Colombia / Travel Coronavirus Updates

[Mojo Bandit]

Avianca filed for bankruptcy.

They sent out customer emails regarding the bankruptcy filing this is what they sent me:

Dear customer,

Because our relationship with you is important, I wanted to reach out directly to let you know about the actions Avianca is taking to make sure we have the financial strength we need to continue serving you well into the future.

Today, Avianca voluntarily filed for reorganization proceedings under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. We did so to protect our business as we continue to navigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as comprehensively address our debt and other commitments. We considered many other possibilities before determining that a reorganization made possible by the Chapter 11 process is the best path forward to protect the essential air travel services that we provide across Colombia and important locations throughout South America, Central America, North America and Europe.

Avianca has flown the skies for more than 100 years, and we are committed to our purpose to connect people, families and businesses. We look forward to returning to the skies and helping you and your organization safely travel across Latin America and the world.

Here is what you need to know:

Avianca will continue to operate through this process, and Avianca will return to the skies and continue to fly once COVID-65279;19 travel restrictions are gradually lifted.

Customers' safety and well-being remain a top priority for us today and moving forward. Customers can be confident that they can continue to depend on Avianca for safe, reliable air travel and high-quality service. To that end, Avianca has implemented a number of measures to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees and customers. Additional information on the steps Avianca has taken can be found here.

Customers can expect to continue to arrange travel and fly with Avianca in the same way they always have. We plan to honor all customer programs throughout this process.

• Customers will be able to use tickets, vouchers, travel coupons, gift cards and any additional travel services purchased before we initiated this process.

• Additional frequent flyer benefits remain active, including access to VIP Lounges, priority check-in, upgrades and other benefits.

• Given the impact COVID-65279;19 has had on travel plans, we will continue with our Flexibility Policy. Subject to government policies, we expect to continue to allow changes free of penalty and fare difference charges for previously booked tickets and / or newly purchased as long as the original and changed flights are until October 31, 2020. All customers who have booked travel or will purchase flights during this period can be confident they can rely on Avianca for their travels.

• The LifeMiles™ program is administered by a separate company and is NOT part of Avianca's Chapter 11 filing.

• Avianca customers will continue to accrue miles when they fly with Avianca, and can continue to redeem miles earned through LifeMiles™ to purchase tickets with Avianca during this process. Tickets purchased through redemption of LifeMiles™ miles will continue to be exempt from penalty fees until October 2020.

We are proud of our 100-year legacy, and look forward to continuing to serve you. Thank you for your continued loyalty.

[Surfer500]

Haven't seen the PM from you requesting my PayPal or other means of paying your debt. Did you forget? Or are you still busy moving those goalposts?

Colombia will open back up when Colombia decides to open back up. Nothing you or I say will change that. Given what Colombia has done so far, passengers from the US seem unlikely to be accepted until the the US can show the spread is under control.

I think when Colombia opens up they will let anyone in who wants to come into the Country if they 1) test negative immediately boarding the flight and 2) upon arrival are quarantined for two weeks regardless of which Country they are coming from. But under this requirement that's currently being utilized in a few other Countries, it will not promulgate tourism.

[Knowledge]

Yes, that was last week. It was big news here for a couple of days. It last happened in 2003. They plan to maintain operations after the quarantine. They are scaling back by eliminating the least profitable segments, beginning with Peru. They axed the workforce and booked their severance packages. The chapter 11 strategy is to guarantee creditors so they can continue to get fuel and other supplies. Local business journalists have been talking about a new owner that would assume the debt. That normally leads to further layoffs and liquidation of assets like aircraft, gate assignments, and route concessions. American, Spirit, and Jet Blue have more than enough capacity to fill any Avianca gaps.

Avianca filed for bankruptcy.

[JjBee62]

We've reached and exceeded the never going to happen 80 k deaths mark in the US. Now things are starting to open back up. I expect most things internal to the US will be back running by early to mid June. Maybe.

What's it mean for returning to Colombia? It all depends. I see 2 possible scenarios.

The doom and gloom scenario is that about the time everything is up and running in the US, we start to see a rapid increase in the number of cases. Widespread testing is still not available. Indiana announced today they're going to start trying something new, called "contact tracing. " I am not making this up. Three months in they're going to start doing what they needed to do 3 months ago and they act like it's something brand new they just dreamed up. Add in the real possibility of a mini epidemic going through the White House and who can guess what will happen?

If cases begin to surge, it gets ugly. Shutdowns have to be restored, stricter rules have to be followed and we have to begin again, adding a minimum of 4 more months of travel restrictions from the US. If that happens, we're probably not getting back to Colombia this year.

The everything is coming up roses scenario is that the virus is tired and has decided to go on vacation for several months. New cases in the US won't go up, flowers will bloom, birds will sing and we can get on with our lives.

There's even a possibility this could happen. Warmer weather and more sunlight may slow the spread of the disease more than the end of social distancing will speed it up. If the numbers continue to fall, combined with readily available testing for travelers, international travel might be restored before the end of August.

