Travel Briefs

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has made changes in airport security line procedures.

Visual cues placed on the floor will help passengers follow social-distancing rules. Facial covering is recommended but not required. (However, some airlines require it on board.)
At the travel document podiums, passengers will scan their boarding passes on the readers themselves, then hold them up for the TSA officers to visually inspect them.

At press time, ITN could confirm that the countries listed below had reopened their borders to foreign travelers or had scheduled reopenings. This list may not be complete. Travel restrictions have been included here in each case, if known. Note that, though a country’s borders may have opened to travelers, flights may not yet be available from the US.

North Americans planning to travel to Europe in 2021 must apply for authorization through the European Travel Information & Authorization System (ETIAS) [May ’19, pg. 50]. However, the European Commission reported in March that for the first six months of its implementation, the ETIAS will be “optional,” and only regular travel documents will be required.

After the end of those six months, for the next six months travelers may still be allowed to cross land borders without ETIAS authorization, though they will still be subject to the discretion of border officials.

The multimedia company explore maintains multiple stationary live-feed videos of African wildlife. Among sites where live cams are set up are Tembe Elephant Park and Balule Game Reserve in South Africa and a gorilla forest corridor in Kasugho, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Visit explore.org/livecams/african-wildlife.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a “no sail” order to all cruise ships carrying at least 250 passengers, prohibiting them from sailing to or from US ports. The order will last at least 100 days from April 9 unless the Secretary of Health & Human Services declares an end to the COVID-19 epidemic or the CDC extends the order.

Individual cruise lines are maintaining their own schedules for restarting cruising. Check with each for upcoming cruises and booking options.

The US airline jetBlue announced that, starting on May 4, face masks will be required for all passengers. Frontier Airlines will require face masks starting on May 8, both on flights and at ticket counters and gates. At the time of the announcements, no end dates were given. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines both now offer passengers face masks upon boarding but at press time did not require them.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Argentina announced on April 28 that it was banning arrivals and departures of all commercial flights, both international and domestic, until Sept. 1 — the longest such ban in the world at press time.

American Airlines is extending the validity period of all elite-status frequent-flyer-mile memberships — those of gold or platinum levels — to Jan. 31, 2022. Gold and platinum status is earned through reaching milestones in money spent on tickets and miles flown, and those milestones must be reached each year to maintain that status.

In addition to extending the validity period for elite-status members, American has also reduced the minimum expenditure and mileage levels required to reach elite status in 2020.

Many of the Vatican Museums can be toured virtually, including Raphael’s Rooms, the Profane Museum, the Lapidary Gallery and the Sistine Chapel. Visit www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.html and select a virtual tour.

Two Russian icebreakers, the Akademik Ioffe and Akademic Sergey Vavilov, will no longer be available for passenger cruises. The two ships were being operated by One Ocean Expeditions for polar cruises with the permission of the government of Russia. However, in May 2019, Russia seized the ships without prior notice (Aug. ’19, pg. 4). In January 2020, One Ocean declared bankruptcy.

At press time, both ships were dry-docked in Russia, being upgraded for a return to strictly scientific service.