UK and Ireland added to the United States travel ban

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The United States Government has just announced that the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland will be added to the United States travel ban.

Non-US passport holders / non-US residents will not be allowed to enter the United States if they have been in the UK or Ireland within the last 14 days.

The ban will kick in at 4am GMT on Tuesday (midnight Monday US EST).

If you wish to travel to the United States, you need to get yourself onto a plane during Sunday or Monday to land before midnight Monday EST.

UK and Ireland added to the United States travel ban

US citizens and their immediate family members, as well as Green Card holders and holders of certain types of visa, are not impacted by this ban.

However, they will only be allowed to fly to 13 specific airports where they will be screened on entry and, if necessary, sent to a quarantine centre near the airport.

The ban will run until 11th April alongside the Schengen Zone ban.

That said, given the current estimates for coronavirus infections, it seems very unlikely that the ban will be lifted until after the peak of infections in May or June.

This is, clearly, a disaster for British Airways and especially Virgin Atlantic. It is very easy to see Virgin Atlantic grounding its entire fleet now. It is also possible that we could now see cuts of nearer 75% than the expected 50% to the British Airways network (by passenger volume) next week.

It is not certain that ALL British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights to the US will be cut. There will be US citizens to return home and cargo will still need to be shipped. The vast majority of services will be dropped, with a virtual 100% certainty of cancellations where the destination is not one of the 13 quarantine airports.

What will happen to my British Airways flight to the USA?

BA has deleted the webpage which showed travel agent guidance in real time. The BA Travel Trade website is now the best place for accurate information.

REFUNDS ARE NOT ALLOWED. You can, however, ask for a 1-year BA travel voucher under the ‘Book With Confidence’ refund policy which we outlined here.

For anyone with a ticket for travel up to 11th April, you can rebook onto a flight between 12th April and 1st August.

There are no change fees but you must pay any fare difference. You are allowed to change your destination airport if you wish.

However …. don’t take this policy too seriously. If your flight is cancelled, which is likely to happen for the vast majority of people, you are legally entitled to a full cash refund. You need to hang on for a few days until British Airways decides which flights will be cut.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

stevenhp1987 says:

14 Mar14 March 18:38

Flying 7th May to Chicago on a BA Holiday (flight plus hotel) with AA.

If the ban continues I hope AA cancel their flights…
- Anna says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 18:47
  
  But check because they don’t have the same liability under EU261 as an EU carrier. It works one way but not the other, I can’t remember which one!
  - Shoestring says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 18:49
    
    leaving EU = EC261
    - Dittorock says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 19:00
      
      Thanks for the confirmation Shoestring….
      
      So if the flight is cancelled, we are on AA, then we can invoke EC261 under our UK citizenship then, so there is hope seemingly….
      - Shoestring says:
        
        14 Mar14 March 19:04
        
        your citizenship doesn’t really matter unless you end up going for MCOL, when it probably helps the administration!
  - stevenhp1987 says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 18:52
    
    Leaving EU as Harry says.
    
    With the ban announced this early, if it continues, I don’t expect many flights in May as most US citizens would have been repatriated by then.
    
    One can hope! Got Norway, Chicago and Japan coming up over the next 3 months…
    - Lady London says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 20:19
      
      #stevenhp1987 I think your “Got” above might turn out to be “had” 🙂
      - Spursdebs says:
        
        15 Mar15 March 07:27
        
        I had Japan cancelled I’ve got Norway but fully expect that to be cancelled as Ports are closed. But as it’s not to May I’m hanging on in there for the moment. Then have trips in September and next January hopefully, but booked on avois for the flexibility.
- Lady London says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 20:17
  
  ATOL governs flights+hotel as a single package if bought as a BA Holiday. Not same TS and C’s as standalone flight or hotel bookings.
Stu N says:

14 Mar14 March 18:43

We were due to fly on Thursday to the US on a BA Holiday (flights plus car). Clearly not happening now. Anyone spoken to BA Holidays in this situation? Most of guidance is flight-only; we would take the voucher I think if that was best offer.

Q is, do the package holiday regs help us re refunds as we are now prohibited from flying?
- Allan says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 19:23
  
  As mentioned upthread they emailed me about 1 hour after the announcement saying it was going to all be refunded automatically. (New York with Flight + Hotel).
  - Stu N says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 20:52
    
    Thanks – when were you due to fly?
    
