https://www.travelagentcentral...eal-test-requirement



Travel Groups Again Call on Biden Admin to Repeal Test Requirement

By Matt TurnerMay 5, 2022 03:37pm

On Thursday, over 260 travel industry and business organizations sent a letter to White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha calling for an urgent repeal of the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated international air travelers.

“Stronger immunity provided by vaccinations, boosters and prior infections, as well as effective treatments to prevent the worst outcomes of COVID-19, have enabled Americans to safely return to work, schools and normal activities—all without the need for indoor masks, frequent testing and physical distancing. These factors strongly support the elimination of the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated international air travelers,” the letter reads.

While there is no longer a need, according to the groups, led by the U.S. Travel Association, for an inbound testing requirement for vaccinated travelers, the letter goes on to say that the economic costs associated with maintaining the measure are significant, with international travel spending down 78 percent compared to 2019 levels. Eliminating the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated travelers would accelerate the return of international travel to and from the U.S. without increasing the spread of COVID-19.

The letter also states that many foreign governments with similar infection, vaccination and hospitalization rates—including the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada—have already eliminated pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated travelers. Furthermore, since the federal government does not require negative tests for entry at our land-border ports of entry with Canada and Mexico, it no longer makes sense to keep a pre-departure COVID testing requirement in place for vaccinated international air travelers to the U.S.

I’m on a flight right now from Jamaica to Miami. Had to be tested yesterday at the resort( their cost). PIA but what can you do? Wife and I are fully vaxxed and boosted.

All we can do is keep up the pressure. Glad to hear about this letter. Let's hope it works.

I just came back from SA on April 20 and landed in Newark,NJ. we were told we had to have a Antigen test before coming back to the US, so we did is SA and guess what? no one in the USA ie customs, tsa even asked for it. was a waste of money

At check in at American Airlines in Montego Bay, we had to show an email copy of our test result. No email or hard copy, no boarding.

We fly out on May 22nd but we don't come home until June 8th so we're hoping all this will be done by then.

What's worrying us more is that TAP Air Portugal has the mask requirements still.

We just flew back from turkey hunting in Mexico. At check in on the return flight, we had to show our COVID test results. It was never checked in the US.

In our international travel it has been the airline that did the test result check before boarding. We haven't had to show the results upon landing.

Never been asked for test results on arrival but have always been asked at airport checkin, including yesterday.

I sure hope they drop the test requirement before September. If testing is not required on our southern border then it must not be needed.

Testing isn't required on land or ferry border crossings, only air.

Most illegals don't fly.......go figure?

https://www.reuters.com/busine...irements-2022-05-13/

May 13, 2022
5:18 PM CDT
Last Updated 16 hours ago

Airlines press U.S. to lift pre-departure testing requirements
By David Shepardson



WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - U.S. airlines are pressing the Biden administration to lift a 16-month-old rule requiring nearly all international air passengers with some exceptions to test negative for COVID-19 before entering the country.

Airline executives say many Americans are not traveling internationally because of concerns they will test positive in a foreign country and then be stranded abroad. International U.S. air travel remains down about 15% from pre-pandemic levels.



Airlines for America, an industry group, said Friday a survey of its carriers estimated that dropping testing rules would bring in an additional 4.3 million international passengers and $1.7 billion in incremental revenue - and could result in an incremental 1.075 million foreign visitors and $2.1 billion in visitor spending.

Crain's Chicago Business reported Thursday that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he did not think pre-departure rules "will be there forever" but added lifting them would require the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) to be confident "relaxing it would not harm the progress that we’ve made against the virus."


CDC declined to comment.

Britain's Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Reuters and other reporters in Washington on Thursday he discussed the issue with Buttigieg and some U.S. lawmakers.

Shapps said dropping requirements have boosted the British economy and not impacted COVID-19 cases.

"It works to get rid of it. It's been a massive boost for our tourism, travel industry," Shapps said.

He thinks the United States is moving toward lifting the rules, but U.S. officials offered no firm indications.



"My sense is that it's moving towards endgame. I think they realize that it needs to go," Shapps said. "My sense is that by the summer."

The United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and many other countries have eliminated pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated travelers.



Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Bernard Orr

If they lift restrictions there won't be any excuse for another covid spending package and to shutdown in person voting.

Charles, I am afraid you are right. We are being led on this issue by hyper-partisan and corrupt people.

In Europe it seems to be "business as usual" as movement is unrestricted if you have your "Green Pass" and face masks no longer an obligatory requirement when entering any office, supermarket, etc.

Airline have to comply with the country of their destinations.

Need to throw out the bogus vaccination requirements as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Rhys:
Need to throw out the bogus vaccination requirements as well.

