“We haven’t seen each other in two years,” he said, “so we thought: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve. Why not?”
The Biden administration is lifting the ban weeks ahead of the holiday season, and Europeans can now enter the United States with proof of vaccination and a negative Co test no more than 72 hours old.
But the opening comes just as Europe faces a near-record level of coronavirus infections. And although 65 percent of E.U. residents have been vaccinated, there are wide discrepancies within the bloc, with most Eastern European countries lagging.
That has left many Europeans worried that travel restrictions could be reimposed soon, although Mr. Alden, of the Council on Foreign Relations, said he doubted the Biden administration would reverse course in the weeks to come, citing pressure from airlines and foreign partners.
Many said they had jumped on the opportunity to fly as soon as they could, no matter the cost.
“Hopefully it won’t be 1.5 years again,” said Luise Greve, a 23-year-old student from Germany who was scheduled to fly on Monday to Kansas City to visit her boyfriend.
Claudio Tomassi, a 46-year-old Italian manager living in Pennsylvania, came back to his hometown near Rome in September because his mother’s health was deteriorating. Her health improved soon after his return, Mr. Tomassi said, but he was stuck in Italy, far from his wife and two children, because he is not a U.S. citizen.
When the Biden administration announced in September that the travel ban would be lifted, demand spiked in Italy for U.S.-bound plane tickets, Mr. Tomassi said, with one-way flights skyrocketing to about 1,400 euros, or about $1,620, much more than their usual price. But he bought one for Tuesday anyway, worried that with the virus again spreading throughout Europe the rules might change once more.
