Air Travel

As a 15-time visitor to India, my favorite place to stay upon arriving in Delhi has been Hotel Saptagiri (L-73/L-322, Mahipalpur Extn., National Highway-8, New Delhi - 110037, India; phone +91 11 4616 0000, www.hotelsaptagiri.com).

Providing a soft intro to India, this has been a very much OK hotel for one to three acclimating nights. My most recent visits were in 2017, 2018 and 2019, when a mid-range room cost about $50 per night (credit cards accepted) — a low cost for the quality and service.

After Ukraine was invaded by Russia on Feb. 22, multiple countries began enforcing travel restrictions on Russia, including closing off airspace to Russian flights and limiting Russian travel companies from doing business internationally. On March 5, Visa and MasterCard suspended transactions in Russia.

Image

Dear Globetrotter:

During three months of heavy travel in late 2021, I experienced difficulties when it came to the COVID-19 testing, tracing and reporting requirements imposed by multiple countries. Here are some choice examples of what a nightmare it was to comply with a few countries’ COVID-entry requirements.

•

Image

Dear Globetrotter:

For a Ryanair flight from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Dublin, Ireland, departing May 23, 2020, on Jan. 14 I booked tickets for our tour group of eight through Roxanne McCallum at the excellent travel agency Travelosophy (Commerce Township, MI; 800/332-2687, itravelosophy.com). The cost was $727.11 total, or about $91 per person.

In late March 2020, Roxanne informed me that, due to COVID-19, Ryanair had canceled all of its April and May flights.

Delta Air Lines has removed the ability to earn miles in its SkyMiles program on Basic Economy fares. On Dec. 9, members of its frequent-flyer program ceased earning miles for Basic Economy seats purchased on or after that date on flights departing on or after Jan. 1, 2022. Basic Economy seats also no longer qualify toward maintaining Medallion Elite status, for which a certain number of miles must be flown each year.

At press time, Delta’s Basic Economy seats still earned reduced miles on the partner airline programs Air France-KLM Flying Blue and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.