    We are on very good F deal, might ring You First early doors tomorrow and see if they will rebook us in the autumn. If not, good to know they are refunding.
Gary says:

14 Mar14 March 18:45

What happens to 241 Vouchers. Are those flights cancelled and everything is returned?
Metopes says:

14 Mar14 March 18:49

Trying to cancel a BA reward flight, need to enter the payment card but keeps saying it’s the incorrect card. 100% sure I have the right card. Obviously can’t get through on the phones, anyone had a similar issue?
- Liz says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 19:03
  
  Yes I had the same issue yesterday. I ended up phoning and by a stroke of luck someone answered after about 10 mins. I knew I booked the flights on my BAPP as it was on my statements but when I was on the phone I remembered I had a fraud on my card last year so that was the number I originally booked with. Lots of us had frauds on our BAPP
Hunter says:

14 Mar14 March 18:49

I was due to be going to Miami on 7th April, on a 241 voucher which would otherwise be expiring fairly soon. On the basis that I’ll now cancel the flights, any ideas on my chances of getting BA to extend the life of the voucher..?
- Liz says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 19:08
  
  I cancelled my USA flight yesterday and was told to recontact the BAEC nearer the time of the expiry. Someone posted up yesterday they had submitted an online form and got their 241 extended so I did the same this morning. Still waiting to see if it gets extended.
  - Hunter says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 19:14
    
    Interesting, thanks. I’d be grateful if you could point me in the direction of the form…
    - Liz says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 19:35
      
      I did it through Help – Contact Us – Complaints & Claims – make a new claim – Avios & BAEC. Not sure if that was the correct way but that’s what I did.
  - Alan Wan says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 19:30
    
    I cancelled a 2-4-1 on Wednesday. Not bad the Avios or voucher re-credited yet. Assume I wouldn’t yet due to the volume…. did you get your Avios and Voucher back already?
    - Liz says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 19:38
      
      There was a technical issue with the Avios which he raised an issue with so I haven’t received them yet but the voucher was back in our account instantly and the flights removed from MMB.
Chris says:

14 Mar14 March 19:09

A bit worried… I have a flight booked for 6th April from Athens to Buenos Aires via Madrid (Iberia) and I am on EU passport.

What are your personal thoughts? Will I make it?
- Shoestring says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 19:11
  
  highly unlikely as you have 2 stress points working against you, ie the different legs of the journey and the rules in force – plus not long for things to change (3 weeks or so)
  - Chris says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 19:36
    
    Oh dear… so much money down the drain…
    - Shoestring says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 19:44
      
      not necessarily: did you pay on a UK credit card (Section 75)?
      - Chris says:
        
        14 Mar14 March 20:21
        
        yes – but how can I make use of this? claiming that…?
      - Shoestring says:
        
        14 Mar14 March 20:34
        
        unfulfilled contract
        
        claim chargeback
      - Shoestring says:
        
        14 Mar14 March 21:02
        
        you do it by ringing the credit card co, no need to go legal on them
        
        ring them, explain the situation quickly then ask if they can chargeback what you’ve paid as the contract cannot be fulfilled
        
        the credit card cos hold back monies from the airlines as they know there will be a certain number of chargebacks
      - Chris says:
        
        14 Mar14 March 21:23
        
        Chargeback claim although the flight is not cancelled? Will it be enough to say that I won’t be going due to covid-19 issues and that is why I want my money back?
- Marcw says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 19:38
  
  Challenging situation. Argentina will close to European flights… I thinks for 30 days. Wait until your flight is cancelled, then ask refund
- Lady London says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 20:21
  
  No as it routes via Spain which is closed
  - marcw says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 20:52
    
    Spainish airport will be open and operating. Spanish airlines are required to cut capacity by 50%.
Peter says:

14 Mar14 March 19:34

We are in Florida due to fly back from Tampa with BA next Friday, waiting to know what will happen.
- Kerry says:
  
  16 Mar16 March 13:10
  
  We are in Orlando. Waiting for Virgin to confirm what’s happening.
Brian ainger says:

14 Mar14 March 19:37

We are due to fly on monday to phoenix for a wedding that has now been cancelled, we were going to go anyway but are now in a difficult position, we booked with BA, but the outbound filght is with AA, at 9.30am moday before the lockdown, however we probably wont be able to get back on BA on the 2 april so we now dont want to go. A voucher is no good to us as we were going for the wedding which may be anytime in the future. I want a full refund but BA appear not to be offering this, their web site is absolutely rubbish, AIRBNB and the car rental company Rentalcars.com had specific detaiuls on the Corona virus and one click and the refunds were instant. So why are BA so poor, wont be booking with them again.
- Shoestring says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 20:58
  
  they face an existential threat (going bust) & are trying to conserve cash
  - Brian ainger says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 21:12
    
    Agreed, but its my cash, and they cannot supply the service i paid for, give it back or pay me the same rate of interest a credit card charges !!!
    - Shoestring says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 23:25
      
      voucher is better than getting nothing
  - Alex Sm says:
    
    15 Mar15 March 11:42
    
    I can’t understand why hotels are so flexible on cancellations and refunds, why airlines are so stubborn. Everyone is is in the same boat now and they could be seen as making money on people’s troubles. We are not far from vandalism against airplanes, airports, hacking of airlines websites etc
- Dravid74 says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 23:20
  
  you can use the voucher for other flights
- Alex Sm says:
  
  15 Mar15 March 11:38
  
  Why did they cancel the wedding?