During this challenging time, the CheapAir team has been hard at work developing new ways to better serve you and keep you informed while planning your next trip.
Quarantine Travel Alerts
When you select a destination for a flight or hotel stay on the CheapAir search page, we’ll alert you with a warning message if your destination has quarantines in place for travelers arriving from your state. In our example here, a traveler from Phoenix flying to New York is required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. If you’d like to read more information about the specifics, you can click “more info” to get details.
COVID Clean Hotels
We now designate hotel properties with verified expanded cleaning protocols as “COVID Clean” on CheapAir.com. This simply means these hotels have been vetted and verified and can be said to have enhanced cleaning protocols in place at the time of your booking. You find these properties by looking for the “COVID Clean” badge in the upper left corner of the hotel photo.
Helpful Travel Resources
We’ve also started to build a library of helpful travel resources so you have information available when you’re booking. The airlines have made sweeping temporary policy changes to ensure traveler safety, and you can find a roundup of the airline policy changes here. You can also check out our blog to see some of the other helpful articles including how airline ventilation is better than you think and what you can do to keep yourself safe while flying.
Check back with us to discover other ways we’re committed to helping you travel safely.
One more question please. I had a trip planned to Switzerland via Gate 1 travel 9/3/2020 a 9/12/2020 which was canceled. Swiss Air still has the flight active. Can u please tell me the situation with US residents traveling and the borders with Switzerland so I can get this airline to give me my $$ back
Hi Andrea, it difficult to know what the policy will be in September because the policy is being reevaluated every two weeks. Right now Americans are only officially banned through the end of July. Because of the number of cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. the ban will likely get extended. However, we probably won’t officially know the September policy until mid-August. If you haven’t canceled the flights, we usually recommend you wait to cancel until a couple of days before your flight. Why? Because if the airline cancels the flight (as in they won’t fly anyone at all on that flight) before you, the consumer, they have to give you a refund. But if you cancel the flight first then it gets iffy. They might only have to give you credit. You do need to make sure you cancel before departure if the airline doesn’t cancel the flight to retain credit but generally, you can wait until the day before the flight to cancel on the chance the airline will scrap the flight from the schedule.
We are two seniors planning to go back to Phoenix coming from Manila. As our flight July 14 was move to any day til dec 17 when is the best time to fly. Tnx
Hi Teody, Not sure if I understood your questions. Are you looking to travel before or after December 17th? It has gotten difficult to predict airfare and travel trends with COVID-19. But if you are looking to fly between now and December, we generally recommend Fall. Probably mid November to Early December. Hopefully, airlines will be flying more of a regular schedule by then. In the past, we have seen that as you get closer to the holidays, generally the fares increase. Hope that answered your question.
I am confused. Your site allows me to make flight reservations from the US to Europe however I was under the impression that Europe currently has it borders closed to residents of the US as we r considered high risk.
Hi Andrea, as of right now, nonessential travel is banned from the United States to Europe. The policy is being reevaluated every two weeks which is one of the reasons why there are some flights available, airlines may adjust their schedule if the ban gets extended. Also, there is limited travel permitted for essential reasons, i.e.: health care workers, European Citizens returning home, funerals, etc.. Before purchasing please make sure you qualify to travel. If not essential, it is probably best not to purchase tickets to Europe for travel this summer, as the ban will likely be extended. If you purchase for months ahead, the airlines are allowing flexible change waivers if you need to postpone the trip. Thank you
My brother in the Netherlands past away on July 14. I travel to the Netherlands for his funeral. I fly back the 28th. For how long I will be in self quarantine?
Hi Pieter, deeply sorry for your loss. Because technically the Netherlands doesn’t allow visitors from the United States at this time, I could not find the quarantine rules for it. I assumed you got an exception due to a death in the famter, we aily. For other countries outside the EU the Netherlands is recommending a 14-day quarantine period but recommend you reach out to your embassy. Thank you