If I had the money and didn't need to work, I'd be looking for the first possible opportunity to get out of the US. Take a quarantine in whatever country you land in and wait for Colombia to announce limited foreign visitors, probably with a mandatory quarantine. If you picked the right country, you could make it in with the first wave. I don't believe the US will make it in the first round.

[YippieKayay]

Avianca filed for bankruptcy.

[Knowledge]

There is another Spirit flight from Medellin to Fort Lauderdale May 23. You can book on the Spirit web site. The May 13 Medellin to Ft. Lauderdale flight is not available on the web site, probably because it is sold out.

Location: Bogot, Cali, Cartagena, Medellin.

Event: New Humanitarian Flights from Medellin (May 13), Bogot (May 16), Cartagena (May 17), and Cali (May 18) to Fort Lauderdale. Operated by Spirit Airlines.

The USA Embassy is pleased to announce Spirit Airlines will operate four additional humanitarian flights. One flight will depart on May 13 from Jos Mara seerdova International Airport (MDE) in Medellin. A second flight will depart on May 16 from El Dorado International Airport (BOG) in Bogot. A third flight will depart on May 17 from Rafael andez International Airport (CTG) in Cartagena. The fourth flight will depart on May 18 from Alfonso Bonilla Aragand International Airport (CLO) in Cali. All flights arrive at Fort Lauderdale. Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

These flights have been made available to allow USA Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents to return to the United States. Please contact Spirit Airlines directly for seat availability, reservations, and pricing information.

These flights can only be booked online. (Please note the Cartagenca flight will be available online shortly.).

If you are interested in returning to the United States, please take advantage of these flights. The USA Government cannot guarantee the ability to arrange flights indefinitely. USA Citizens should return immediately to the United States, unless you are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period..

[LoveItHere69]

Location: Bogotá, Cali, Cartagena, Medellin.

Event: New Humanitarian Flights from Medellin (May 13), Bogotá (May 16), Cartagena (May 17), and Cali (May 18) to Fort Lauderdale. Operated by Spirit Airlines.

The USA Embassy is pleased to announce Spirit Airlines will operate four additional humanitarian flights. One flight will depart on May 13 from José María seeórdova International Airport (MDE) in Medellin. A second flight will depart on May 16 from El Dorado International Airport (BOG) in Bogotá. A third flight will depart on May 17 from Rafael andúñez International Airport (CTG) in Cartagena. The fourth flight will depart on May 18 from Alfonso Bonilla Aragóand International Airport (CLO) in Cali. All flights arrive at Fort Lauderdale. Hollywood International Airport (FLL) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

These flights have been made available to allow USA Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents to return to the United States. Please contact Spirit Airlines directly for seat availability, reservations, and pricing information.

These flights can only be booked online. (Please note the Cartagenca flight will be available online shortly.).

If you are interested in returning to the United States, please take advantage of these flights. The USA Government cannot guarantee the ability to arrange flights indefinitely. USA Citizens should return immediately to the United States, unless you are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period.

If you purchase a ticket on one of these flights, and encounter difficulties traveling to the airport from your location, please contact us at ColombiaEvac@state.gov or (57) 1 275-2000. We have received reports that taxis and bus companies continue to operate, albeit at reduced and limited schedules. If you are located outside of either Bogotá or Cartagena, and believe you will have difficulty reaching the airport due to travel restrictions, please provide us with your travel information (name, passport number, what flight you have reservations on) and, if applicable, information about your driver (name, cedula, vehicle make / model and license plate number), as well as the route of ground transport. Starting point, destination, stops.

[ChuchoLoco]

My friend in Medellin told me via whatsapp that this morning the quoranteen has been extended for 2 more weeks which would be the end of this month, May. They are playing things much safer there. I hope it works and works fast. Costa Rica is serious too and it is paying off as far as infections and deaths are concerned.

[Knowledge]

The price is not the best. A Miami / Medellin roundtrip on American is available for purchase Whether or not the governments will allow it by then is another matter. I share this so no one misinterprets United's policy as something official across the board:

[Non-English text deleted by Admin because the text is messed up.]

Miami, FL a Medellin, Colombia.

Lunes, 8 de junio de 2020.

7:45 PM.

10:05 PM.

3 h 20 m.

Sin escalas.

AA 923 738-Boeing 737.

Cabina Principal.

Retorno.

Medellin, Colombia a Miami, FL.

Viernes, 12 de junio de 2020.

12:30 PM.

5:05 PM.

3 h 35 m.

Sin escalas.

AA 924 738-Boeing 737.

Cabina Principal.

I haven't tried again yet but as of Sunday THIS week, united still won't allow tickets to be sold. They fail you out at the very end during payment. I was thinking for July but I think that would be too soon to really have any fun. People will relax by October, but united won't let me buy even that far out! . at least not yet.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This report was edited to remove text not in English. While I encourage contributions from all volunteers, the Forum is an English-only website. Please do not post reports in any language other than English. If you wish to post text in any language other than English, then please include a full English translation.Thanks!

