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Home  >  News • United Airlines  >  United Airlines Sees International Travel Bump After Testing Requirement Eliminated
NewsUnited Airlines

United Airlines Sees International Travel Bump After Testing Requirement Eliminated

Matthew Klint Posted onJune 15, 2022June 15, 2022 21 Comments

Days after the Biden Administration eliminated its COVID-19 international testing requirement, United Airlines reported a surge in interest for international travel.

United Airlines Reports Surge In International Travel Searches After Elimination Of COVID-19 Testing Requirement

For 17 months, a negative COVID-19 test was required for travelers stepping onboard an inbound international flight to the United States. For months, airlines have lobbied the Biden Administration to drop the testing requirement, with American Airlines CEO Robert Isom going so far as to call it “nonsensical” in a recent interview. Effective June 12, 2022, the testing requirement was lifted.

Already, the lifting of the mandatory testing requirement appears to be working. United Airlines, which offers more international traffic than any U.S. carrier in terms of available seat miles, has reported a surge in interest in international travel. That includes the following statistics in the 72 hours since the testing announcement:

  • 2.4 million searches for international travel, a 7% increase from the week prior
  • 1.5 million of those were for travel from the U.S. to international destinations – an increase of 7.6%
  • 900,000 were for travel from international destinations to the U.S. – up 6.9%
  • The majority of searches by U.S. travelers were for near-term travel this summer to destinations in Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean

It’s safe to say that pre-flight COVID-19 did act as a travel deterrent. But why? Was it really so hard to find a testing center or just too expensive?

Critics have charged that people were more afraid of getting stuck overseas than getting on a plane and potentially infecting other people, or of having COVID-19 at all. I would frame that charge differently.

Travelers were right to question the whole shady enterprise of pre-flight testing, which often presented dodgy test centers with questionable tests at inflated prices (like that time in Germany I was swabbed for just a few seconds less than a centimeter into my nose and received a negative test eight minutes later). The stress of finding a testing center and hoping test results would be dispatched in time did act as a justifiable deterrent to travel, since few want to be stuck overseas.

And frankly with airplane filtration systems offering among the safest indoor environments, it never made logical sense why testing was required on flights but not in other venues and spaces which represented a far more elevated risk.

The “something is better than nothing” approach rang hollow to those who had to scramble for a test before every flight from the USA that U.S. officials simply asked airlines to quickly glance out. It became a redundant exercise especially as all known variants were already present and saturated in the USA.

CONCLUSION

United Airlines has reported a surge in searches for international travel in the 72 hours after the U.S. dropped COVID-19 pre-flight testing requirements. With the summer travel season now upon us, expect flights that are even more crowded as a result of this U.S. policy change.

image: United

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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21 Comments

  1. Santastico Reply
    June 15, 2022 at 11:39 am

    Not a surprise. Only a demented mind though it was a good idea to keep testing people to fly to the US. Canadians were smarter as their NHL and MLB teams flew to Toronto and crossed the boarder by bus to take a domestic flight from Buffalo.

  2. Jan Reply
    June 15, 2022 at 11:56 am

    Full is full, how can you have flights that are “even more full?” lol
    But I bet the airlines will be raking in more cash than ever; how about paying pilots, FA and all other airline employers what they deserve, and hiring more of them? The amount of operational issues that they’ve had because of lack of personnel (all carriers not just United) have been embarrassing

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      June 15, 2022 at 12:16 pm

      Even more crowded! Fair points indeed.

  3. Arthur Reply
    June 15, 2022 at 1:47 pm

    Glad they dropped it. (I was a little nervous taking my test on June 10 before flying back the 11th, the day before it was dropped.) But I have a hunch the result will be more TATL flyers, higher prices, and even more long lines and delays at places like AMS, CDG and LHR. Glad most of my flights for the rest of the year are already made, and no tight connections.

  4. Mr. Marcus Reply
    June 15, 2022 at 4:05 pm

    If you’re in the right set of circumstances with your job, family, or travel companion situations, an unexpected 5 day quarantine on the end of a trip can be a real financial disaster.

    An interesting story from my workplace: At the Thanksgiving holiday, a co-worker took a trip to South Africa. He was booked to fly out the day after the flight bans, but re-booked to route through the middle east to dodge the flight bans. He put the trip on blast on social media. He claimed the whole situation was BS, and the restrictions were racially motivated. For the flight back, he cleverly routed to dodge all the bans again. He tested negative to fly back to the US. A few days later he was the first person in our state to test positive for omicron. Strangely, his social media account didn’t mention the positive omicron test upon return.

