Travel cos cautious on booking tickets to US

Travel cos cautious on booking tickets to US

Sudipta.Sengupta@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:28.10.2021

Lack of clarity over Covaxin’s validity among USA-bound travellers, has put city tour agents on guard. Worried about the fate of these passengers — and the repercussions for their business — most of them are steering clear of accepting requests for ticket bookings from people vaccinated with two shots of Covaxin. This, despite their desks being flooded with enquires from prospective flyers.

“We are getting a lot of calls from people who have taken Covaxin and want to travel to the US. At least 50% of our enquires comprise such travellers,” said Abdul Majid Faheem, Travel Agents Federation of India (Telangana and AP chapters).

Flyers hoping issue will be solved soon

“But we are not being able to entertain their requests because we are told they will not be allowed entry. If they get into trouble, it will adversely impact us as well. It’ll also become chaotic if we have to cancel them last minute,” added Faheem.

The confusion has been created by the World Health Organisation delaying its emergency use license (EUL) to Covaxin. WHO’s technical advisory group met recently and decided to ask for more data from Bharat Biotech before issuing the license.

TOI spoke to a number of airlines and travel agents across the country who said there was no clarity on whether a Covaxin-vaccinated person can travel to the US if he/she has a negative RTPCR test result.

“We hope this issue is resolved soon as there is a tremendous demand for the US at the moment and we do not want to lose out on business,” Faheem said.

Agrees Rajeev Kale, president and country head (holidays, MICE, visa) at Thomas Cook (India). According to him, reopening of the US borders and acceptance of doubly vaccinated Indians has created high demand from Hyderabad and Telangana.

“We are receiving not just queries, but also booking requests from customers who already have valid visas,” he said adding, “While we continue to receive interest from customers vaccinated with Covaxin shots too, we await approval from the US authorities before we are able to go ahead with such bookings.”

The uncertainty has left travellers in a dilemma. “I was hoping to spend Christmas with my extended family in New Jersey. I really hope the authorities clear this Covaxin issue before Christmas,” said Manikonda resident, Arjun Rao, who took his second Covaxin dose in June.

“We are also hoping for positive news for customers who are doubly jabbed with Covaxin to be allowed to travel soon,” said Daniel D’Souza, president and country head, SOTC Travel.