safer skies

United Airlines launches new COVID testing for Houston flights to the Caribbean and Latin America

United Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner, September 2017

United is making international flights from Houston safer with new COVID testing.

Courtesy photo

As the nation prepares to travel during the holiday season, some 2.4 million Americans are expected to fly on Thanksgiving alone, according to CNN and estimates from AAA. While that’s the largest one-year decrease on record, it’s a significant enough number for airlines to increase safety measures.

To that end, United Airlines, which boasts a significant hub here, announced on November 23 that it is expanding its customer COVID-19 testing efforts to include flights departing Houston to select destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

That means customers traveling out of George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) can take a self-collected, mail-in test that meets local entry requirements for 10 international destinations, allowing them to reunite with family or start their vacation immediately, according to a press release.

The destinations are:

Aruba (AUA)
Belize City, Belize (BZE)
Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA)
Lima, Peru (LIM)
Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)
Panama City, Panama (PTY)
Roatan, Honduras (RTB)
San Pedro Sula, Honduras (SAP)
San Salvador, El Salvador (SAL)
Tegucigalpa, Honduras (TGU)

United’s mail-in COVID-19 test costs $119 and will be administered by Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory and processed at their COVID-19 testing laboratory in San Antonio. The self-collection kit includes a plastic tube, a nasal swab, and instructions on how to properly collect a specimen.

Customers will receive instructions 14 days ahead of their flights on ordering a test and the testing process. Travelers are advised to research the testing requirements of each location and take the tests 72 hours before departure. Results arrive via email within 24 to 48 hours of mailing in the test.

“Widespread testing is key to unlocking international borders and safely reopening global travel,” Toby Enqvist, chief customer officer for United, said in a release. “This is particularly important for our customers in Houston, who rely on United to keep them connected with their family and friends in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

United is yet another airline offering COVID testing for international travel. As CultureMap previously reported, Fort Worth-based American Airlines and British Airways have launched an optional coronavirus trial test on select flights between the United States and London Heathrow (LHR).

vacation

REVIVING THE ALAMO

Texas landmark the Alamo reclaims historic cannon from private ownership

Photo by Gower Brown/ Unsplash

A 90-pound cannon used in the Battle of the Alamo is returning to its San Antonio home.

It turns out the Alamo's original 1836 cannons are good for more than just defense — they also make a sturdy birdbath. After serving as a garden ornament for Samuel Maverick’s descendants, an authentic piece of San Antonio history is finally returning home to the revered mission.

According to an Alamo announcement, the swivel cannon weighs 90 pounds and is approximately three feet long. The relic was originally found in 1852 when Maverick built a home near the northwest corner of the battle’s site.

The lawyer and land baron was saved from death when he was urged by William Barret Travis to ride to the Texas Declaration of Independence convention in Washington-on-the-Brazos to send reinforcements. Returning to the Alamo’s grounds, he found a cache of cannons buried where the Hotel Gibbs sits today.

From there, the cannon wound up at the Maverick family’s Sunshine Ranch on the Northwest Side, where it was eventually incorporated into the garden DIY project. In 1955, the cannon was removed from the ranch, and the current location remained a mystery until the Alamo received a call from a Maverick relative in Corpus Christi.

Alamo cannon This Alamo artifact gives an idea of what the cannon will look like once restoration is complete.Photo courtesy of the Alamo.

“The relative graciously donated the cannon to the Alamo,” wrote a rep from the mission. “Alamo Senior Researcher and Historian Kolby Lanham and Head Conservator Pam Jary Rosser drove down the very next day to take this piece of history home to the Alamo.”

Although the artillery is mostly intact, it is missing its trunnions (the pivot-point protrusions on the sides of the barrel) and cascabel (the knob and neck assembly at the rear of historic muzzle-loading cannons). The parts were removed by the Mexican army to make the cannon inoperable.

Once preservation is complete, this cannon and the Alamo Collection’s other battle cannons will make their way to the upcoming Visitor Center and Museum, where they will be joined by rocker Phil Collins' collection of Alamo artifacts. The Alamo is in the midst of a $550 million preservation project, which includes conserving the Alamo Church, Long Barrack, and the mission’s original footprint. The museum is on track to debut in late 2027.

history museums artifacts texas history the alamo