When and how to buy plane tickets to Europe for this summer?
April 30, 2021 6:22 AM Subscribe
I'm a vaccinated American living in the United States and hope to travel to Europe this summer when the EU officially accepts U.S. tourists. Is it possible to buy a ticket now to travel in July?
I am worried the price of tickets will explode once there is an official announcement. I also understand there are risks that I may lose my ticket if for some reason the EU postpones this decision. Has anyone in a similar situation bought a ticket recently? Do you need to prove or agree that you are eligible to travel now?
I am worried the price of tickets will explode once there is an official announcement. I also understand there are risks that I may lose my ticket if for some reason the EU postpones this decision. Has anyone in a similar situation bought a ticket recently? Do you need to prove or agree that you are eligible to travel now?
Buy now, just buy a ticket with no change fees! They are really easy to find right now (as are reasonably-priced fully-refundable tickets). The airlines don't care whether you're eligible to travel until the day you show up at the airport.
posted by mskyle at 6:40 AM on April 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by mskyle at 6:40 AM on April 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Actually, inspired by your question, I just booked a reward flight from Boston to Barcelona for a trip I'm about 75% certain I will take (in September). If I cancel the trip I will have to pay a 25 euro cancellation fee in order to get a refund.
posted by mskyle at 6:45 AM on April 30, 2021
posted by mskyle at 6:45 AM on April 30, 2021
It's a great time to buy speculative vacations. Almost all airlines will let you cancel (albeit sometimes just for airline credit), and lots of hotels and such have more relaxed policies.
posted by true at 6:47 AM on April 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by true at 6:47 AM on April 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
I am looking at two trips later this summer/for Xmas heading the other direction and bought both tickets already, one with airmiles, and they are flexible.
I only had to provide the normal minimum booking information and credit card to buy the tickets - same as for any flight in the pre times. At the moment, the powers that be are still reaching agreement on exactly what will be required so airlines don't know what else to ask for. So I fully expect to have to provide any evidence of vaccination either with the API when I check in or at the airport - as in pre times.
posted by koahiatamadl at 7:10 AM on April 30, 2021
I only had to provide the normal minimum booking information and credit card to buy the tickets - same as for any flight in the pre times. At the moment, the powers that be are still reaching agreement on exactly what will be required so airlines don't know what else to ask for. So I fully expect to have to provide any evidence of vaccination either with the API when I check in or at the airport - as in pre times.
posted by koahiatamadl at 7:10 AM on April 30, 2021
Last fall I bought July 2021 tickets to Norway on the idea that this summer would be loosened up. I specifically bought the tickets through Hopper because they offer additional trip cancellation insurance. It looks like I'm going to have to use it.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:52 AM on April 30, 2021
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:52 AM on April 30, 2021
As an American living in NL with family in DK, DE, and FR let me throw another recommendation to refundable being a prio.
Without putting too fine a point on it and attempting to avoid a political discussion - this is very much an ongoing and continually changing situation in the EU.
Here in NL, all bars/restaurants/museums/etc were closed from late last year, and there was a curfew starting 21.00 (eventually moved to 22.00) from January until yesterday. There is argument to be made that even the current easing measures are not data-driven but a function of the government formation negotiations. FR is similarly shut down, AT, DE have various significant restrictions, and a friend recently driving from DE to DK was asked "why are you going" and since they didn't have a defined need (they were going to a holiday home), were turned away at the border.
Hope your travel plans work out! But perhaps budget a bit more to maintain flexibility than it seems (from a distance) is part of the daily discussion in the US right now.
posted by Seeba at 8:57 AM on April 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
Without putting too fine a point on it and attempting to avoid a political discussion - this is very much an ongoing and continually changing situation in the EU.
Here in NL, all bars/restaurants/museums/etc were closed from late last year, and there was a curfew starting 21.00 (eventually moved to 22.00) from January until yesterday. There is argument to be made that even the current easing measures are not data-driven but a function of the government formation negotiations. FR is similarly shut down, AT, DE have various significant restrictions, and a friend recently driving from DE to DK was asked "why are you going" and since they didn't have a defined need (they were going to a holiday home), were turned away at the border.