    • Santastico Reply
      June 15, 2022 at 4:21 pm

      So explain the situation a friend of mine just had while this stupid test was required. My friend, his wife, another close couple and their mother (5 people) flew from the US to Ireland for a 2 week vacation. My friend slept on the same bed as his wife all the time and all 5 shared the same car, ate together, shared drinks while sampling whiskey and beers, etc… all together for 2 full weeks. The 5 of them got to the airport to fly back home to the US and they all did the rapid test required by Brandon to fly to the US. All were negative but my friend. He tested positive without absolutely no symptoms before checking in at the airport. How is that possible? Well, to reduce extra costs, his wife and the 3 friends flew back to the US and he had to book a hotel for 5 nights in Dublin to quarantine before flying back home. He never even sneezed while there so a total waste of time and money for a virus that has now been among all of us without much problems.

      • John Q Reply
        June 15, 2022 at 10:37 pm

        “How is this possible”?? Many folks are asymptomatic and still test positive. That’s not a new thing at all. Try and keep up.

        • Santastico Reply
          June 16, 2022 at 12:19 am

          I think you were brainwashed so let me clarify to you. How is it possible that 5 people together in the same car for 2 weeks and only 1 tested positive? Not talking about symptoms since none had any but how the other 4 were negative and continued to be negative after testing many times after arriving in the US? Most tests are useless and only cause disruption into peoples lives.

        • Arthur Reply
          June 16, 2022 at 11:45 am

          There are also a lot of false positives. Out of an abundance of caution, before I took my proctored test to return, I took a regular at-home test. Finding that negative gave me more comfort my proctored one would also be negative, or if positive, I should take it again.

    • Andie Reply
      June 15, 2022 at 5:47 pm

      I returned from South Africa last week. I wore an N95 in airport and on takeoff and landing and a KN95 while in the air. I tested negative before leaving South Africa. Was on a plane where they didn’t require masks or testing (first leg of a 2 leg flight back to the US). I tested positive for Covid 3 days ago.

  5. David Reply
    June 15, 2022 at 4:11 pm

    Not much about this makes sense anymore. I’ve been bouncing around Africa the past 10 days for work and ET has gone full on with mandating masks again. Better have a mask on when you enter the plane. I’m beyond tired of the nonsense. Time to find another carrier or just stay home.

  6. Josh Reply
    June 15, 2022 at 6:47 pm

    Interesting that it is searches that are up, but not necessarily bookings. Tickets are outrageously expensive, flights are full and the airlines can’t keep up with the demand they already have.

  7. stuart Reply
    June 15, 2022 at 7:17 pm

    No doubt the concern was justified for families traveling. The odds of one testing positive in a family of four is exponentially higher than a single business traveler and, if occurs, you now have a week of sitting in a hotel room together waiting for the one to test negative. A few colleagues tested positive last month traveling (one in Guadalajara and could only find a basic hotel that would take him) and he sat there for a week in his room waiting for the prized negative test. He was literally on the way to the airport when he got notified. What is interesting though in this is that in his case the system worked (I guess?) he had no symptoms and would have boarded the plane potentially infecting others. I am not complaining, I am happy it’s over, it was a complete nuisance in many places and I have spent thousands on testing for travel in the past two years.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      June 15, 2022 at 7:45 pm

      England no longer requires you quarantine from others if you have COVID-19. With treatments and vaccines widely available, that may be a healthy approach…

      • Stuart Reply
        June 15, 2022 at 8:09 pm

        In Australia where I’m currently on business I was told that after five days, no matter what, you can return to work or do whatever. Which I guess is also reasonable given I know people that have had positive tests for over 10 days with no symptoms. That might be a better balance. On the other extreme would be Hong Kong where I imagine you are locked in a cell for two months, lol.

  8. Garland Reply
    June 15, 2022 at 10:52 pm

    I bought an international ticket going to Asia from the USA on United, i monitored the seats bought on my United app,,, i’ve noticed a surge of seat purchases lately, finally the government is forced to get out of the way

  9. Warren Trout Reply
    June 16, 2022 at 12:34 am

    Finally the government catches up with the science

  10. Jep Reply
    June 16, 2022 at 7:20 am

    I booked my ticket to Greece with United the moment the announcement was made. Covid theater is over.

    • Tony N Reply
      June 17, 2022 at 11:05 pm

      Not over. Covid will always be with us.

  11. Jerry Reply
    June 16, 2022 at 3:14 pm

    I feel like the only people who ever got “trapped overseas” because of a negative Covid test write for TPG.

  12. Tony N Reply
    June 17, 2022 at 11:04 pm

    On second thought, prices have gone sky high.

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