• Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
  • Advertising Disclosure
Live and Let's Fly
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
  • Advertising Disclosure
Home  >  Coronavirus • Travel  >  The New Standard for International Travel?
CoronavirusTravel

The New Standard for International Travel?

Kyle Stewart Posted onSeptember 27, 2020September 12, 2021 10 Comments
My dear readers, some links on this site pay us referral fees for sending business and sales. We value your time and money and will not waste it. For our complete advertising policy, click here. The content on this page is not provided by any companies mentioned, and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by these entities. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone.

More countries are re-opening their borders with an asterisk; visitors must demonstrate a negative COVID-19 test. Is this the new standard for international travel?


If you are considering booking travel or signing up for a new credit card please click here. Both support LiveAndLetsFly.com.


If you haven’t followed us on Facebook or Instagram, add us today.

More Countries Re-Open

Colombia and South Africa have announced they are re-opening for tourism. Thailand has a 31-step program that Gary Leff expertly outlined for visitors to stay in Thailand for up to 270 days. Barbados, Bermuda, and Croatia all welcome healthy Americans. They all require a recent negative COVID-19 test.

Countries have a need to re-open but also need to protect their citizens. A negative COVID-19 test allows for some basic level of assurance that visitors didn’t have the virus when they departed their country of origin. A negative test is, of course, not a sure thing but it goes a long way to provide a “safer” option without bankrupting their tourism-dependent economies.

United Has a Plan

For flights to Hawai’i, United plans to offer rapid COVID-19 tests at San Francisco International airport. While Hawai’i is clearly a domestic destination, it’s also an outlier due to its proximity to the mainland and limited health resources. The rapid tests allow United passengers to buy tickets to the islands without hassling with testing on their own.

And United has a great idea in theory.

One problem with the current process for visiting Croatia, for example, is the needed recency of test results. Results must be no older than 72 hours upon arrival. For passengers with connecting flights from the west coast, transit alone will eat 16 hours of that period. There is also an issue of when the labs report data and time zone differences between the origin and destination.

Rapid tests overcome those issues because travellers will receive a result in just minutes, right before they board. This is better for countries with restrictions because it’s entirely possible a traveller could contract the virus during the three days prior to their arrival, which may have been 5-7 days from when they took the test.

Is This Tenable?

Part of the issue with the test is availability. Rapid tests require a trained practitioner to administer the test which can be executed at single departure points for specific flights. Expansion of that program could be a challenge, from paperwork to space to hold those who need to be tested, have been tested, have been approved, need to be retested, or failed.

The cost is also prohibitive. United will charge $250 per test at the airport or $80 for a self-test mail-in option. Hawaiian Airlines has already entered into a “test war” with United offering the same rapid test but for just $150/person, slightly more for the mail-in test at $90.

At current airfares, this could be a viable option. For example, Puerto Rico also requires a negative COVID-19 test and airfares from Pittsburgh in October and November run just $140 roundtrip – the price is usually double or triple that. Adding in the cost of a home test still keeps the cost under normal prices. Bogota from Pittsburgh is just $192 with the same requirement for a negative test, add in the cost of a mail-in test and the total is still well under the normal cost of the trip.

However, when airfare prices begin to return, if they outpace the cost increases it could inhibit growth at a critical phase for those countries.

The Dominican Republic has an interesting alternative. Rather than requiring a negative test, no test is required prior to entry on October 1st. However, upon arrival, the country will randomly test visitors before granting entry. This could be a better option for countries eager to return tourism but without the issue of test result delays and costs.

Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong and IATA (travel industry group) is calling for the use of 15-minute rapid tests that retail for $10. It’s unclear from this article as to whether or not such an affordable test exists already or if it is more of a goal to obtain. If the test does cost just $10, it looks like United’s $250 price tag is really just another honeypot of ancillary revenue though I suspect their healthcare partner is adding staffing and processing costs to the equation.

Conclusion

The new standard for international travel appears to be a negative COVID-19 test result 72 hours prior to arrival. But for airlines, the new standard could be the facilitation of a rapid test. While the whole world would prefer to no longer test for COVID-19 at all, the question for airlines is whether offering the test can deliver results on the balance sheet.

What do you think? Is a negative COVID-19 test result the new international travel standard? Will airlines work these into their fares? When do you think the requirement will fade away? 

Previous Article Southwest Companion Pass The Easy Way
Next Article Travel Is Supposed to Return When the Curve Is Flattened, Right?

