How does the US COVID-19 travel ban apply to the EU spouse of a US citizen?

Upvote:3

There are still a lot of unknowns at this stage, so it is quite difficult to answer with any degree of certainty.

  • I expect you would need to be able to prove to someone (probably the airline, and then again CBP upon arrival in the US) that you are the spouse of a US citizen. Make sure you have a copy of your marriage certificate or other similar document, as well as a copy of your husband's passport.

  • There is a strong probability that many flights will be cancelled, though as US citizens and their immediate family are still allowed to travel to the US, there should still be a few flights. Which ones will be operating and which ones will be cancelled is the one million dollar question. You'll have to wait for Lufthansa to make a decision, taking into account that this could change quite late.

I expect airlines to get in touch with passengers to:

  • Inform them of these new measures, and the exact details of what documents are required/allowed.

  • Probably ask information so they know which passengers are still able to travel or not, which in turn will let them decide how many flights to keep, and which ones.

Given the surprise announcement, they're probably scrambling to make all of that happen.

If the flight is cancelled, you should be eligible for a refund. You should probably contact Chase at that point.

If the flight is NOT cancelled but you decide not to travel, we enter in the very gray area that the airline is probably not legally required to refund your ticket. They will most probably instead propose rebooking at a later date or the like. The fact that it's an award ticket may change things (is the ticket refundable?). Again, Chase is probably the right point of contact for this.

EDIT

The Lufthansa Group have announced the cancellation of all but 6 flights to/from the US from March 14th:

The Lufthansa Group will continue operating flights from:

  • Frankfurt to Chicago and Newark (New York)
  • Zurich to Chicago and Newark (New York)
  • Vienna to Chicago and from
  • Brussels to Washington

beyond 14 March, thus maintaining at least some air traffic connections to the USA from Europe. The airlines are currently working on an alternative flight schedule for the USA. Passengers will still be able to reach all destinations within the USA via the U.S. hubs and connecting flights served by our partner airline, United Airlines.

All other U.S. flights will be suspended until further notice due to U.S. administration restrictions, including all departures from Munich, Düsseldorf and Geneva. The Lufthansa Group will continue to serve all destinations in Canada until further notice.

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