Travel Week in Review – March 5, 2021

While the world is still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic, another threat has started to emerge again. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday that it’s taking swift action to prevent the spread of the recent Ebola outbreak in two African countries by implementing new travel restrictions. Starting this week, visitors from Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo must arrive in the U.S. through six designated airports. Read More…

American Airlines announced loyalty program members can now redeem miles to order at-home COVID-19 testing kits. The carrier revealed that through a partnership with LetsGetChecked, AAdvantage members could redeem 12,000 miles and receive through the mail a coronavirus test accepted by nine countries and any city, state or territory in the United States that has COVID-19 travel restrictions. Read More…

“Can you even get a reservation?” “How long are you willing to stand in a line?” Those are some of the questions business travelers may have to ask this summer if car rental suppliers don’t have enough vehicles available to service them. If travel resumes faster than expected, some car rental companies—managing already reduced fleets—may come up short due to ongoing small fleet orders and a global shortage of semiconductors, which are critical components in car manufacturing. Read More…

For those who don’t want to leave their airplane seating space to chance, Emirates is now offering economy class passengers the ability to book adjacent empty seats for additional social distancing (or simply leg room) during the pandemic. All passengers with a confirmed economy class booking will be able to purchase up to three empty adjoining seats before boarding their flights. The seats are not available to pre-book and will only be made available at the airport check-in counter ahead of flight departure. Read More…

Australia is officially extending its international travel ban for three more months. Australia’s government announced Tuesday that it is extending the travel ban through June 17, 2021. The initial ban had been set to expire on March 17, however, the government noted fear that the rest of the world “continues to pose an unacceptable public health risk” to its borders, Australia’s 7 News reported. Read More…