About Author

Kyle Stewart

Kyle is a freelance travel writer with contributions to Time, the Washington Post, MSNBC, Yahoo!, Reuters, Huffington Post, MapHappy, Live And Lets Fly and many other media outlets. He is also co-founder of Scottandthomas.com, a travel agency that delivers "Travel Personalized." He focuses on using miles and points to provide a premium experience for his wife and daughter. Email: sherpa@thetripsherpa.com

Follow us on FacebookFollow us on Twitter

Related Posts

  • pete buttigieg transportation secretary summer travel

    Secretary Buttigieg Offers Timely Solution For Summer Travel

    June 19, 2022
  • Father's Day 2022

    Father’s Day Reflection: Travel, Language, Learning

    June 19, 2022
  • corporate traveller

    Corporate Travel Spend Returning, But Data Flawed

    June 12, 2022

10 Comments

  1. Rick Reply
    September 27, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    If the airlines care about the return of international travel they will provide a testing option. For many travelers the certainty of having results will outweigh the costs. I canceled a trip to Tahiti earlier in the summer simply because I could not find a provider who could guarantee results in the timeframe required. NYC now has options for expedited results, but they are limited and a rush on testing could still cause unexpected delays. I imagine there are many places in the country where a result within 72 hours less travel time is just not possible. Surprising that the market is just now coming up with solutions for people who need a quick result and are willing to pay a premium.

  2. Erik J. Reply
    September 27, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    I had been wanting to go to Hawaii but with Florida opening fully and not knowing if Hawaii will yet again push the date of re-opening without quarantine, I think I will spend time in the more reliable Florida. at least till next year or if I hear most things are open and have minimal hassle.

  3. WR2 Reply
    September 27, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    The problem with rapid testing is accuracy. Much higher rate of false positives/negatives. Let’s say the actual current asymptomatic infection rate is 1% (it’s actually much lower). Even only a 1% false positive rate means about half those that test positive are actually healthy. How do you charge someone $250 test fee, then deny them boarding and make them incur whatever expenses for trip cancellation, all on a test error? The false negatives are of course a bigger problem. I don’t know the current error rate of these tests, but I’ve been told by medical professionals that the rapid test error rates are considerably higher. Until that changes they aren’t a viable solution.

  4. MaKr Reply
    September 27, 2020 at 3:33 pm

    Had we an intelligent presidential administration, a huge priority could’ve been placed on the development of rapid, cheap tests. In combination with an approach to masks that wasn’t schizophrenic at best and contact tracing, we could be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel

  5. Andrew Wilks Reply
    September 28, 2020 at 12:29 am

    I just hope eventually all this [redacted by admin] will end and things will return as they were once before as soon as COVID 19 vaccine comes out. Having to test for a virus in order to travel is just one of many things associated with all this madness and hysteria. Especially when we know by now that it is people with major health conditions and weakened immune systems that are most at risk. Also having to pay for the testing here adds insult to injury from all this hysteria [redacted by admin]!

  6. Mark Reply
    September 28, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    All of this over nothing. GREAT FLU HOAX OF 2020 will go down as biggest mistake in human history. Media hit job on Trump and the rest of the world bought it. Masks
    Are very dangerous as well not one study EVER proving they stop any virus. Ever !

    • Michael Reply
      September 29, 2020 at 3:01 am

      Yes all those dead people are fake and you know more than tens of thousands of doctors around the world who are all perpetuating a hoax just for fun. Take your meds.

      • Brut Reply
        October 26, 2020 at 10:19 am

        Guess what!

        Deaths by the Flu and Influenza have all but disappeared. Who knew that Covid could cure those two, and instead be the cause of death.

  7. James Reply
    September 28, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    What’s the point? If you’re presymptomatic, you might test negative. Maybe this catches a few people? Is it worth the expense/hassle/reduced travel?

  8. Brett Reply
    September 28, 2020 at 4:12 pm

    The 10$ antigen and saliva tests do exist, Universities and sports leagues are using them to test daily. The problem is getting governments to accept them versus the PCR test which is more time consuming. Turkey can do 2 hour PCR tests for about 16$ but I strongly suspect there’s major government subsidies involved with that price.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Search

Recent Posts

  • American Airlines Snitch
    Overheard: American Airlines Flight Attendant Sounds Off On Management June 26, 2022
  • JetBlue Spirit Merger Analysis
    JetBlue Continues To Enhance Spirit’s Merger With Frontier June 26, 2022
  • Wingtips STL seating and bar
    Lounge Review: Wingtips St. Louis (Priority Pass) June 26, 2022
  • Airbnb Gran Canaria
    My Airbnb Casa In Gran Canaria, Spain June 25, 2022

Categories

Popular Posts

  • Delta Korean Air First Class Mistake Fare
    Delta Considers $2,700 A Mistake Fare… June 18, 2022
  • Delta Pilots Open Letter
    Delta Air Lines Pilots Offer Direct Appeal To Customers June 18, 2022
  • United Airlines Honolulu Diversion
    Update: United Airlines 787-9 Diverts To Honolulu Due To Disruptive Passenger June 16, 2022
  • Flaunting Woman Struts Up and Down The Aisle On My Austrian Flight June 9, 2022

