The Biden administration has been weighing changes to the travel restrictions that ban much of the world’s population from entering the United States, reports Reuters. Biden administration agencies have been holding meetings for more than a month and reaching out to industry officials about when and how they could begin to unwind the travel restrictions. Asked whether the US would allow vaccinated Europeans to enter, a White House spokesperson said there were no changes in travel restrictions planned at the moment. US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told a news conference that any decision to lift restrictions "ultimately is a public health decision and there is an interagency process and obviously the CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)" is taking a leading role. Buttigieg added: "There are two ways of looking at this - one is to look at countries, the other is to look at travelers," in terms of trying to maximize safety and allow for more travel. A coalition of US and European travel, airline, union, business, and airport groups has called for a full reopening of the US-UK air travel market “as soon as safely possible" - and hopes both governments will lift restrictions by early June.

This past weekend, US air travel reached its highest level since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) continues to bolster staffing for the busy summer travel season set to kick off this weekend, reports The Washington Post. As more Americans get vaccinated, they are showing a pent-up demand for traveling and visiting long-distance friends and family, officials said. As a result, they said, waits at some checkpoints have grown from their pandemic lull. The travel bump “is a positive sign that our nation is beginning to recover from this challenging pandemic,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a news conference. Acting TSA administrator Darby LaJoye said waits at some TSA checkpoints are increasing along with passenger volumes. He said the TSA has hired more than 3,000 employees since January and expects to add another 1,000 by July 4. The agency expects to hire a total of 6,000 officers by Labor Day, he said. LaJoye said air travelers should arrive early to allow time to get through airport security.

American Airlines has announced that it is working with mobile health partner Daon and its app VeriFLY to help travelers verify they are vaccinated and ready to fly before they even step foot in an airport. Travelers using the VeriFLY app now have the option to securely upload their vaccine documentation for travel to the Bahamas, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The VeriFLY team will review that all documentation meets the destination requirements. As countries continue to set standards for COVID-19 vaccination requirements, VeriFLY will integrate those standards into its verification processes to simplify the traveler's journey and provide peace of mind that they met their destination’s requirements.

Heathrow Airport in London, UK, is planning to set up a dedicated terminal for travelers arriving on direct flights from red-list destinations that have a greater risk of COVID-19, reports Airport Technology. The move comes after the government and the airport authorities faced criticism for making travelers from red list countries line up with other travelers in the arrivals hall. Beginning in June, travelers arriving from red list countries will transit through terminal 3, which was shut down by the airport authorities for the past year. Travelers will be then moved to a hotel, where they will be quarantined for ten days. In a statement, Heathrow said: “Our hope is that it will enable Border Force to carry out its duties more efficiently as passenger volumes increase in line with the green list. Red list routes will likely be a feature of UK travel for the foreseeable future as countries vaccinate their populations at different rates." The UK recently implemented a traffic light system, namely red, amber, and green, which segregates countries that have a high risk of COVID-19. Countries with the amber tag are at moderate risk and the countries in the green category are at the least risk. Officials will be reviewing the list every three weeks and countries can be moved at short notice.

Lawyers Travel has published four new "Ready to Go" reference guides to help travel managers make informed decisions about their programs and to help keep traveling employees safe as law firms return to travel. The new reference guides include: