Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from China to Birmingham
Entry restrictions
The United States has restricted the entry of all foreign nationals who have passed through or have been in China, Iran, Most European Countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City), the UK, Ireland, Brazil and South Africa in the past 14 days.
With the exception of certain travelers which includes certain family members of US citizens or permanent residents including; spouses, children (under the age of 21), parents (provided that his/her US citizen or permanent resident child is unmarried and under the age of 21), and siblings (provided that both the sibling and the US citizen or permanent resident are unmarried and under the age of 21);
There is also an exception for travelers with the following visas: A-1, A-2, C-1, C-1/D, C-2, C-3, CR-1, CR-2, D, E-1 (as an employee of TECRO or TECO or the employee's immediate family members), G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, IR-1, IR-4, IH-4, NATO-1 through NATO-4, or NATO-6 visa;
Members of the US Armed Forces, spouses, and children of members of the US Armed Forces;
Travelers with invitation of the USA government for a purpose related to the containment/mitigation of the Coronavirus (COVID-19);
Travelers with documents issued by the US Department of Homeland Security, US Customs and Border Protection, or US Department of State indicating that the traveler is exempt from the restriction;
B1 crew crewmembers that are engaged in lightering, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) activity, wind farm activity, private air/sea crew and other similar crewmember activities;
Students with an F-1 or M-1 visa and their F-2 and M-2 dependents, if they arrive from or have been in Ireland, the UK or Schengen Area in the past 14 days.
Entry requirements
All travelers, 2 years of age or older (including US citizens and transit passenger) must present a negative COVID-19 viral or antigen test result issued 72 hours prior to departure or have a proof of recovery from the virus within the last 90 days prior to boarding the plane.
Exemptions or waiver to the testing requirements may be granted by the CDC on an extremely limited basis when emergency travel (like an emergency medical evacuation) must occur to preserve someone’s life, health against a serious danger, or physical safety and testing cannot be completed before travel.
US citizens and permanent residents arriving from the UK must present a medical certificate with a negative COVID-19 PCR or antigen test result issued within 72 hours prior to departure.
Travelers arriving in New York State must complete the Traveler Health Form.
Travelers arriving in Massachusetts must complete the Massachusetts Health Form.
Quarantine requirements
Travelers are advised to get tested 3-5 days after travel and stay home and self-quarantine for 7 days after travel. Even if they test negative, they must still stay home and self-quarantine for the full 7 days. If the test is positive, isolate to protect others from getting infected.
Travelers who did not get tested, are advised to stay home and self-quarantine for 10 days after travel.
All other info
Travelers are subject to COVID-19 measures set by the state/territory of their final destination. For more information go to CDC website.
There are currently 1,102 active cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in US and 0 deaths as of Feb 28 2021
Please see our Coronavirus (COVID-19) Travel Restrictions page for more information on restrictions worldwide.
KAYAK is a travel search engine. That means we look across the web to find the best prices we can find for our users. With over 2 billion flight queries processed yearly, we are able to display a variety of prices and options on flights to Birmingham.
KAYAK’s flight Price Forecast tool uses historical data to determine whether the price for a flight to Birmingham is likely to change within 7 days, so travelers know whether to wait or book now.
Hacker Fares allow you to combine one-way tickets in order to save you money over a traditional round-trip ticket. You could then fly to Birmingham with an airline and back with another airline.
Sometimes travel dates aren't set in stone. If your preferred travel dates have some wiggle room, flexible dates will show you all the options when flying to Birmingham up to 3 days before/after your preferred dates. You can then pick the flights that suit you best.
Scores according to KAYAK customer reviews
Pros: "Flight attendants were proficient and courteous."
Cons: "The seats are horrible and gave me backache. Hardly any cushion that could provide any form of comfort to an 11 hour flight and the recline was nonexistence"
Pros: "Had the whole of 3 seats to myself. Was a fast and pleasant and direct flight. Flight attendants gave me the option to take the row. Nice of her."
