USA Travel Plans - Howto?

[ethernet]

I plan to do a SYD-PDX to see family. They may then want to annoy me by going to NYC, then Spain or Italy. I hate open jaws. I have got to be back , 2 months tops.
They tell me US pricing is stable and not to pay more than $600 USD one way. I hate the deals offered in Australia, and need to nitpick terms and conditions.
Q1) Can they book and pay for me OW (I am Aussie) and they owe me 50x
Q2) Will the US hassle me as no return ticket (no probs, I am loaded with full bank account)
Q3) CDC says I still need a rapid test 1 day before. apparently supervised. I have my triple - 2*AZ +1*Moderna
Q4) Is travel insurance on Commbank platinum credit card worth anything? If not what is Choice magazine leaning to ?
Q5) Other gotchas. I would get a RTW, but I am now told you have to pick dates for each leg - which defeats its use in my eyes.

 

[SydneySwan]

2). Probably. They need to be convinced you have a good reason to return to OZ. Visiting family in the US could be a red flag.
3). They are the current rules.
4). All complimentary travel insurance is problematic without a return ticket.

 

[dajop]

4). All travel insurance is problematic without a return ticket.

This is not true. For complementary credit card insurance it probably is a problem. But for annual policies (driven by maximum durations per trip) or specific policies (date driven) you don't need a "return ticket", and I'm not even sure if you even need a "ticket to return" (as in one way) when you depart the country, but the insurance will expire when the policy says it will expire.

 

[SydneySwan]

I have made my response clearer.

 

[Franky]

On the topic of travel to the US, Skyscanner advises that a negative RAT test is needed the day before departure, but that the test must be done under the supervision of a medical professional. What is needed from the medical professional to meet this requirement? An RN could be considered a medical professional.

 

[SydneySwan]

On the topic of travel to the US, Skyscanner advises that a negative RAT test is needed the day before departure, but that the test must be done under the supervision of a medical professional. What is needed from the medical professional to meet this requirement? An RN could be considered a medical professional.

You need a proper certificate. You can go to a chemist like Priceline or a testing clinic like Histopath. My youngest son flew to LA on Wednesday and got his RAT test done at Histopath in the Rocks in Sydney on Tuesday for $59. Some places charge $150!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Agree on the requirement for a return/onward ticket for the purposes of travel to the USA for entry requirements. Checkin will often ask for it and it could be needed if you are questioned by immigration on arrival (and recently when arriving in LAX they had no smart gates, everyone except global entry was being processed via the manual desks, with most people being asked lots of questions about what they were doing in the US, who they were going to see, etc)

 

[dajop]

Agree on the requirement for a return/inward ticket for the purposes of travel to the USA for entry requirements.

I presume you meant onward not inward?

The obvious solution for those who have ambiguous plans and enough cash or points/miles is before entry to book a ticket out of the US that can be refunded for no or minimal fee. Not sure if a ticket to Canada or Mexico would count for this purpose though, but certainly a ticket across to Europe would.

And you won’t get asked every time, I’ve flown to the US quite a few times on separate one way tickets that I’ve never been asked about by the airline or immigration , but always good to have in case. I suspect those with semi frequent travel to the country (mine was, precovid, on average annually since 2002) probably wouldn’t be flagged due to history of coming and going.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I presume you meant onward not inward?

The obvious solution for those who have ambiguous plans and enough cash or points/miles is before entry to book a ticket out of the US that can be refunded for no or minimal fee. Not sure if a ticket to Canada or Mexico would count for this purpose though, but certainly a ticket across to Europe would.

And you won’t get asked every time, I’ve flown to the US quite a few times on separate one way tickets that I’ve never been asked about by the airline or immigration , but always good to have in case. I suspect those with semi frequent travel to the country (mine was, precovid, on average annually since 2002) probably wouldn’t be flagged due to history of coming and going.

Thanks… corrected to ‘onward’.

Also for the OP in terms of domestic fares… depending on the route from around 6 weeks until around 4 weeks is often the best time for pricing. Fares closer in than that can start to increase. There will still be some cheaper options but the good flight times start to go up.

 

[Lynda2475]

you need a proper certificate.

Yep, the chemists offer the cheapest options for example Chemist Ware house charge between $40 and $35 depending on the store and that includes the supervised test, certificate and a spare RAT to take with you.