As per Reuters, a Chicago-based book copy editor, Carla Benton was all set to celebrate her holidays in Europe this year. However, the news of a sudden spike in the cases of Omicron virus in America during late November led her to cancel her international trip. Instead, she planned on spending the holidays with her sister in Houston, Texas.
But now, Benton will be staying in Chicago and will spend her holiday season at home.
“I’d initially hoped to be able to play some of my trip by ear. While I’m fully vaccinated and following precautions here in Chicago, I was worried about the potential for a surprise positive test and quarantine abroad.” Benton told Reuters.
While people like Benton are changing their travel plans, on the other hand, The Transport Security Administration has crossed screening over 2 million in just the past 4 days. However, this screening mark is 15% less than what it was like before the Pandemic. As per the TSA officials, they are expecting to screen 30 million more Americans from December 27, 2021, to Monday January 3, 2022, while Omicron cases spike up.
As per the reports, there is an uptick in flight cancellations, but still, there are many Americans who will be going back to their hometown, either via road or domestic airline.
Apart from this, Delta Airlines Inc reported that due to the spike in Omicron cases and new travel restrictions, their international flights are suffering. However, Ed Bastian, the Chief Executive Officer of the airline was in full spirits when he told CNBC, “Omicron (is) not going to impact our holiday bookings.”
Moreover, as per United Airlines, it is having its busiest schedule this month with 4000 flights a day at an average. Moreover, it had to operate 200 domestic flights more to meet the ongoing demand for holiday travel. While the response of Southern airlines related to holiday travels was also overwhelming.
Robert Isom, Chief Executive at American Airlines, told Reuters that the surge in Omicron cases may not have affected the airline’s domestic traveling, but it surely has dampened the grounds for international travels as there are now new travel restrictions.
As per the past week’s statistics by Reuters, 9% of cases have risen so far, however, if we tally it from the start of the month, the number has increased to 57%.
This sudden spike in cases and changes in travel restrictions might make traveling hard in the coming days.
