Air Travel

After the US began pulling troops out of Afghanistan in early July, Taliban forces quickly took over large sections of the country, culminating in their taking control of the capital, Kabul, on Aug. 17 with little resistance. The US negotiated an evacuation date of Aug. 31 with the Taliban and completed evacuating all military personnel by that date. Thousands of US citizens were also evacuated; however, a spokesperson for the US government said that some US citizens remained, numbering “in the hundreds.”

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Dear Globetrotter:

Welcome to the 546th issue of your monthly worldwide travel magazine, keeping the travel embers glowing.

This story began just before the coronavirus pandemic was recognized and travel was shut down, and it ended in April 2021.

The morning of Feb. 7, 2020, my wife and I were about to leave for the airport in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania — eventually to arrive in Luang Prabang, Laos, via Toronto, Seoul and Bangkok, for a tour with Wild Frontiers (Sparks, NV; 844/540-2714, wildfrontierstravel.com) — when we learned that our Air Canada flight from Pittsburgh to Toronto, Canada, was canceled.

"... on May 10 [2021], I sent an email to Samo Toplak, CEO of Value World Cruises, requesting a refund and explaining why.

He agreed to reimburse our entire payment, and on May 14 it was deposited directly into my checking account. ..."

(excerpt from Dorothy Botnick's letter)

A Ryanair flight from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania, was diverted by a fighter jet to Minsk, Belarus, on May 23 so that Belarusian authorities could arrest a dissident journalist and his girlfriend who were on board. Air authorities in Belarus told the pilots that a bomb threat had been made against the aircraft.

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Dear Globetrotter:

As of April 20, American Airlines (www.aa.com) now rebooks passengers who missed their flights by no more than 15 minutes onto the next available flight at no additional cost. Only the destination city must remain the same; the routing and the arriving airport may change due to availability.

Passengers who arrive before their flight departs but after final check-in will also be rebooked for free.