Hope your travel plans work out! But perhaps budget a bit more to maintain flexibility than it seems (from a distance) is part of the daily discussion in the US right now.
posted by Seeba at 8:57 AM on April 30, 2021 [3 favorites]
We bought august tickets to the east coast before the state in question was allowing people in without quarantine. we just made sure we could change without fees in case we weren't able to go. So far so good.
we have flown a couple of times since october and one thing we have had to contend with is flights changing more than usual - one return trip turned brutal with two stops, but i think as conditions improve that issue will go away.
posted by domino at 11:24 AM on April 30, 2021
we have flown a couple of times since october and one thing we have had to contend with is flights changing more than usual - one return trip turned brutal with two stops, but i think as conditions improve that issue will go away.
posted by domino at 11:24 AM on April 30, 2021
I agree that your priority should be flexibility. It will be easy to buy tickets but not necessarily easy or desirable to use them. First, there’s the question of whether they will require you to quarantine upon arrival. Right now, as fully vaccinated individuals, we would not have to quarantine if we went to Ireland (I’m not sure if or how other EU states are different on this, I just looked at Ireland because we have speculatively booked tickets to go at the end of August). However, everything is on lockdown right now so restaurants and pubs are takeout only and only essential retail is open. So while we could go right now, I’m not sure if we would want to. Things could (and probably will) change between now and then so flexibility in travel plans will be key.
posted by slmorri at 11:37 AM on April 30, 2021
posted by slmorri at 11:37 AM on April 30, 2021
Right now, as fully vaccinated individuals, we would not have to quarantine if we went to Ireland
Please be careful to double-check everything as this, for example, is not quite true. Right now, fully vaccinated travellers from the US don't need to go to mandatory hotel quarantine but they would still need to
self-quarantine for at least 5 days, at which point you can test out.
I would agree with everyone else that flexibility is key. A lot of Europe is still in flux, and while some countries (like Ireland, France) are setting out dates for re-openings, they are likely to change and/or lock down again if case numbers start rising again.
posted by scorbet at 11:57 AM on April 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Please be careful to double-check everything as this, for example, is not quite true. Right now, fully vaccinated travellers from the US don't need to go to mandatory hotel quarantine but they would still need to
self-quarantine for at least 5 days, at which point you can test out.
I would agree with everyone else that flexibility is key. A lot of Europe is still in flux, and while some countries (like Ireland, France) are setting out dates for re-openings, they are likely to change and/or lock down again if case numbers start rising again.
posted by scorbet at 11:57 AM on April 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thank you, scorbet, I will look at that. It seemed like there was conflicting information about self-quarantining on the website. Yet another reason to be careful!
posted by slmorri at 1:34 PM on April 30, 2021
posted by slmorri at 1:34 PM on April 30, 2021
I think your fears of high prices are somewhat justified, but keep in mind that airlines have parked thousands of planes and let thousands of staff go over the last year; there may be fewer flights around in general rather than extremely high passenger numbers. Business travel has also collapsed, so there has been a reshuffling of routes to leisure destinations. If your plane from Main City in the US to Main City in Europe is crowded it may simply be because what used to be two flights a day is now one, or five a week or something.
The EU is also not applying a consistent policy on reopening; countries are setting their own dates to reopen to tourists. Like any year, I’d anticipate that big destinations in Western Europe like France, Spain and Italy will be busier than, say, Estonia or Macedonia or something. So I’d say your best chance of making a trip like this work at a lower cost than you might think would include:
- going somewhere that is not super-popular with American tourists
- going somewhere where vaccination progress has been quite good
- planning as few stops as possible and visiting just one country
- budgeting for refundable flights and accommodations
Also. Georgia and Iceland are both not in the EU and have been accepting vaccinated US travelers with some conditions. There are some details available on the policies of those countries today on their official covid/travel sites here and here respectively.
posted by mdonley at 7:06 PM on April 30, 2021
The EU is also not applying a consistent policy on reopening; countries are setting their own dates to reopen to tourists. Like any year, I’d anticipate that big destinations in Western Europe like France, Spain and Italy will be busier than, say, Estonia or Macedonia or something. So I’d say your best chance of making a trip like this work at a lower cost than you might think would include:
- going somewhere that is not super-popular with American tourists
- going somewhere where vaccination progress has been quite good
- planning as few stops as possible and visiting just one country
- budgeting for refundable flights and accommodations
Also. Georgia and Iceland are both not in the EU and have been accepting vaccinated US travelers with some conditions. There are some details available on the policies of those countries today on their official covid/travel sites here and here respectively.
posted by mdonley at 7:06 PM on April 30, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 6:39 AM on April 30, 2021