After months and months of anticipation, the U.S. opened its doors and began welcoming vaccinated international visitors in again early Monday morning.
Despite nearly 20 months of waiting, things appeared pretty routine as the first wave of travelers began to arrive, according to a new report from CNN. How long that sentiment will ring true remains to be seen.
“It’s going to be a bit sloppy at first, I can assure you,” Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Airlines, said at a conference last month. “There will be lines, unfortunately.”
According to Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant, a lot of the Delta flights scheduled to arrive in the U.S. on Monday were at max capacity, and “high load factors” will follow in the coming weeks. Per CNN, Delta saw a 450% increase in international bookings in the six weeks since the announcement that the U.S. would be re-opening its doors.
“International flight arrivals will be up 11% on Monday over a similar day in October at Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy international airports, with 253 flights scheduled to arrive, according to the Port Authority of NY & NJ,” wrote Marnie Hunter. “The Port Authority expects a gradual increase at those airports over the next two months, with international traffic reaching about 75% of November and December 2019 levels, based on current international schedules which are likely to change.”
The moral of the story is this: the crowds (and subsequent lines) are coming, and not exclusively due to an influx of travelers all at once, either. The November 22 federally mandated deadline for civilian federal government workers to get vaccinated is also rapidly approaching. Last month, it was reported that 40% of the TSA workforce was either still unvaccinated or their vaccine status unaccounted for, and while a spokesperson told InsideHook that the TSA did not intend to part ways with anyone refusing the jab, it’s still unclear what the course of action will be.
The same is true for several major airlines, including American and Southwest, who have reportedly softened their stance on the vaccine but have yet to state what their post-deadline plans will entail. Other airlines, like United (whose U.S.-based workforce was 99% vaccinated by the end of September), are still waiting for some of their flight attendants to return from leave after having accepted buyouts or voluntary leaves of absence last spring.
It’s the perfect storm of variables for a potentially treacherous holiday travel season, nonetheless. So if you haven’t booked flights yet? Our best advice would be to do that now. Like, right now. And regardless of whether you’re flying international or domestic, plan to get to the airport early. Winter is coming, as they say.
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