19 decimated their travel plans.

Hopper’s Holiday Travel Confidence Report also found that 39% of those surveyed plan on traveling during the holidays.  Of those planning holiday travel, 52% say they will fly for Thanksgiving and 74% plan to travel for Christmas-New Year’s.

For me, the most important finding was that, “80% of travelers said they would book a holiday flight if they knew they could change or cancel their plans without penalty.”  Bingo.  In other words, airlines and, I’m guessing, the accommodations industries must allow flexibility in order to woo back their customers.

Interestingly, Travel Weekly reported on a AAA survey that found that 80% of those planning on traveling during the 4th quarter will take road trips.  This doesn’t necessarily conflict with the Hopper survey since the questions were framed differently.

What the AAA survey really uncovered was the reticence to travel based on the uncertainty that still remains in the industry.  This confirms the Hopper finding that travelers would book if they knew they could cancel their plans without penalty.

Boeing 737 Max Returning

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has given tentative approval allowing the Boeing 737 Max to return to the air.  There is still more paperwork to be shuffled and EASA is asking for additional software upgrades, but the Max could be flying in Europe by the end of the year.  The Max has been grounded worldwide for nearly two years following fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

International law requires that the FAA must recertify the Max before EASA.  Boeing continues to work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conclude the certification process for flying in the U.S., which should come soon according to a Bloomberg report.

The consensus in the travel community has been that Boeing first needed to convince the FAA and then hope foreign regulators to come on board, so Boeing caught a break by having a major foreign regulator take the lead.

The Max is a very popular plane in Central and South America.  It seems unlikely that each country will conduct its own tests, so it remains to be seen if each of those countries will quickly follow the lead of EASA and the FAA.

The AP has reported that American Airlines plans to have their 737 Max aircraft in the air by year’s end.  Boeing understands that the public will still be wary of flying the Max and is rebranding in the hope that average flyers will forget.  I know that I never check the aircraft I’ll be flying on unless it is a coast-to-coast or international flight and I’m trying to choose the plane with the most space for my long legs.

Pent Up Demand For Travel

As reported in Travel Agent Central, a survey conducted by a consortium of home-based travel agencies found that almost 95% of those surveyed intend to take a vacation in 2020 or 2021.  That’s a huge number and good news for the ailing tourism industry.

With regard to cruising, 60% said they feel confident in the beefed-up health and safety procedures being promoted by the cruise lines.  50% said their next vacation would be on a cruise.

Where will people go for their next vacation?  37% said the Caribbean, 21% will travel in the U.S., 15% plan on going to Europe and the balance chose other destinations.

CommonPass Digital Health App

Since March and the shut-down of most air travel, there has been discussion about the development of a “health passport” – some method accurately documenting that the traveler entering your country or flying on your airline has been vaccinated or had a recent negative test.  The idea was that this “passport” would hold the results of your Covid tests and a list of up-to-date vaccinations.

Well, the CommonPass app was developed just for that purpose and recently underwent public testing.  There are still some countries that require proof of infectious disease vaccinations or immunizations such as yellow fever, typhoid and hepatitis.

Although I’ve only needed to use it once, I still have my now dog-eared World Health Organization vaccination record.  It would be a lot easier to have an app on my phone to do the same thing.

As I detailed in Your Complete Guide to Pandemic Travel to Hawaii, the importance of being able to document your health status is critical to free travel and may remain so for many years to come.  The problem is that there is no global, common approach.

The pass is “intended to give people the ability to travel again by documenting that they meet the requirements of the places they want to go… This is a way to get things moving again,” said CEO Paul Meyer.

How does it work?  Lab results and vaccination records can be accessed through existing health data systems, national or local registries or personal digital health records.  The CommonPass platform assesses whether the individual’s lab test results or vaccination records (1) come from a trusted source, and (2) satisfy the health screening requirements of the country they want to enter.

CommonPass delivers a simple yes/no answer as to whether the individual meets the current entry criteria, but the underlying health information stays in the individual’s control.  If the last part is true, I guess I would be O.K. with using it, but I certainly wouldn’t give any third party access to my medical records; I would need to upload the data myself.

CommonPass was successfully put to the test on October 21 using a United flight from London Heathrow to Newark International airport.  The trial was observed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as representatives of the travel industry.