[Travel] Holiday plans this summer?

[Marty___Mcfly]

Changes today- green and amber list binned. Red list remained but reports at the weekend say the red list is going to be reduced from 54 countries to 9, with all the main destinations removed.

Note Ireland binned their red list and hotel quarantine entirely so that seems like the direction of travel.

So for vaxxed passengers- barriers seem to be falling away - soon just a (paid?) lateral flow test 2 days after return and pretty much every country soon to be an option (subject to the country’s own entry requirements).

All seems to be going in the right direction and all pretty stable. Will this be enough to tempt people to book, or are most people holding off until 2022 now?

 

[Change at Barnham]

So for vaxxed passengers- barriers seem to be falling away - soon just a (paid?) lateral flow test 2 days after return and pretty much every country soon to be an option (subject to the country’s own entry requirements).

This is how I understand it also.

But how do the UK ensure after their citizens arrive home that they actually take an official lateral flow test?
I imagine many people won't bother and just return to their daily lives of the work/school routine etc.

So if I have understood this correctly, I can go on a winter break to Spain or Portugal with no tests beforehand, no tests whilst overseas, just a lateral flow test in the UK two days after I get home?

 

[Beach Hut]

This is how I understand it also.

But how do the UK ensure after their citizens arrive home that they actually take an official lateral flow test?
I imagine many people won't bother and just return to their daily lives of the work/school routine etc.

So if I have understood this correctly, I can go on a winter break to Spain or Portugal with no tests beforehand, no tests whilst overseas, just a lateral flow test in the UK two days after I get home?

Correct, however, you must also complete a passenger locator form on-line within 48 hours arrival in the UK that is how they check you have done the test which I believe is a PCR test requirement but to change shortly to lateral flow test.

Also you may need to complete registering for the country you go to.

 

[dwayne]

Correct, however, you must also complete a passenger locator form on-line within 48 hours arrival in the UK that is how they check you have done the test which I believe is a PCR test requirement but to change shortly to lateral flow test.

Also you may need to complete registering for the country you go to.

That's how they check you have bought it yes.

However , you can literally put any number in that form, no one is checking and if you do buy a day 2 test no one is actually checking you have completed it. The last one I sent off I didn't even get a result back so I gave up after that. Farcical.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

This is how I understand it also.

But how do the UK ensure after their citizens arrive home that they actually take an official lateral flow test?
I imagine many people won't bother and just return to their daily lives of the work/school routine etc.

So if I have understood this correctly, I can go on a winter break to Spain or Portugal with no tests beforehand, no tests whilst overseas, just a lateral flow test in the UK two days after I get home?

The UK is on a lot of countries red/high risk list so you will need to check if you have to complete any forms for entering your destination.

 

[happypig]

I'm in Greece right now, picked up a last minute bargain.
I'm a bit "Belt and braces" when it comes to technology, worked in it all my life, don't trust it not to f..k up at a critical time, so I printed EVERYTHING which was a good thing as it turns out.

For Greece you need to be double jabbed (we both are) or have -ve test or prooof of recovery.
You also need to fill out a passenger locator form.
Both are checked at the departure airport and on arrival and they asked for printouts if you have them. much easier than switching apps several times IMO.
Returnoing you need to have booked a day 2 test and fill out the passenger locator form.

You're *supposed* to wear masks in the airport (many don't), on the plane (virtually everyone dd that I could see) and on the transfer bus (some did)

Everything here is pretty relaxed, just masks in shops and taxis. Dining is mostly outside.

When you consider that everyone has to be jabbed, tested or recovered, the chances of catching Covid here or on the plane/in the airport are fairly minimal, far less than from catching it in a busy pub or on a train at home.

 

[Denis]

I too am in Greece, on a cruise. Ultra safe. We had to test 9pm the night before our flight, then tested again before boarding the ship. Everyday you have to do a temperature scan. Just done a mid week test (all provided by TUI Marcella), before going on the tender over to Santorini. Masks are worn inside the ship, except for earring and drinking…..a lot of drinking going on. Out on deck is fine. Just feels great to be away from UK, what with fuel shortages etc. We have sky sports news in cabins, so can keep up with football news!

 

[crodonilson]

Going to Westward Ho! for 10 nights in early November to add to the 7 night cruise we agreed to go on with Rula Lenska.

 

[dazzer6666]

Managed to complete a couple of trips in the last 3 weeks (a week in Madeira with the Mrs, and then 5 days in Portugal with a group of 12 playing golf) - all very simple, only minor issue was longer queues at check-in both ends due to document checks (exacerbated by a few silly twunts who hadn’t read the simple instructions). Things pretty much as normal in both locations, some mask-wearing necessary (including on the planes) but little different to the UK in reality. Great to get away after so long and well worth the minor inconvenience IMO. Literally no checks returning to Gatwick on either trip other than passport e-gate.

 

[Springal]

We made a very last minute decision to go to Lanzarote and been out here since the weekend. Lovely weather (25 degrees Clear blue skies). Outbound BA flight was full, used miles for Club Europe which had 46 passengers in !

Everyone respectful of masks inside, moving around the restaurants but no need outside. All good

 

[happypig]

Filling in the UK Passenger Locator form is a farce:
Firstly you have to enter your aircraft seat number; we were fine with this as we'd already paid to have extra legroom seats so we knew the numbers but some people get them allocated a check-in, which you can't do without having first filled in the passenger locator form. TUI advised people on Twitter to "just put 1A, that will work".
Then you have to scan the QR code of your vaccine record; mine steadfastly refused to recognise the code and I ended up doing it on the wifes iPad. You can upload a picture of it, but many people report that a screenshot is rejected as either too small or unreadable.
Thirdly you have to input your day 2 test order number but the field is character limited and would not take the number supplied by Chronomics. I put in as much of the number as I could into the wife's form, dropping the last digit and it was accepted. Put the same number into my form, took that too. I read on Twitter of people re-using old numbers and being accepted.
The PLF also asks you whether you will be staying anywhere else for the 10 days following arrival; as we're double jabbed and therefore not required to quarantine I put no.
None of it was checked at Gatwick, through the e-gate without a wait, collect cases and go.

