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I’ve got 241 reward flights booked in business to the USA in September but with everything that’s going on I just no longer feel the desire to go to America.
Looks like there’s flights available to Canada instead but wondering how long it normally takes to get the 241 voucher back after cancelling to allow me to rebook?
As an aside, anyone else changing their USA plans or just me?!
If I was going to change my plans because of a government, the US would still be quite a long way down the list! That said, I currently have no future trips booked there.
It should be immediate, if not try logging out and back in. If it then doesn’t show up within 48 hours or so you might need to chase it up, but IME this would be very much the exception.
Is this your first trip to the USA?
Just going to the Big Cities?
I’ve been to all 50 states (51 if you include Canada LOL ) and the country is amazing with wonderful National parks, glorious highways and friendly people.
Get out of the big cities and see the backwaters and one horse towns.
Border control is (still) a PITA but once through you forget it.
Avoid talking politics though!
Great thanks!
Our trips are traditionally big America road trips with business/first flights booked with 241 vouchers then the occasional European short break in CE thrown in. I’ve always loved the USA and was looking forward to the trip but I just have a real bad taste in my mouth effectively ‘supporting’ Trump and the US economy when it’s doing all this stuff.
Is this your first trip to the USA?
No, far from it (as above). I’ve always loved going to the US, we’ve done a big US road trip most years since 2010 and I went various times before that.
I just have a real issue with the current administration’s policies, all this with tariffs, NATO, Canada (51st) etc. I feel like a hypocrite spending money in the US economy while all this is going on when there’s the equally beautiful country of Canada just to the north.
“America is much more than her president” as I kept saying to the hand-wringing folk who kept approaching us in the Caribbean last month (nobody did this during our short stay in Florida!). Aren’t you supporting undesirable regimes in a lot of places by visiting them? There are some horrific stories coming out of Canada in respect of assisted dying, for example. Go where you feel you want to though. I’ve been deterred from the USA by (e.g.) high prices and almost aggressive tipping culture in recent years, plus the ubiquitous stench of weed in the major cities with its attendant problems of mental health crises and DUI. The place has been going down the pan for some time, without the orange one.
Border control is (still) a PITA but once through you forget it.
Avoid talking politics though!
To be absolutely safe, wipe your social media accounts clean. Or even set up new profiles, join and like maga groups and trump posts.
I managed to get through JFK immigration in 10 minutes last week.
But just to make sure there was no positive experience, the Priority security queue for onward travel was cleverly routed to join the back of the regular queue!
There are some horrific stories coming out of Canada in respect of assisted dying, for example.
plus the ubiquitous stench of weed in the major cities with its attendant problems of mental health crises and DUI. The place has been going down the pan for some time, without the orange one.I’m PRo assisted dying: I have a list of who I think should go…..
Went to Canada last year , almost got high on “secondary weed”…Also noticed there were LOADS of Cannabis selling shops.
Border control is (still) a PITA but once through you forget it.
Avoid talking politics though!
To be absolutely safe, wipe your social media accounts clean. Or even set up new profiles, join and like maga groups and trump posts.
Believe it or not-Not everyone has a social media account.
use the MPC app and 0 wait, had to transit twice in February on the way to Guatemala.
There were dedicated lines with 0 wait, otherwise was incredibly busy in washington and houston.
Also no weird question.I was thinking about not going, then Disney dropped the price of their tickets and then Tampa flights seem to open up so we got tempted. The only thing puts me off their is the high prices especially with the pound being so bad overseas. Try to keep costs down by staying at the Drury inn with ‘free’ stuff like dinner and drinks.
Just back from Atlanta yesterday and I’d have to say the border controls in and out were very swift.
Def more expensive than last year, particularly for hotels (IHG on points is your best bet unless you’re stooping to Drury inn!) but tipping is at epidemic levels, 20% seems the norm which makes eating out very pricey. Stuff in shops can still be a good deal, until the Trump ‘looney tunes’ tariff kick in.
I did notice that car hire was noticeably cheaper than last year, but again not for long if import tariffs for autos kick in.
@annabh – it isn’t really “the pound being so bad overseas” as against the dollar it’s almost as good as it has been in the last four years or so. It’s more that hospitality, food and other tourist costs have risen very dramatically in the US, notably at the higher end. The pound goes a whole lot further in South America, Asia, Australia, South Africa and nearer to home in some European countries such as Spain and Eastern Europe.
The title of the thread was “cancelling the USA” seemingly in response to the current political situation when in fact many have been avoiding the US for a long time because it is is too expensive, offers appalling value, many cities are now really grubby and the country that was once at the forefront of hospitality, innovation and good customer service is now a global laggard while the countries/regions mentioned above have powered ahead and are often far less crowded.
