WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THINGS DON’T GO AS PLANNED

How Did Passports Handle Travel in 2022?

2022 was a challenging year. We had destination-imposed vaccine mandates (until they removed them), return tests (until the US removed it), the craziest year with air delays/cancellations, and in rare instances, Covid quarantine. So, what did we do?

• Communication
  Communication is everything! We prepared our traveling groups in advance for what would be required. We worked with participants who couldn’t/wouldn’t get vaccinated, in many cases, offering full refunds if they let us know well enough in advance. We sent lengthy, detailed country-by-country departure documents laying out covid/vaccination/mask rules so that there were no surprises. We instituted monthly status reports including updated destination requirements.

• Vaccination
  Passports exists to be the hands that make international travel possible for as many groups as possible, not to be the enforcers of vaccination policy. We made no mandates about vaccination for our tours in 2022. However, we made sure that all groups abided by the rules and regulations of the countries that they were visiting. So, in effect, we did have to make sure that our travelers were vaccinated, or at least knew the rules, prior to travel. Later in the summer, when vaccination wasn’t required throughout Europe, we consulted with the group leaders and enforced vaccines for travelers if that was what the group leader or school administration required. In summary, we support travel and we support our group leaders.

• Return Tests
  In the spring of 2022, the United States required a negative Covid test within 24 hours of return to the country. This was a particularly complicated logistics problem because our tours are often on the road on their final day and getting Covid tests for a large group of travelers in an efficient manner was not easy. Passports provided Covid tests to the groups which were completed online so that the group was minimally interrupted. We sent specially-trained representatives to assist on the testing day with the technology and testing. It was stressful. It was one of the least fun things we’ve ever done. But we were there, on the spot to make sure it all went to plan. It wasn’t always smooth, but we did it.

• Air Delays
  It has been widely publicized that 2022 was a very difficult year for international air travel and Passports tours were no exception. What do you do when a group is at the airport and they find out that their flight is delayed and they’ll miss their connecting flight to Europe and will have to spend a night in Newark? We are on-call, 24-7 ready for this call. We tell the group leader exactly what to do and how to get the most out of the agent that they are talking to. We have a team at the ready to contact the airline group desk to assist in getting better flights. Sometimes this is possible, sometimes it isn’t. We assist in getting our groups accommodations if they need them. You would think that the airline would do this, but sometimes they don’t! We coordinate with overseas to move services around to minimize the amount lost on tour. In one instance, for a group that missed two days of the start of the tour, we arranged an extra two days at the end of the tour at our cost. Passports provides and pays for an overseas travel protection program for all travelers, and so if participants were out of pocket, we assisted them in getting a refund from the insurance company.

• Quarantine
  In some instances, travelers got Covid on tour and had to quarantine. Passports had an operational team at the ready to handle this situation. Because each group provided a unique set of circumstances, the solution was not one-size-fits-all. We worked with every group to determine the best outcome for their particular situation. In every instance, Passports arranged for accommodations for the impacted participant and a chaperone. We created What’sApp chat groups with the group leader, chaperone and a Passports representative to keep the communication tight. We arranged for repeat tests until the participant was able to travel again and assisted in getting the chaperone and participant to rejoin the group. Sometimes this was by train, private transfer or a flight. Passports absorbed all costs and no participant or chaperone was out-of-pocket for quarantine expenses. Passports made all of the arrangements. We treated our quarantining participants like we would want to be treated ourselves. They stayed in in excellent hotels, in good areas and had the support of a team of people helping them through a difficult situation.

We are proud of how we supported our groups in 2022.

Please, read our TrustPilot and you can see that there is only praise from our group leaders of how we handled it.