Cons: "Food selection and tastiness ... room for improvement."
Cons: "Free high speed Wifi. More room / comfort"
Pros: "The inflight entertainment that’s all"
Cons: "Better crew and food"
Pros: "Everything"
Cons: "Food"
Pros: "The crew was really nice"
Cons: "Nothinh"
Cons: "Delayed flight, seat didn’t recline"
Pros: "In flight entertainment was very good."
Cons: "Departure was 45-60 minutes late because the plane arrived late. We sat on the runway for ~ 20 mins after landing in Chicago because there was no available jetway. Passport “spot check (?!) at jetway for all deplaning passengers created a slow crush once we left the plane."
Pros: "the crew was amazing and pleasant."
Cons: "everything went well and what i was expecting."
Cons: "We had a 3 hour delay."
Cons: "Not here as long as the last place but was still teribly confusing. The airport is not very new user friendly. I had to ask ppl multiple times where gates were and issues with time changes etc. Was pretty nerve wracking for a first time traveller to the states."
Pros: "- Food was good, (3 cup chicken) - Ontime departure - Early arrival - Friendly attentive staff"
Pros: "Everything was in schedule. Bonus was those smaller extra foam pillows in Polaris."
Cons: "Nothing."
Pros: "Made great time despite being grounded for over 1.5 hours due to PVG ground control. Only arrived 10 mins late."
Cons: "Got bit six times by a rogue mosquito that made it onboard during boarding."
Pros: "Loved that I was in the single seat and it was a quick flight"
Cons: "N/A"
Pros: "Entertainment, and leg space."
Cons: "Full plane, long wait to use lavatory. Crew was good, but should have upped their game under the circumstances, especially with regards to keeping the lavatory clean. The noodles for breakfast turned out to be porridge, and went straight to the waste basket."
Pros: "On time and flight crew were very courteous and professional."
Pros: "Nothing!"
Cons: "Everything! The customer service was terrible and cold. Non refundable tickets should state in huge red writing that they are non refundable!!!"
Pros: "Flight was on time and on schedule,"
Cons: "The cost of a one way ticket was more than a return flight The entertainment system did not work, no movies were accessible on the entire plane for the 12 hour flight. Meals were OK but nothing fantastic to write home about Seat were crowded for eccomomy class, I flew on Emirates on my way to Zurich, for 60% of this flight cost, and would give them a solid 9 or 10 rating our of 10. This was an old plane, 747 Jumbo, Looked tired and was loud inside."
Cons: "The yogurt that was served in business class was out of date by 10 days"
Pros: "Everything"
Cons: "Nothing"
Pros: "Very quick flight from ORD to BHM involving hardly any bad weather which got me home early."
Cons: "The online entertainment had poor connectivity and did not work, forcing me to take a nap to kill time."
Pros: "Food and service not bad. Flight on time."
Cons: "No individual entertainment. One snarky light attendant. Little leg room. Terrible selection of films for all passengers. Have to get United app on ground--need this to be communicated better, on website, before boarding, and onboard."
Pros: "Clean waiting area; enough room overhead for my carryon bag."
Cons: "Couldn't get internet based entertainment on my iPhone as advertised"
Cons: "we had to sit on runway for 1 hr to burn fuel to lighten the load. did not get served until 1 hr of fly time."
Cons: "United is no longer customer friendly. Personnel on ground are like robots. They no longer recognize loyal customers as the core. Stewardess and stewards are not courteous. The steward was chewing while serving food. No more what high standards are about. Just to get through with the job. Sad."
Cons: "Wifi never worked, mentioned several times to crew and didn't have decency to check or follow up. Attendants were crabby at best and were acting like they were doing passengers a favor by even. Wing there. Very rude and unprofessional to every question. Captain came out to go to bathroom twice and chatted up remaining flight attendant for several minutes- making it so passengers couldn't approach restrooms."
