Tino

Thanks. I am on L1 visa. Curious to know what impact checking in online would make?

Former Lancastrian

Well of course the business lobby wants the US/UK travel corridor open however that is not the issue and what was said in post # 96.

I bet if you were to ask the Governors of all the Northern States and the Southern Sunshine States what their preference would be in either opening the US/UK travel corridor or opening the US/Canadian border I think I know which they would prefer. Also you might be surprised how many Americans fly from Canada to all points in Europe due to their purchasing power.

robin1234

In my case, I always fly from Canada because of proximity to useful airports. I’m in the New York north country, and Ottawa is 1.5 hours drive, and Montreal about 2.5 hours. If I want to fly from the US to UK or Europe, I either have to drive 7 hours to Boston, or get a connecting flight from one of our regional airports - and if I’m going to sit on a transatlantic flight for seven hours, I’d rather not precede it by a domestic flight and all the attendant rigmarole.

When I take the YOW - LHR flight, a minority of passengers, but always a goodly number, are folks like me who’ve driven over from NYS.

tht

Lots of Canadians own US property, in places like Maine and along the boarder and also the snow birds in warmer places like AZ and FL etc.

Look at the link, Canada is 2nd to China in terms of US Residential property ownership, I don’t know any of the Governors, but my guess is that property owners who pay state property tax and employ locals to maintain them are also a priority, a retired Canadian living here 3-6 months a year is going to be a bigger economic impact at a state level than a Brit flying in for a week at Disney or a long weekend in NYC.


https://www.nar.realtor/research-and...al-real-estate

Former Lancastrian

Totally agree but still waiting for the statistics to show that the US/UK air corridor brings in more economic benefit than the US/Canada border does.

robtuck

It's all got a bit testy hasn't it?

It was a pretty simple question or thought originally - when would the USA open up travel from the UK, as that now remains the only real block to travel between both countries. As things stand, from yesterday, the UK will allow a UK resident to fly to the USA. The USA will allow anyone to fly to the UK. The UK will accept non-USA residents arriving, subject to rules on arrival. The USA will NOT allow non-USA citizens/perm residents/NIE individuals to enter if they fly direct from the UK. I'm not sure why that sparked debate, it's just where we are. There remains one final step - the USA allowing travel in for those currently exempt. It may or may not choose to enable that, it may or may not do that before it opens up a bilateral border closure of sorts with Canada.

robtuck

Oh, and it seems likely the USA will move to a Green country within the next month or two, removing most issues for those arriving into the UK.

tht

This link says China is/was the highest spending in terms of inbound tourism:
https://www.statista.com/topics/1987...dossierSummary

The second link which is obviously from the airline lobby says UK is the 2nd biggest source of tourist revenue:

“Travel and tourism contributed 8.6% and 10.1% to the respective GDP of the US and UK in 2019, with UK visitors the second largest source of inbound international tourism revenue for the US economy.”
https://www.routesonline.com/news/29...d-high-reward/

So if you are going by data I guess it would be better to open an air bridge to a China than the UK.

Former Lancastrian

Well seeing as 80% of the 37 million or so people living in Canada are about a 2 hour drive from the US border it makes perfect sense for them to drive to the US rather than fly. I wonder if my day trip to the US and purchasing items in the US is considered as tourist revenue?
I do doubt that the UK visitors who fly into the US are the 2nd biggest source of tourist revenue given the number of flights from Canada to places like Vegas, Florida, Palm Springs, Phoenix etc etc but hey who am I to disagree.

tht

I agree, CV19 stats aside opening up to Canada seems to to make more economic sense than the UK. But since they are dependent / should be based on CV19 stats and vaccinations and are not an either/or I guess it will just happen when it happens.

BritInParis

Comparing apples with pears. The aviation industry is practically begging for a restart in UK-US travel because LHR-JFK is the most lucrative air route in the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/artic...tes/index.html

BritInParis

Latest:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...ns-2021-05-20/

robin1234

Yeah, it works both ways. In a normal year we go to Canada maybe twenty times, spending money in Canadian Tire, LCBO, and supermarkets. Sometimes hotels, too. I’m guessing that border towns like Prescott and Brockville (Ontario) are really missing their US visitors.

Russet

My virgin flight IAD to LHR for 6/9 cancelled today so seems the travel corridor is shrinking not opening up... No alternative dates/routes offered it just says more information will be available after the weekend.

destone

I’d fly JFK-LHR if you must and do one-way car rental to JFK.