US travel ban lifted - live: First London-New York flights land at JFK as hotel bookings up 63 per cent
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic stage dual take-off from Heathrow to celebrate
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After almost 20 months, the US has finally reopened to tourists.
The unprecedented travel ban, implemented in March 2020 in response to the pandemic, saw travellers from the UK, EU and various other countries worldwide allowed into the States for only a handful of “essential reasons”.
From 8 November, entry restrictions have been lifted for all fully vaccinated arrivals.
In celebration, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic staged an historic simultaneous take-off from London Heathrow’s two runways this morning.
Virgin’s VS3 was the first to land at New York’s JFK Airport, touching down at 10.51 AM local time, while British Airways’s BA001 landed a few minutes later at 11.00 AM.
“This really feels like proper travel is back – and back to something like normality,” said Mark Jones, The Independent’s correspondent who is reporting from the very first BA flight out to the US. “Except I’m FAR more excited than I’d normally be for a business trip.”
Follow all the latest updates below.
What are the US testing rules?
The rules and recommendations on tests for travel to the US have been widely misinterpreted. This is the correct picture.
Fully vaccinated? Take a lateral flow test on the day of travel or one of the preceding three days. For example, with a flight at 3pm on Saturday you could take a test any time from Wednesday to Friday, or on Saturday itself.
The US Centers for Disease Control recommends you take a second test between three and five days after arrival, but this is not mandatory.
Unvaccinated, aged two-17 and travelling with a vaccinated parent? Exactly the same as for vaccinated adults, except that the post-arrival test is required, not merely recommended.
More in our comprehensive explainer on the new travel rules.
Back to the US: After travel ban lifts, how new rules for British visitors work
Arrivals who have been fully jabbed with a recognised vaccine, under-18s travelling with them, are welcome – subject to testing
First UK-Orlando flights set off
Two flights will depart from the UK to Orlando after a gap of 20 months. Both the trips to Florida’s theme-park capital are operated by Virgin Atlantic: the first from Manchester, the second from Heathrow. Both are fully booked.
Among the passengers on the Manchester-Orlando plane are Teresa and Marcus Gronqvist from Leeds.
“It’s been the most stressful booking,” Teresa told The Independent.
“We booked back in January and just happened to pick the very day the US opened up to the Brits!”
The couple faced a stressful start to their journey when the testing laboratory failed to provide the promised three-hour PCR result. Instead, they took swift lateral flow tests and made the flight.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights take-off in tandem
And we’re off!
There’s a festive atmosphere on board as the BA people work the cabin - and some relief that coordinated take-off with Virgin worked.
Interestingly, Sean Doyle, BA CEO, takes the microphone on the BA001 flight to New York. Instead of trumpeting the resumption of US flights he chooses to make a COP-friendly speech about the airline’s sustainability policies.
This is the first BA long haul flight using 35 per cent SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel).
A BA person tells me Virgin has only managed 5 per cent - unless they are making a similar announcement on the other flight.
Signs it’s not quite peace in our time between the two great rivals yet…
Interest in US travel bookings soars
As the US reopens to vaccinated tourists, interest in booking trips there has surged according to data from hotel site trivago.
Since the announcement on 20 September that the US would reopen its borders:
- Overall traffic from trivago’s European sites to accommodation in the US is 2.7 times higher than pre-announcement
- Traffic to US bookings is 5.6x higher in Switzerland, 5x higher in Austria, 4x higher in Germany and 2.2x higher in the UK than before the announcement
- Comparing w/c 25 October to w/c 1 November, the biggest spikes in traffic to the US have come from Italy (around 74 per cent increase) and Greece (around 62 per cent increase).
Virgin Atlantic flight delayed
The momentous dual take-off of BA and Virgin’s first London-New York flights since the US travel ban lifted could be held up.
Times transport correspondent Ben Clatworthy reported: “British Airways and Virgin are performing a dual take off at Heathrow this morning to celebrate the return to the US… except the Virgin flight is delayed boarding.”
Ready for take-off
The BA and Virgin flights are preparing for their historic dual take-off at Heathrow.
Mark Jones, our (soon to be) eye in the sky, is “currently looking at an empty runway and a complimentary doughnut”.
What a time to be alive.
Champagne selfies at Heathrow
The fun begins with BA’s Hattingley champagne. It’s early morning and I’m not sure if I should be drinking on the job. But what the hell. We get US-inspired breakfast snacks and the chance to reflect on what a big deal this is for the airlines.
The London-New York route has been the underpinning of BA’s profits for decades – especially those regular flyers up the front. This trip, organised by BA’s Holidays arm, will be all about tempting British leisure travellers back. But make no mistake: BA CEO Sean Doyle knows that it’s the business travellers he needs to win round if the airline is to return to pre-pandemic profitability.
What it’s like to be the first British tourist to cross Canada-US border in 20 months
In the tourist town Niagara Falls, Canada, a traffic jam shortly before midnight on a Sunday is unprecedented. A line of cars, all registered in the Canadian state of Ontario and piled high with baggage, stretches back from the entrance Rainbow Bridge.
“We’re hoping to beat the traffic,” said Ed from Paris, Ontario.
“We’re heading for Florida. It’s a little warmer than it is here.”
Normally, Canada’s snowbirds would start heading south to Florida earlier in autumn. But since March 2020, the border has been open only for essential travel.
Read Simon Calder’s account of his border crossing from Canada to the US in full:
What it’s like to be the first British tourist to cross Canada-US border in 20 months
Simon Calder walked across the Rainbow Bridge that connects Ontario in Canada with New York State
Simon Calder arrives in New York
Having gone the slightly circuitous way round - flying into Canada at the weekend and then crossing the US border as soon as the travel ban lifted at midnight - The Independent’s travel correspondent, Simon Calder, has arrived in New York. He’s one of the first British tourists to do so in around 20 months.
Live from Terminal 5
Terrace, BA Concorde Terrace, Heathrow Terminal 5: Good morning from T5. It’s a big day, and British Airways knows it. At least some of them do. Bronze, said the check-in person acidly, as I showed my boarding pass. ‘BA1’, her colleague explained and I was let through.
‘BA1’ is a magic password. There are five normal BA flights taking off for the US. BA 001 (that’s formerly the call sign of Concorde), is the sixth, a special BA flight leaving for New York – and celebrating the airline’s stateside return after 20 months in the Covid cold.
I’ll be reporting live from the flight and the shindig New York is holding to welcome the Brits back.
You know it’s a special event because BA has buried the hatchet with Virgin: it’s a joint party and the first special flights from each airline will take off at the same time.
In fact, the hatchet has been pretty well interred since Richard Branson ceased to have anything to do with Virgin Atlantic and the combative Willie Walsh quit BA and its parent group, IAG. Virgin these days is the British branch of Delta Airlines: and passions don’t run quite as high there.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see if the old foes can play nice over the next 48 hours.
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