Archives

June 2022
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« May    

As seen on:

live_and_lets_fly

The new United Polaris Lounge at Washington Dulles The new United Polaris Lounge at Washington Dulles is the most beautiful of all Polaris Lounges. Stay tuned for a detailed look and many more photos on the blog tomorrow. Well done @united.
@malaysiaairlines just announced it would retire i @malaysiaairlines just announced it would retire its A380 fleet. While not surprising, it is sad to see the growing list of carriers retiring this superjumbo jet. On Malaysia Airlines, I flew the #A380 once from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to London (LHR) and had the entire first class cabin to myself (full review on the blog). It was a beautiful flight that I will always remember.
Welcome to @fly_bur @aveloair! I am so excited tha Welcome to @fly_bur @aveloair! I am so excited that a new carrier, Avelo, has launched, especially from an airport just 12 minutes from my home!
I greatly miss the @lufthansa #747-8 at @flylaxair I greatly miss the @lufthansa #747-8 at @flylaxairport. Hopefully this summer it will return.

.
.
.
.
#Lufthansa #FirstClass #747 #747-8 #StarAlliance #Miles #Points
I recently spent a weekend at the @ventanabigsur. I recently spent a weekend at the @ventanabigsur. This is not only a lovely, all-inclusive resort, but one of the best properties to use your @hyatt World of Hyatt points.
.
.
.
.
#Hyatt #BigSur #California #WorldofHyatt #CA-1 #Points #Hotels
In terms of a spacious first class product, the @E In terms of a spacious first class product, the @Emirates suite on a 777-300ER is hard to beat. My preference is Suite 2K.

.
.
.
.
#Emirates #777 #firstclass
Nearly five years ago, I took a “break” from I Nearly five years ago, I took a “break” from Instagram ahead of the birth of my first child. Goodness, how time flies. While I’ve enjoyed catching up on others over the years, now it is time for me to return to Instagram. In this first post, I highlight two joys in my life, my two children, whom I trust will grow up to be prolific travelers that circumnavigate the globe as ambassadors of love and respect.

.
.
.
.
.

#travel #airplanes #airlines #miles #points #familytravel #human #integrity #honor
United Airlines' new Polaris seat is a huge improv United Airlines' new Polaris seat is a huge improvement over UA's current business class seat. Check out my blog at liveandletsfly.com for 70+ photos of how @united is transforming its entire business class experience starting this December!
The perfect @flysas name tag for #Longyearben! The perfect @flysas name tag for #Longyearben!
Spotted four #polarbear outside of #longyearbyen - Spotted four #polarbear outside of #longyearbyen -- oh, and I love 40°F summer weather!
One of the best crews I have ever had the pleasure One of the best crews I have ever had the pleasure of flying with in all my years of flying. Thank you @flysas SK940 on 11 Aug 2016
Next stop ARN! But dear @flysas , next time if I a Next stop ARN! But dear @flysas , next time if I assign a window seat months in advance, don't move me to a center seat "for my convenience" with no way to get my original seat back... 😞
Ready for #PIA from #MAN to #JFK -- we will be rac Ready for #PIA from #MAN to #JFK -- we will be racing the #Delta flight to JFK at the gate next to us, which also departs at 12:45p. With @onemileatatime
Another room with a beautiful view... #hyattregenc Another room with a beautiful view... #hyattregencycasablanca #cassablanca #hyatt
Enjoying #shanghai with @onemileatatime from the i Enjoying #shanghai with @onemileatatime from the inside of the @grandhyatt_shanghai ... It is 40°C outside! 😓
From my front gate to my boarding gate in 15 minut From my front gate to my boarding gate in 15 minutes flat. I ❤️ #bur #burbankairport
@malaysiaairlines #747 out of retirement and in se @malaysiaairlines #747 out of retirement and in service at #kul -- beautiful livery!
View from my 61st floor room at the beautiful bran View from my 61st floor room at the beautiful brand new @parkhyattguangzhou -- look for a full review coming soon on the blog #hyatt #parkhyatt #guangzhou #parkhyattguangzhou
Will miss the @united #globalfirstlounge at #ord, Will miss the @united #globalfirstlounge at #ord, which closes tomorrow and the Queen of the Skies #747 which will be retired in 2018.
The colonial #architecture of #mumbai is stunning. The colonial #architecture of #mumbai is stunning. If you're ever here, get up at 5am and have a walk around the city before it gets busy. You can hear the birds instead of honking horns.
Load More... Follow on Instagram
facebook twitter instagram rss

This site is for entertainment purposes only. The owner of this site is not an investment advisor, financial planner, nor legal or tax professional and articles here are of an opinion and general nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances.

 

Advertiser Disclosure: Some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission. Outside of banner ads published through the Boarding Area network, this compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site. While we do try to list all the best miles and points deals, the site does not include all card companies or credit card offers available in the marketplace. Please view our advertising policy page for additional details about our partners.

 

Editorial Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any entity mentioned herein. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

Posting....