‘US’ hotel chains (even if some are UK owned, they are US market/customer driven) have sought to export their high cost blandness across the world but fortunately there are an ever increasing number of smaller groups and independents that offer a far better product.
Re Disney, it’s a hugely expensive outing vs other options. When the children are 18/21, will it be in their top 5 best holidays?
Given the fact that you can be questioned or even deported no matter which passport or nationality you hold, I’d be avoiding too.
But yes as @JDB, US is a no-go for me since 2018 because the hospitality is at very low level. I’d rather not be yelled at in a restaurant because I gave 20% tip instead of 30% (real experience).
As an aside, anyone else changing their USA plans or just me?!
Not just you, cancelled last week.
My travels will be mainly east for the foreseeable.
I’d rather not be yelled at in a restaurant because I gave 20% tip instead of 30% (real experience).
In Frisco I was offered a standard 10% tip. At the self checkout!! In a state where the min wage is $18/hr
Just saw a video on X of a delivery person throwing the food at the door! Apparently the customer wanted to pay in cash but the delivery person assumed zero tip as it wasnt added in the app! Crazy times.
Btw, for those who wish to avoid questioning at immigration, surely transiting through preclearance at Dublin or Shannon is a good idea? A good way to avoid APD as well!
Btw, for those who wish to avoid questioning at immigration, surely transiting through preclearance at Dublin or Shannon is a good idea? A good way to avoid APD as well!
US immigration at Dub/Shannon is handled by US CBP officers in exactly the same way as any other port of entry to the US, it’s just a shorter return journey if you are denied entry.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/us-cbp-preclearance-ireland-explained/index.html
Have travelled to over 65 countries and 167 airports. Some of these are nations which are now places that would get you denied entry to the USA. While the US is not the president, there is no doubt that it has changed and grown increasingly insular and divided. The reports of people being held on arrival of denied entry due to taking odd routings to the US are still rare but increasingly worrying.
Personally I am in the avoid camp for the time being. To chaotic and too unstable for my liking.Btw, for those who wish to avoid questioning at immigration, surely transiting through preclearance at Dublin or Shannon is a good idea? A good way to avoid APD as well!
US immigration at Dub/Shannon is handled by US CBP officers in exactly the same way as any other port of entry to the US, it’s just a shorter return journey if you are denied entry.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/us-cbp-preclearance-ireland-explained/index.html
The shorter return trip might be a major plus if it actually happens to you!
My worst CBP experience was at SNN in about 2018. Very Rude officer thought I’d had an illicit entry when I confused my last visit to the US as May rather than March. I actually thought I was going to be deined entry.
I’ve posted elewhere that I won’t be making any sort of visit to the US until 21 January 2029 at the earliest. I have American friends who because of their sexuality or race are receiving abuse from the maga crowd just because they are just a little bit different from ‘real americans’.
I have friends who have taken the same decision but who are tied into already paid for trips and they can’t afford to just lose the cash involved but are hoping for a cancellation so they can get a refund.
One is going next week because of a contractual issue related to some work he is doing with a company there.
If you do go I won’t judge anyone but equally I don’t expect to be judged for my decisions.
And nobody would expect you to go somewhere you didn’t feel comfortable. It is bemusing that a country with so many prominent women and minority individuals still hosts this level of abuse and discrimination, but then again, as I tell my students, it was still illegal to teach evolution in schools in some states until quite recently so I guess old attitudes die hard!
I haven’t been back to the US since 2008 following a whoopsie on my behalf – a younger me thought I could stay visa free for three months, and found out the hard way it was only 90 days. A 91.5 day trip later I got interrogated on my way through next time – thankfully they could see my onward flight so let me in, but revoked all future visa waiver privileges.
Anyway, I went to the “Topography of Terror” exhibit in Berlin today, and one paragraph resonated slightly ominously:
“How did National Socialism, which in retrospect was such an obviously deceitful, megalomaniacal, and criminal undertaking, succeed in attain such a high degree of acceptance in Germany? Hitler, the Nazi party gauleiters, a majority of ministers, state secretaries and advisors acted as classic populists attuned to shifting moods. They bought public approval, or at least indifference, anew every day. By giving and taking away, they built a dictatorship of consent with consistent majority appeal”
Anyway, I went to the “Topography of Terror” exhibit in Berlin today, and one paragraph resonated slightly ominously:
How spooky!
I was only looking at that last night! I was scanning the IHG map for the location of a hotel and the ToT was on the map but with its rather French sounding name – https://www.topographie.de/
So it’s now on the list to visit whilst I am over there for Easter.
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