
Private Jet with US tourists rejected at Italy’s borders - notRobot
https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/private-jet-with-us-tourists-rejected-at-italys-borders.html
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vmception
What I like about this pandemic is exposing inequalities that have been
commonplace.

Colorado to Sardinia in a private jet? That's a wild flight! How big would it
have been?

A typical European summer option for some, and to think it wouldn't have been
news if it wasn't rejected at customs.

~~~
rhexs
Does anyone know what it would cost to charter a flight like that? Is it
relatively reasonable if you split it amongst 10 people, or are we still
talking 10/15K per head?

~~~
pupdogg
New York -> Las Vegas one way costs approx. $34k which includes: Aircraft One-
Way Rate, Fuel Adjustment, Additional One-Way Fuel Adjustment, Flight Crew,
Crew Layover, Crew Meals, Ldg/Hdlg/Ap-Fees, Use Tax, and Federal Excise Tax.
Those line items are a copy/paste from a real invoice. I’m sure you can
extrapolate what a private flight from US to Italy would cost.

Btw, when you fly private, I don’t think it’s courteous to split the
tab...normally, one party handles it all.

~~~
ceocoder
Ah bummer, that explains why I got bunch of odd reactions after I sent venmo
request after my last private jet trip :)

Joking aside, do you have first hand experience of this? How does it compare
to traveling by business class on a national carrier?

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lbeltrame
FTR, My country's government is completely inconsistent. After voting yes to
reopen EU's borders to select countries without quarantine, it immediately
made an order forbidding tourists from extra EU areas and forcing quarantine
upon everyone entering.

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JMTQp8lwXL
> The remaining five passengers were from Italy, New Zealand and England. They
> could have stayed in Sardinia, following a mandatory quarantine for 14 days
> before being allowed to move freely.

Why couldn't the Americans perform a mandatory quarantine for 14 days as well?

~~~
barkingcat
100% the Americans won't actually obey to a mandatory quarantine for 14 days.
People with the ability to charter a private jet for a cross-Atlantic jaunt is
the definition of "flight risk". On land, how do you enforce such a
quarantine? You'd be kidding yourself if you believe they won't go out and
hire a taxi the minute the health officials confirm their check in, and the
next day they'd be at all the beaches. The minute police or military try to
confine them, they'd go all self righteous and call the embassy.

It's better that customs turn them back.

Also, reading between the lines, the rest of the passengers didn't leave
because of "solidarity" \- it's most likely their itinerary is for a weekend
trip and they didn't plan to stay for 2 weeks+ - they would have been planning
to hit a few other islands maybe move on to Greece within a few days. When
told they'd have to stay in one place for 2 weeks, they'd rather move on to
their next destination (whether that's back to the US or to some place else
with easier customs, we'd have to look at the flight plan to see where the
plane actually went).

These kinds of tourist trips are absolutely the worst since they are vectors
trying to move fast - with no time allocated for quarantines / incubation at
all.

~~~
JMTQp8lwXL
By that logic, why permit the New Zealanders to quarantine, or the English?

~~~
DangitBobby
I think their logic is that Americans in particular cannot be trusted to take
it seriously or to self-sacrifice for the safety of others. Which, if you look
at the response to COVID 19 from a large portion of the country, should be
fairly evident. I say this as an American.

~~~
yokaze
I think, it's a bit less arbitrary and the reverse of what you said.

The criterias are the daily number of infections (comparable or less than the
EU mean), the testing capability to actually estimate the infections, and the
rate of change in infections (past the inflection point).

AFAIK, the covid-19 response in the US as a whole fails on each account.
Possibly due to the reasons you cited.

Finally, the restrictions are reciprocal. Probably not pertinent in this case.

~~~
DangitBobby
"Their" in my comment refers to the author of the original ancestor comment,
not Italy. Nonetheless, your response was informative.

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SpicyLemonZest
Interesting that the governor of Sardinia was trying to find a way to let them
stay. Are private jet tourists that important to the local economy, or was
there some confusion where the American passengers expected to be allowed in?

~~~
liber8
I think all tourists are. In the last few weeks I've seen numerous offers for
free nights and free meals if you'll come stay in Sardinia.

According to the European Commission, tourism is a key industry:
[https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regional-
innovat...](https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/regional-innovation-
monitor/base-profile/sardinia)

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
Yeah, it's certainly a tourist-heavy economy, but they're not letting most
Americans fly in at all. I'd think trying to make an exception for just the
private jet crowd would be a bad look.

~~~
stkdump
Sounds to me like the local government tried unsuccessfully to find a way
around the national government policy.

~~~
lbeltrame
If that were the case it would be hilarious. Nello Musumeci, Sardinia's
governor, just last month wanted Sardinia to be COVID-19 free and did not want
anyone from any other Italian region without quarantining or constant
surveillance.

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andrewseanryan
Somewhat related to this... I’m an American who hasn’t been in USA since
September (currently in Canada, Europe before that). I am wondering if I could
get into the Eu from Canada even though I’m traveling on USA passport? I’ve
seen no flexibility in the policy but in terms of risk posed by Americans, I
haven’t been there at all during the pandemic, so I pose no risk. Anyone have
any info on this?

~~~
soneil
As I understand it, if you're travelling from Canada, and have evidence of
Canadian residency, you're as good as Canadian for this purpose. If you're a
visitor in Canada, it gets murky quickly.

It's also worth knowing most countries are still banning by purpose as well as
by source. Most countries do not accept tourism as a valid reason to visit.

For example, for Germany; [https://www.germany.info/us-
en/covid-19/2321562](https://www.germany.info/us-en/covid-19/2321562)

"Third-country nationals with a long-term right of residence in an EU State
and/or in the aforementioned State (residence permit or long-term visa, e.g.
for studies or starting a job) " \- that could be you, depending in your
residence position in Canada. ("aforementioned State" is EU/EEC/EFTA, plus
July 1st's "positive list").

However, the page ends with "U.S. citizens may still enter Germany without a
visa, if they can show proof of one of the afore-mentioned exceptions to the
airline and border authorities. Entry for the sole purpose of a visit or for
tourist reasons is therefore still not possible."

Essentially, you need either a) the natural right to enter - EG, you're
German. b) a good reason to enter, and be resident in, and travelling from, an
acceptable country. or c) be on the VIP list of risks we're willing to take.

(Germany in this case was just the clearest example I found in two searches.
Go figure, Germans are good at rules. The "positive list" and recommendations
are provided by the EU, the implementation is provided by the state. So the
nitty-gritty does vary by country.)