[ShawMan74]

American let you buy a ticket because they need the money. You gave them an interest free loan that they may or may not need to fulfill with a flight. If they cancel the flight you reserved you can get a refund. Last month American and other airlines offered 20% bonuses to people who accepted vouchers instead of demanding the refunds that the US government required airlines to provide after there were many complaints.

I haven't tried again yet but as of Sunday THIS week, united still won't allow tickets to be sold. They fail you out at the very end during payment. I was thinking for July but I think that would be too soon to really have any fun. People will relax by October, but united won't let me buy even that far out! . at least not yet.

[Mojo Bandit]

If people want to continue to argue and discuss other subjects someone else can start a thread/blog or you can meet up over in the After having been messaged by members of this board that I have been reading for years, members who have contributed a lot of great information over the years to the forum and after just getting tired of reading all theses posts that drown out the intended purpose of the thread I made these actions.

As anyone can see below I deleted posts back until there were actually posts related to travel on here. I am tired of reading all the back and forth and going in circles, I started to take the time to delete every single post that was not related to Travel but that would be too time consuming. But it is now easy to see that if someone does post about travel, that post would get drowned out and pushed back by all the other back and forth crap.

I am aware that it is possible that we are at a stalemate for a while related to travel into Colombia but I hope that when something does break good our way that members can see it posted here and not have to wade through unrealted information to get therel.

I take 75% of responsibility for letting this thread get off subject and not stepping in sooner to try to correct it. I should have maybe not put COVID in the name but the travel restrictions are related to COVID.

[Mojo Bandit]

I have a other things to do in life than tune in here every day and wade trough all the political crap that people want to spew on here. If you have any information about Travel / Colombia do to the Corona virus than post it but if you want to continue spewing your political bullshit do it somewhere else. I started this thread so that people who were interested in finding information related mongering in Medellin would not have to wad through all the bull shit that I knew would follow but now when there is an occasional update about what is actually being announced in Colombia regarding travel it is buried in the horseshit of the politics of arguing so I am deleting all the shit that is not related to Travel / Colombia and while I am sure that this will piss off everyone, I could give a shit less. Any single one of you is able to go start your own thread.

[Knowledge]

American let you buy a ticket because they need the money. You gave them an interest free loan that they may or may not need to fulfill with a flight. If they cancel the flight you reserved you can get a refund. Last month American and other airlines offered 20% bonuses to people who accepted vouchers instead of demanding the refunds that the US government required airlines to provide after there were many complaints.

I wondered why American Airlines let me buy the ticket if it were true. A Brazilian chica told me there were no restrictions which was not right I see.

https://br.usembassy.gov/health-alert-march-28-2020/

On March 27, Brazil announced the closure of its borders, beginning on March 30,2020 for 30 days.

So American let me buy a ticket for mid May, and I guess is assuming the travel ban will not be extended. American allows you to change flight ticket dates now without penalty so even if the travel ban is extended, I will just change my date. The women there are as desperate for cash if not even more so than the ones in Colombia, and it is almost 6 reals to the dollar now with all the political bullshit going on there.

[Fun Luvr]

Some doctors in California are claiming that natural cause deaths are being reported as Covid-19 to skew the numbers. Somebody is benefiting from this and making serious cash. This virus is not as big a threat as it's made out to be. It's like the flu, no need to worry for a healthy person. Staying indoors is actually making our immune systems weaker.

Here is what NYC did on April 14: New York City today has reported 3,778 additional deaths that have occurred since March 11 and have been classified as "probable," defined as follows: "decedent had no known positive laboratory test for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) but the death certificate lists as a cause of death "COVID-19" or an equivalent".

After we get through this crisis, I think we will see large decreases in reported deaths due to heart disease, cancer, strokes, and diabetes during this crisis. As you said, I think there are people benefiting from the number of Covid-19 deaths. During a news conference a few weeks ago, Dr. Fauci mentioned some dollar amounts that some entities (I think hospitals) were getting for each Covid-19 patient. I wasn't paying much attention, and I can't find any of that information.

[Balboa]

I wondered why American Airlines let me buy the ticket if it were true. A Brazilian chica told me there were no restrictions which was not right I see.

https://br.usembassy.gov/health-alert-march-28-2020/

On March 27, Brazil announced the closure of its borders, beginning on March 30,2020 for 30 days.

So American let me buy a ticket for mid May, and I guess is assuming the travel ban will not be extended. American allows you to change flight ticket dates now without penalty so even if the travel ban is extended, I will just change my date. The women there are as desperate for cash if not even more so than the ones in Colombia, and it is almost 6 reals to the dollar now with all the political bullshit going on there.

Exactly!

AA is hoping they lift the restriction.

As you probably know, the president of Brazil is not too keen on the lockdown, so you never know.

However, it seems as things are getting worse there, not better.

Virus issues and politically.

We'll see soon.