Maybe they should, but I'm not Don Quixote. I can either play the game (with there ever changing rules) or I can stay home. I am getting too old to sit out another year. So I prepare to meet the vaccination proof and/or testing requirements, while I hope they will be gone by September. I will be happy if the masking requirements don't return.

quote:

Originally posted by CharlesL:
If they lift restrictions there won't be any excuse for another covid spending package and to shutdown in person voting.

Maybe after November......

https://www.rubio.senate.gov/p...-illegal-immigration



Transcript: Rubio Stumps Fauci On COVID Testing Travel Requirements, Illegal Immigration

MAY 17 2022

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) questioned Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, during a Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing on Labor, Health and Human Services. Fauci could not articulate any public health rationale for requiring a negative COVID test for American citizens and law-abiding visitors entering the U.S. while illegal immigrants can enter the country without any proof of testing, telling Rubio, “I don't have the answer to that.”

fauci questions

A video of Rubio’s questioning can be found here and a transcript of the exchange is below.

RUBIO: Dr. Fauci, I'm running into something that's pretty interesting. I believe the United States is the only major Western country that now requires its citizens to test negative for COVID before they can get on an airplane and reenter the country. I believe that's accurate. On the other hand, we're hearing now that…Title 42, which is a COVID-era policy, should be lifted, because we've reached a point now where COVID is manageable or [is] at a level [where] we no longer need Title 42.

We obviously know we have a problem on our southern border, where every day people are entering the country illegally. Many are not even being tested for COVID, and even if they are, they're being allowed to stay…. How do we tell American citizens: “If you test positive, even if it's a dead virus that's been in your system for ten days — you can test positive days after you're no longer infectious — you can't enter your own country. But if you arrive illegally, whether you test positive or not, if you say the magic words for asylum, you get to stay in the country.”

This is a real-life scenario. I know people that are abroad, they test positive [but] they're not sick. Maybe they were sick a week ago. They can't afford to continue to pay for hotel rooms and staying overseas until they can finally score a negative test.

Has the time come for us to lift this, in your view? Having been so integral in our COVID response, are we at a point now where American citizens should be allowed to return to their country without testing negative?

FAUCI: Thank you for the question. It's an important question. I don't have the answer to that. I mean, we work with our CDC colleagues to continue to examine the feasibility of that and the desirability of that. I think the idea of having an immigration issue mixed with a public health issue for the general population — I think those probably should be separated.

RUBIO: Except they're interrelated because they both involve groups of people entering the United States. One group is citizens of the country entering legally. The other group, frankly, are people that are not entering legally. The group that's not entering legally, even if they test positive, if they're even tested, get to stay. The American citizen can't re-enter their own country until they produce a negative test.

My point is, if we've reached a point in COVID where we no longer need Title 42 as a COVID restriction for illegal entry, why do we still need travel restrictions for American citizens for legal entry into their own country? That's the genesis of the question. That's where I think the link is. This sort of seems to be at odds with it.

Don’t expect anything honest and logical to cross the lips of Fauci — if it’s at odds with Democrat politics.

I love Senator Rubio. I’d vote for him in a nanosecond if he ever runs for POTUS.

Yes the U.S. has the most restrictive entry requirements of the western countries... and possibly the most inept administration officials. Yes, they are diverse, but have mercy they are clueless...

I sweated bullets in Karachi in February waiting on my test results at 6:00 pm with a 5:00 flight to Istanbul the next morning. Totally unnecessary if the traveler is vaccinated and boosted in my nonmedical opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
Totally unnecessary if the traveler is vaccinated and boosted in my nonmedical opinion.

Total unhelpful in my opinion. I thought restrictions were to stop the spread. Well it has already spread over the whole damn world. Even spread to North Korea who has the most restrictive travel that I know of.

Exactly! The virus is ubiquitous. The only reason left is just the control.

https://www.wrex.com/coronavir...ef-2611becc254d.html


US airlines, travel industry push White House to end pre-travel testing

By Gregory Wallace and Pete Muntean, CNN May 31, 2022 Updated 13 hrs ago

White House officials met Tuesday with travel industry officials, who pressed the Biden administration to end its requirements that vaccinated international travelers take a coronavirus test before flying to the United States.

Airlines for America, representing major US air carriers, and the US Travel Association, representing the broad travel and tourism industry, said they argued the requirement does not match the current threat from Covid-19.

They also say the requirement is harming the US economy.

"Quite frankly, the only impact the pre-departure testing requirement is having is a chilling effect on an already fragile economy here in the U.S.," Airlines for America chief Nick Calio said in a statement after the meeting.


Roger Dow of the US Travel Association said in a separate statement that while restrictions on many other businesses have been lifted, "the travel industry remains disproportionately harmed by this requirement."

"Other countries with whom we directly compete for global travelers have removed their pre-departure testing requirements and reopened their tourism economies, putting the U.S. at a serious competitive disadvantage for export dollars," Dow said.

Airlines for America said its members -- including American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines -- believe lifting the requirements would lead more foreigners to visit the US.