Pros: "The flight attendant was professional and pleasant"
Cons: "Boarding in Houston was disorganized"
Pros: "The purser was amazing. He set a high bar for personal service and caring."
Cons: "Lots of problems with seats around us (and ours) in business class. For a new airplane (787) that was surprising!"
Pros: "Nothing"
Cons: "Two hours late!"
Cons: "too much technical problems too long of delays,horrible"
Pros: "Onboard service"
Cons: "The fact that we had to pay extra in order to have room to Cross our legs."
Pros: "Shanghai"
Cons: "Los Angeles"
Pros: "The pilot did a good job. However the cabin crew needs more training. Very rude and unattentive"
Cons: "Rude and incompetent staff on this flight. Plus the overweight/hot/sweaty/snorlax gentleman squeezing me into my window seat for 12hrs was pleasant."
Pros: "Delays, rudeness, doesn't have its act together. Must be United Airlines"
Pros: "Perfect"
Pros: "Crew service,food was excellent, entertain was ok except the audio no music selection to cannot choose individual music cannot forward or playback songs but overall it was an excellent flight especially Shanghai to Sfo trip"
Pros: "Seats are to small but fortunately sat directly behind first class and had plenty of leg room. The new entertainment system worked well."
Pros: "The variety of movies and music to listen to. Very comfortable"
Cons: "The quality of food could be better. I always order a Hindu meal not because that's my background but because it has more flavor than a standard meal"
Pros: "The plane was big and they made sure to keep you hydrated."
Cons: "Most of the airline staff were unbelievably rude. They wouldn't let me 91 year old grandfather get up to stretch at ask during the flight. They also told me to stay out of the way and sit down during a medical emergency when I got up because they needed a doctor."
Pros: "Fight was 45 delay but still 10 minutes earlier arrived.that was very good."
Pros: "The price"
Cons: "The size of the plane"
Pros: "Comfortable seats on the long flight. The crew did their best to put together a vegetarian breakfast for me."
Cons: "It would be helpful to make meal choice an easy option as you are purchasing your flight, or checking in. More vegetarian options ready for guests on flight."
Pros: "New crew"
Pros: "Nice airplane"
Pros: "It was clean, the flight attendants were very polite"
Pros: "Crew members are nice and attentive."
Cons: "Entertainment: they took away personal screen but then the "new" personal device entertainment option never worked on our roundtrip flight SFO-PVG. The movie froze every 10-15min even on their own big screen. Food was very disappointing even by airline food standard. I was not expecting it to be great food but hey at least provide some options with decent taste please? Comfort: Seats are tight and you will have very minimal space and an awkward position if the person in front of you recline the seat but you don't. Flight is old and seats are uncomfortable. Very little leg room"
Pros: "Flight was okay"
Cons: "Luggage was not in Birmingham for the flight until next day in the afternoon"
Pros: "Crew was courteous, though not very helpful. I liked the convenience of a direct flight."
Cons: "First the change fees. To reschedule for a week later would have cost over $800. I only paid $540 for the RT ticket! Second, my seat was broken and would not stay upright. Attendant simply told me to not lean back. Furthermore the audio in my wife's seat did not work; only produced static. Although we had these problems, and the plane was not full, the attendant did not offer a solution - like changing seats. Chinese airlines offer free second bag, and not cost changes. I will probably choose another carrier, even if it cost a bit more, for the extra flexibility and service"
Airlines flying from China to Birmingham have enacted additional safety measures and adjusted policies to better accommodate travelers. Policies vary by airline.
Heightened sanitation
Daily cleaning, installation of cabin HEPA filters on flights from China to Birmingham
Mandatory masks
Masks required on board, masks provided on flights from China to Birmingham
Social distancing seating
Middle seats unavailable to book on flights from China to Birmingham
Pre-flight testing
Testing for antibodies, testing for symptoms for flights from China to Birmingham
Flexible cancellations
Waiving of change fees. Search flexible flights from China to Birmingham