Hawai’i Loosens Travel Rules Next Month
The state of Hawai’i will end most COVID-era testing restrictions for fully-vaccinated travelers to the islands. The islands are approaching a 60% vaccination rate – the figure governor David Ige said was the target for reducing restrictions – and are expected to get to 60% on or before July 8.
Fully vaccinated U.S. travelers arriving to Hawai’i on domestic flights will be allowed to bypass the state’s quarantine and pre-travel restrictions starting that day. Travelers will need to upload their vaccination records to the state’s Safe Travels website and bring the hard copy of their vaccination record with them when visiting Hawai’i. To prevent travelers from uploading false vaccination cards to gain admittance to the state, visitors will also be asked a one question quiz on the Safe Travels site – Who is currently the president of the United States? Those who answer correctly will be welcome into Hawai’i, and those who don’t will be put in a row boat and cast out to sea.
Not all restrictions are going away yet — masks, for example, will still be required indoors. When the state reaches 70%, which is expected in the next two months, all restrictions are expected to be lifted except for capacity limits in ABC Stores which have been exempt from capacity restrictions the whole time, because nothing – even a global pandemic – will deny people the greatness that is their inventory selection.
Amber Waves of Grain Continue to Cause Issues for UK-Bound Americans
The United Kingdom announced updates to its traffic light system of border management, adding Malta, five Caribbean Islands, and eight British Overseas Territories to the green list. The country relegated six countries to the red list, whose residents are prohibited from traveling to the UK. They are: Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Haiti, Mongolia, Tunisia, Uganda, and Wakanda. The latter is particularly confusing since everyone knows Wakanda, being fictional and all, has the lowest infection rate globally.
Most notably was the United States remaining on the amber list instead of being promoted to green. The EU added the United States to its equivalent of the green list earlier this week, but its former member declined to make the same move. Despite pleas and actual begging from the UK travel & tourism sector, the United States was not cleared for quarantine-free travel to the United Kingdom.
The UK Transport Ministry said its plan to allow fully-vaccinated people from amber list countries, including the United States to enter the country without quarantine is expected to take place in phases, starting first with UK residents and followed by those who know what a Pimm’s Cup is.
Milwaukee in High Spirit After First Day of Service
On its first day operating from Milwaukee, Spirit Airlines announced five new nonstop destinations from the Midwest airport. This is becoming a trend after Spirit did the same “surprise announcement” strategy on launch day in St Louis and Louisville. We’re told Manchester is getting giddy, hoping a new nonstop flight will be announced on its launch day. Top requests are Honolulu, Fresno, and Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Spirit launched its Milwaukee operation this week with flights to three cities: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Orlando. Beginning November 17, the airline will add Cancun, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Phoenix, and Tampa from Milwaukee. Those five cities all have one thing in common – they’re warm weather destinations primed for visits this winter from those escaping the harsh Wisconsin winters.
Adding Ft. Lauderdale opens up one-stop connections for Spirit flyers in Milwaukee via the airline’s hub to Latin America and the Caribbean. As part of its commitment to Milwaukee, the airline announced a donation to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern Wisconsin. In order to fund the donation, Spirit is adding a $9.99 donation fee to all itineraries in and out of Milwaukee until Spirit has been reimbursed for 150% of the donation’s value.
Belarus Tells Ukraine It’s Taking its Ball and Going Home
Belarus is not making a lot of friends in the international community these days, and it can add Ukraine to the list of nations it’s no longer going to be exchanging Christmas cards with.
Belarus’s Russian Puppet President Alexander Lukashenko has denounced Ukraine for joining with its EU neighbors to deny Belarusian aircraft the right to use Ukrainian airspace and has banned Ukrainian aircraft from using Belarusian airspace in retaliation.
This guy really can’t catch a break. So you shadily force a civilian passenger airliner with 126 people on-board to land illegally in as part of a hostile action to take a guy into custody who’s said mean things about you on the internet, and you just do it once… the whole world turns on you.
LAS: McCarran is Out, Reid is In
The FAA approved the formal renaming of Las Vegas’s airport after the former United States Senator from Nevada, Harry Reid.
The FAA said it has “finished the necessary processing steps” after Clark County formally requested the change in April. The FAA made the change in flight charting and navigation databases, but that’s just the start of the name changing process.
The complete changing of the airport’s name will be divided into three phases and cost $7 million. The money is coming from two sources – private donations and a tightening of the slots on the airport grounds. An airport spokesman declined to put a timeline on the project but did say he’d lay -200 odds that it was done by January 1, 2022.
- Aeroregional added its first B737-400 aircraft.
- American will bring booze back to its flights in economy on September 13.
- Eurowings Discover received permission from the DOT to be a part of Lufthansa’s and United’s transatlantic JV.
- ITA (the Brazilian one) is emulating its fellow Italian airline with the same name as it cancels dozens of flights before it operates its first. The airline dropped its initial schedule from 399 weekly frequencies to 317.
- LATAM‘s creditors are planning to sue Delta and Qatar claiming the two airlines backed out of commitments to buy or lease aircraft from the airline just prior to it declaring bankruptcy. This would be worth it just to see if Delta and Qatar can manage to work with each other to put a defense together.
- Lufthansa will bring back five A340-600 aircraft that had been mothballed to operate this summer due to growing premium class demand. The airline has also confirmed its next generation of A350s, expected to arrive in mid-2023, will have first class.
- Qatar has revealed its newest business class seat on the 787-9 Dreamliner. Spoiler: it has a seat belt, tray table, TV screen, place to put your bag, and an outlet to charge your phone.
- ZIPAIR is planning to begin zipping to the mainland United States this winter.
Therapist: “So what brings the two of you in here today?”
Wife: “He’s become impossible to live with. He’s always so literal.”
Husband: “Our Hyundai.”