The trade association says that in mid-May, domestic travel came within 7 percentage points of pre-pandemic levels, but international travel lagged at 14% below normal.

The industry has criticized the policy as out of date for months.

Some medical experts have also questioned the policy's utility.

Testing international arrivals doesn't make much sense to Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

"I've been bemused about that for a long time because we've got plenty of Covid here! It's not as though we're trying to keep Covid out," Schaffner told CNN Travel in March. "It's here already."

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

The-CNN-Wire

Biden can't be bothered with this.

He's too busy trying to ban the 9mm, ARs and other "weapons of war."

Besides, incontrovertible logic confuses him.

Everything confuses him…

Joe Biden could screw up a one car funeral.

Vote Kamala Harris for the next POTUS

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Everything confuses him…

You mean like all American voters?

No, only about 50% of us.

The ones who are ignorant of history, but fresh on social media.

https://www.travelagentcentral...nbound-air-travelers


Support Builds for Repeal of Pre-departure Testing for Inbound Air Travelers

By Newsdesk Jun 8, 2022 11:03am


COVID testing

A bipartisan group of 38 mayors representing American cities and counties spanning Miami to San Francisco sent a letter to the Biden administration on Tuesday asking for the removal of pre-departure testing as a requirement for U.S. entry by air for vaccinated individuals. Mayors of Houston, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Philadelphia also sent separate letters to the administration with the same request, totaling 42 mayors.

In the group’s letter, the leaders state: “American cities are still struggling to regain international visitors after more than two years of pandemic-related restrictions. In 2021, international visitation was a staggering 78% below pre-pandemic levels. Our constituents and our businesses suffered greatly from this steep decline in international travel spending, and they cannot fully recover until this vital sector of the U.S. economy rebounds.”

More than 40 nations have recently lifted pre-departure testing requirements without negatively impacting public health. While nearly all other aspects of the economy have reopened without a testing requirement, inbound air travel for vaccinated individuals remains an outlier. For example, the U.S. government does not require proof of a negative COVID-19 test at U.S. land border ports of entry.

The letter from U.S. mayors follows a similar appeal by more than 260 travel businesses and organizations from across the U.S., who sent a May letter to the administration requesting the removal of pre-departure testing.

Bipartisan members of Congress have also asked the administration to remove the testing requirement, with a bipartisan letter in the U.S. House led by Reps. Correa and Salazar, a letter from the Nevada congressional delegation, and a letter signed by more than 30 U.S. senators.

Speaking from Orlando at the U.S. Travel Association international trade event IPW, U.S. Travel President and CEO Roger Dow echoed the mayors' request, calling the U.S. government’s pre-departure testing requirement an “unnecessary hurdle and major deterrent to traveling to the U.S.”

At a U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade and Export Promotion hearing held recently, U.S. Travel Association Executive Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes testified on the need to immediately end the government’s pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated inbound air travelers. She noted how the existing policy is depressing a significant amount of travel to the U.S. and does not provide a meaningful benefit to public health.

With the Biden administration currently appealing the federal court ruling that stopped the BS wearing of masks on planes and in airports I don't see much relief anytime soon. No way they are going to end the "last man standing" of Covid which is the entry test requirement. Doing so would admit the crisis is over and with it any hope, however slim, of more relief spending.

Biden is an idiot. He will do whatever his nurses tell him to do. No testing at border crossing, only at departure airports?? How stupid can you get?

Repealing this testing requirement is so obviously the right thing to do. It is truly outrageous that the people in charge are sitting on their hands, and maintaining the indefensible status quo.

It seems that Biden and his cohorts have been bent on destroying the US economy from the very start of their regime.

No leadership would be better than this administration of fools, unable to learn, and unwilling to admit their mistakes and change policy.

The only reason that he may relinquish on this issue is his handlers may hope to save a few seats in congress in November.

This thread should be on the PF so Klownsco, pymple, scrotum, and lil mikey can tell us what a great job he is doing managing the US economy. Last time I checked, tourism was a big part of our economy……

jdollar, please perish the thought.

I avoid the PF like a devout preacher would avoid a diseased whore.

But when "politics," as practiced by idiots, affects my God-given rights, I will speak my mind.

This policy is profoundly stupid, and costly to us all.

quote:

Originally posted by hydehunter:
I just came back from SA on April 20 and landed in Newark,NJ. we were told we had to have a Antigen test before coming back to the US, so we did is SA and guess what? no one in the USA ie customs, tsa even asked for it. was a waste of money

The negative test is needed at check in to board the US bound plane. If they didn't check your negative prior to board the airline screwed up. I have been checked prior to boarding on all of my international flights this year.

You do not need a negative test if you have documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (i.e., your positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official.

I saw some jackass try to get on a US bound flight in Brazil without a negative test. It got a bit heated at the airline counter. They did not let him get on the plane. He refused to go get a 15 minute antigen test at the airport. I think he already knew that he was positive.