As Spain Opens to U.S. Travelers, UAL Boosts Flights to Europe

Spain is preparing to open borders to vaccinated Americans and other non-citizens starting June 7, following the European Union Council’s formal recommendation last week that EU Member States can reopen to fully vaccinated tourists.

United Airlines is applauding this move with some preparations of its own: welcoming back customers on over 30 daily flights to 16 destinations in Europe this summer, including service between New York/Newark and Barcelona and Madrid.

United is also streamlining travel to and from these countries easier with its robust Travel-Ready Center that allows customers to view COVID-19 entry requirements, find, schedule and receive uploaded test results from local providers and upload any required testing and vaccination records for domestic and international travel, all in one place.

“The EU Council’s recommendation represents the turning of the page in the pandemic for our customers, employees and residents of the EU, and brings us all closer to reuniting the world,” said Patrick Quayle, vice president of international network and alliances at United. “In addition to offering service to more destinations in Europe than any other U.S. carrier, (UAL allows) customers to easily upload vaccine records and testing results to our app making international travel much easier.”

United also recently launched a collaborative operation with Abbott to became the first U.S. carrier to set up an easy way for international travelers to bring a CDC-approved test with them, self-administer while abroad, and return home.

This summer, United is expanding its service to Europe including recently announced new routes to Dubrovnik, Croatia; Reykjavik, Iceland and Athens, Greece as well as adding more flights into Frankfurt, Munich and Brussels that provide broad connectivity throughout the region. United is increasing flights across Europe and will operate the following routes to European countries, which have also recently announced plans to welcome tourists who meet the destination requirements:

Italy:

• United will increase flights between New York/Newark and Rome to daily in July

• United will increase flights between New York/Newark and Milan to daily in July

• United’s flights from New York/Newark and Rome and Milan are part of Italy’s COVID-tested flights program – customers traveling on these flights may avoid self-isolation and must present a negative PCR or rapid antigen test result, performed no more than 48 hours prior to departure and a negative antigen test on arrival.

Spain:

• United will resume 5x weekly service between New York/Newark and Barcelona beginning in July

• United will resume 6x weekly service between New York/Newark and Madrid beginning in July