There's a lot going on in Travel News these days. President Biden signed a mask mandate and all travelers have to wear a mask while on a plane. With this mandate, if a flyer refuses to wear a mask, they can be arrested and fined $30,000 or a year in prison.
In other news, a new strain of Covid19 is prompting countries to mandate only the use of N95 masks. This could be problematic considering shortages of the design.
The latest in travel news is that the CDC now requires a negative test three days before you travel overseas. You will then also have to have a negative test to return. That's on top of two weeks of quarantining when you arrive. That will add huge fees to traveling that could cause international travel to take a hit. But Johnny Jet says that this will be the future of travel and it should be done at the airport. LAX is already doing rapid testing for $125. So Johnny thinks that airfares will go up, and domestic travel will be more popular for some time.
Johnny Jet joins Leo to talk about travel. Leo says he was supposed to be on a Singapore cruise this weekend. But he was forced to cancel. Luckily, he got his money back.
LAX now has a Covid19 testing lab with a 3-5 hour turn around time on site. You need to make a reservation, but it's a great step if you need to travel. The cost is $125. Canada and the UK are now requiring negative Covid19 tests and require 14-day quarantine to travel to their country.
Johnny Jet says that right now is a great time to buy tickets in advance because there is a lot of flexibility. Airlines are dropping change fees, and business travel isn't coming back for at least six months, if ever. So airlines have to rely on leisure travel. So if you can get a great deal on a flight in July, make sure you read the fine print and can make a free change if you need to, and go for it. Travel prices will go up once the vaccine is widespread. So right now is a great time to buy.
Johnny Jet joins Leo to talk about how essential travel is really the only thing right now, as travel for leisure is being crushed all around the world. So it pays to check your destination's covid rules before you go travel.
But there is some good news. Private rail travel is becoming popular, where you buy your own rail car and Amtrack will tow it for $3 a mile.
Johnny Jet says that with the vaccine rolling out, travel could bounce back in 2021. But he also thinks American travelers will travel around the country first.
Hawaii is also offering a free round trip for people staying and working for 30 days.
American Airlines is offering home covid tests for $129.
Delta announced the elimination of change fees, along with United (even for Basic Economy Class).
Johnny Jet joins Leo to talk about Delta Airline's contract tracing, which will be enacted for travelers. It won't be mandatory, but Delta will pass on the information to the CDC. But Leo says as much as 70% of people lie when talking to contract tracers. So that won't work.
App of the Week ... The Travel Pass by IATA. It'll store your Covid Testing results to provide as you travel. There's also the Common Pass.
Johnny Jet joins Leo to talk about how the travel industry is starting to heat up, despite the increase of infections lately. There have been reports that planes are actually safer because they are filtering, and some are not selling middle seats. TSA reports three days of over 1 million travelers, the first time since March. Experts say that Spring and Summer will be great times to travel if we can just hunker down at home until then. And when the vaccine is released, that could make it even safer. There are great travel deals right now, thanks to Black Friday deals.
Johnny Jet joins Leo to talk about how the CDC is pleading with Americans to not travel during Thanksgiving, but no one is really listening. Travel numbers are on the rise as the holiday nears. The CDC says that you should quarantine two weeks prior before going to a family dinner. No one is going to do that. So expect the infection numbers to continue to rise during the holidays.
Zoom is taking off the 40-minute limit and offering free zoom activity on Thanksgiving. It's safer to do that, instead.
This week in travel news ... Key West has banned large cruise ships, preventing mega-ships with more than 1500 passengers from birthing, even for a single day.
Also, COVID cases are spiking again, prompting TSA travel numbers to drop by 400,000. Countries are going on lockdown. We saw this coming since the fall/winter season is here. So now isn't the time to travel.
