Labor Day Weekend Records the Highest Number of Travelers Since Start of COVID-19 Air Travel Travel Travel News by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - September 14, 2020September 14, 20200 After the COVID-19 lockdown, travelers are slowly starting to return to airports — although the numbers are still nowhere near pre-pandemic levels. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported a record-high number of passengers since the coronavirus pandemic shut down travel earlier this year. On the Friday before Labor Day, Sept. 4, 968,673 people passed through TSA checkpoints across the country. It was the first time since mid-March that the TSA screened more than 900,000 travelers in one single day. But that’s still nowhere near the 2.2 million passengers that the TSA had processed exactly one year earlier. A report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), released Tuesday, revealed that there were 73 percent fewer airline passengers in July 2020 than in July 2019. Although
More Travelers are Turning to Professional Travel Advisors Air Travel Tickets Travel Travel News by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - August 28, 2020August 28, 20200 More travelers are likely to book their trips through a travel agent than before the COVID-19 crisis began seven months ago, according to a new study from British-based travel technology company Travelport. The majority of travelers are now ready to consider booking domestic and international trips, but only if airlines, airports, hotels and car rental companies collectively implement 10 different safety measures throughout their journey, including fully flexible or refundable flight tickets. This is according to the results of Travelport’s independent research. The results of the study are based on a survey of 5,000 travelers across the United States, United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand, as well as in-depth interviews with 29 leading travel suppliers. The study found that at all parts of the travel journey, it
The Caribbean Islands Have Amended Their Travel Entry Requirements Bahamas Barbados Caribbean Jamaica Montego Bay New York Punta Cana St. Lucia Travel Advisory Travel News by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - July 23, 2020July 23, 20200 Caribbean destinations that have opened their borders to tourism this month are amending travel entry requirements amid a sharp resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. A key market for the Caribbean, the U.S.’s caseload has climbed to over 3.7 million and deaths have reached over 140,000, according to Worldometers. The Bahamas has gone as far closing its borders to American travelers for the time being to prevent the spread of the virus. St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris has closed the country’s borders to travel indefinitely. Many destinations have already updated their policies to require a COVID-19 PCR test 72 hours prior to arrival (see: Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico). The challenge will be for travelers to find testing programs that process a
Coronavirus related backlog of Passports are now being processed again Travel News by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - June 16, 2020June 16, 20200 The State Department has resumed processing U.S. passports to clear a backlog of 1.7 million pending applications before it can start tackling new requests, officials said Friday. Carl Risch, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, said 11 of the 29 passport agencies and centers around the United States that reduced services as the coronavirus began to spread have started Phase 1 on the road to normal. About half the agency’s passport workers have returned to their offices. Passport applications will be processed on a “first in, first out” basis. Risch estimated it will take six to eight weeks to clear the backlog dating from late February. The 1.7 million pending applications represent a little more than the average workload every month. Only then
Delta Airlines will Provide Complimentary Care Kits for Flights Air Travel Delta Airlines Travel News by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - May 28, 2020May 28, 20200 Test of complimentary kits include disposable face mask and hand sanitizerKits will be available on request at ticket counters and gates by June 5 Customers arriving at a Delta check-in area without a face mask need not worry – they will receive a complimentary care kit to comply with our mask requirement and enjoy an extra layer of protection throughout their travel. The kits will include: A disposable face mask;Purell hand sanitizer gel pouches;And, an information card detailing measures in place that are helping Delta transform the industry standard of clean "Our survey data showed a clear desire for these kits and we have a bias toward action when we see new trends emerge." said Bill Lentsch, Chief Customer Experience Officer. "As more people
Some CCL Cruises are Set to Resume August 1, 2020 Carnival Cruise Cruise Travel Travel News by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - May 5, 2020May 17, 20200 Carnival Cruise Line plans to resume cruises on Aug. 1, the company announced Monday. Eight of its 27 ships will begin cruising out of ports in Florida and Texas in August, the company said, while all other cruises will remain canceled through at least Aug. 31. The company had previously said it would cancel all cruises through June 26. The first ships to return to cruising will be the Carnival Horizon, Carnival Magic and Carnival Sensation from Miami, the Carnival Breeze and Carnival Elation from Port Canaveral east of Orlando, and the Carnival Dream, Carnival Freedom and Carnival Vista from Galveston, Texas. All Alaska cruises on the Carnival Spirit from Seattle will be canceled, as well as the Carnival Spirit Vancouver-Honolulu cruise on
Canceled Carnival Cruises What are My Options Carnival Cruise by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - April 30, 2020April 30, 20200 As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve there are certain cruises that Carnival Cruise Line is having to cancel this year so please take note of the following sailings: All Ships sailings through and including June 26, 2020All San Francisco sailings through 2020All Carnival Sunrise sailings through and including October 19, 2020All Carnival Legend sailings through and including October 30, 2020All Carnival Radiance sailings through and including November 1, 2020 Carnival will provide cruise flexibility as you think about your future plans. Below are two options for Guests whose cruise has been canceled to consider, including a bonus value offer. If we booked your cruise we look forward to welcoming you onboard a future sailing when the time is right for you. Carnival will honor this offer for
COVID-19 Brings with it New Hotel Cleaning Initiatives Hilton Hotels Travel Travel News by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - April 29, 2020April 30, 20200 The American Hotel & Lodging Association and Hilton each announced initiatives this week to advance hotel cleanliness and keep guests and employees safe and healthy. The two join Marriott International and Accor, which recently announced cleanliness efforts to combat COVID-19. The AHLA launched Safe Stay, an initiative focused on enhanced hotel cleaning practices, social interactions and workplace protocols to meet the new health and safety challenges and expectations presented by COVID-19. Safe Stay will seek to change hotel industry norms, behaviors and standards to ensure both hotel guests and employees are confident in the cleanliness and safety of hotels once travel resumes. “Every hotel guest and employee should know that their health and safety are our top priority,” said Chip Rogers, president/CEO of AHLA. “Safe
Bookit.com Shutdown Lays Off Staff Travel News by Corey Grant - Travel Agent - March 19, 2020April 30, 20200 Many of Bookit.com's travelers are taking to social media about the online travel company leaving complaints that they’ve gone out of business and left their customers stranded. Now this is highly unfortunate for those customers that have been affected but honestly Bookit has been one of those companies that I have warned travelers about for years when they would say "oh I can find it way cheaper on this site". Bookit.com is trying to blame their collapse on the COVID-19 crisis but anyone that professionally books travel knows that those hotel rooms and resorts should have been paid for in full at the time of booking so the horror story of people paying for those "cheap trips" and then arriving
