The ability to buy a ticket does NOT mean you can travel

Canada and most of Europe, South America, Asia and the rest of the world remain off limits to Americans due to The Covid. As well, the USA has been closed to non-resident visitors for over a year now.

Airlines are the gate keepers for enforcing international entry requirements as they have to pay to fly someone home if they allowed someone to travel to a foreign destination without proper entry authorization. If an American citizen bought a ticket to Paris as a tourist for next week, the airline would deny boarding as France is closed to American tourists at this time. Passengers are responsible for knowing if they are eligible to visit a particular destination before buying travel, so purchasing a non-refundable ticket is on the passenger.

So why have I been able to buy an international plane ticket all this time?

• Getting Home: Foreign folks visiting, studying and working in the US as well as Americans abroad need to get home.
• Essential Workers: People have been traveling as essential workers such as healthcare workers, military personnel, scientists, disaster relief, etc.
• Cargo: Airlines transport a lot of international goods (including mail) and that's a large part of their revenue.
• Route Maintenance: Airline routes require specific separation of aircraft for safety and that means space is limited on each route. Airlines compete for the limited slots on each route and must fly them a minimum number of times to keep their rights to each slot. It's a use it or lose it situation.

* * * * *
Contact us about your destination of interest for answers. We're on top of it!
brandonmatt@hillguystravel.com OR (918) 771-9050