Many US airlines waiving change fees – across all flights – amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak
Some U.S. airlines, including JetBlue, American Airlines, and United Airlines, have extended change-fee waivers amid coronavirus-related travel concerns.
A major association of cruise lines has implemented new health and safety protocols for its members amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which counts Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Princess cruise lines as members (among dozens of others), announced Wednesday that it would be adopting enhanced screening measures to protect its passengers, crew and the global residents who may interact with those passengers and crew.
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The measures, which are effective immediately, stipulate that CLIA’s cruise lines must:
- Deny boarding to anyone who has traveled from, to or through airports in South Korea, Iran, China, Hong Kong, Macau and “any municipality in Italy subject to lockdown (quarantine) by the Italian government” within the last 14 days.
- Screen any passengers who have traveled from, to or through the airports in any country listed on the CDC’s “Coronavirus Disease 2019 Information for Travel” page within the previous 14 days. As of March 4, the list included China, South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran. Passengers will undergo “symptom history checks” to check for symptoms exhibited within the previous 14 days.
- Deny boarding to anyone who was in contact or cared for a suspected or diagnosed coronavirus patient, or may be under monitoring themselves.
- Conduct “pre-boarding screenings” in order to implement the above measures.
More details can be found in CLIA’s March 4 news release.
“We remain in close contact with local governments around the world, and while we regret that these changes will result in the denial of boarding for some of our guests, travelers should know that their health and safety is the absolute priority for the industry,” said Kelly Craighead, the president and CEO of CLIA, in its news release.
CLIA had previously issued similar health protocols for passengers traveling through China, Hong Kong and Macau before expanding the safety measures to additional regions.
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“The health and safety of cruise passengers and crew is and remains the number one priority of CLIA and its member lines, which make up over 90% of ocean-going cruise capacity worldwide,” CLIA wrote in an earlier release.