 

[Albion my Albion]

Absolutely nothing. Did absolutely nothing this past summer.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Filling in the UK Passenger Locator form is a farce:
Firstly you have to enter your aircraft seat number; we were fine with this as we'd already paid to have extra legroom seats so we knew the numbers but some people get them allocated a check-in, which you can't do without having first filled in the passenger locator form. TUI advised people on Twitter to "just put 1A, that will work".
Then you have to scan the QR code of your vaccine record; mine steadfastly refused to recognise the code and I ended up doing it on the wifes iPad. You can upload a picture of it, but many people report that a screenshot is rejected as either too small or unreadable.
Thirdly you have to input your day 2 test order number but the field is character limited and would not take the number supplied by Chronomics. I put in as much of the number as I could into the wife's form, dropping the last digit and it was accepted. Put the same number into my form, took that too. I read on Twitter of people re-using old numbers and being accepted.
The PLF also asks you whether you will be staying anywhere else for the 10 days following arrival; as we're double jabbed and therefore not required to quarantine I put no.
None of it was checked at Gatwick, through the e-gate without a wait, collect cases and go.

To be fair, that bit is optional. You can just show the 30 day generated QR code seperately, or the NHS letter instead. Country Of Issue for your passport is a bit of a misnomer on the form tho. The correct answer from the dropdown list is 'British Citizen (GBR)'

 

[Surf's Up]

Just come back from Spain via Brittany Ferries Portsmouth to Bilbao and return route. Absolutely no attention paid to all the additional COVID linked documentation required at either end - only delays because passports were checked and stamped on entry/leaving Spain. Really makes you wonder what the ****ing point is in all the incredible confusion, hassle and cost we had to go through before departing to make sure our paperwork and 2 day testing regime on return was all correct and in order.

 

[dazzer6666]

Filling in the UK Passenger Locator form is a farce:
Firstly you have to enter your aircraft seat number; we were fine with this as we'd already paid to have extra legroom seats so we knew the numbers but some people get them allocated a check-in, which you can't do without having first filled in the passenger locator form. TUI advised people on Twitter to "just put 1A, that will work".
Then you have to scan the QR code of your vaccine record; mine steadfastly refused to recognise the code and I ended up doing it on the wifes iPad. You can upload a picture of it, but many people report that a screenshot is rejected as either too small or unreadable.
Thirdly you have to input your day 2 test order number but the field is character limited and would not take the number supplied by Chronomics. I put in as much of the number as I could into the wife's form, dropping the last digit and it was accepted. Put the same number into my form, took that too. I read on Twitter of people re-using old numbers and being accepted.
The PLF also asks you whether you will be staying anywhere else for the 10 days following arrival; as we're double jabbed and therefore not required to quarantine I put no.
None of it was checked at Gatwick, through the e-gate without a wait, collect cases and go.

I couldn’t scan my covid pass QR code in on Monday, so it was separately checked at airport check in
Had no issues with the Chronomics kit number when I travelled then previous week with TUI, accepted straight away. Same this week with the home (and cheapest available) EXMED kit I had. A pal got one number wrong and it was rejected, so there is definitely some cross-referencing going on.
It’s all still crap though as there is nothing to make sure you actually do the test properly. It’ll be binned off very soon as a waste of time
Incidentally Portugal stopped requiring a negative test to enter the country for the double-jabbed yesterday
They don’t check at Gatwick as they are relying on the airline having checked before you board (as they actually thoroughly did on my two flights homeward in the last couple of weeks)

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I couldn’t scan my covid pass QR code in on Monday, so it was separately checked at airport check in
Had no issues with the Chronomics kit number when I travelled then previous week with TUI, accepted straight away. Same this week with the home (and cheapest available) EXMED kit I had. A pal got one number wrong and it was rejected, so there is definitely some cross-referencing going on.
It’s all still crap though as there is nothing to make sure you actually do the test properly. It’ll be binned off very soon as a waste of time
Incidentally Portugal stopped requiring a negative test to enter the country for the double-jabbed yesterday
They don’t check at Gatwick as they are relying on the airline having checked before you board (as they actually thoroughly did on my two flights homeward in the last couple of weeks)

This. Really feel the pain of the check-in staff who - up til 4th October revisions - were faced with having to check FIVE diff document (some on phone, some on paper) for every passenger before they even let you on to the plane home. Failure to do so (in the event that anybody was actually doing any checks at LGW, which they weren't) would in theory land their employer with a serious fine. Seems to me it's a system based entirely on fear and smoke and mirrors.

Taking the positives tho, it pretty much ensures your plane will be chav-free

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Taking the positives tho, it pretty much ensures your plane will be chav-free

Not convinced by this; Gatwick is still a carnival of horrors.

 

[swindonseagull]

Filling in the UK Passenger Locator form is a farce:
Firstly you have to enter your aircraft seat number; we were fine with this as we'd already paid to have extra legroom seats so we knew the numbers but some people get them allocated a check-in, which you can't do without having first filled in the passenger locator form. TUI advised people on Twitter to "just put 1A, that will work".
Then you have to scan the QR code of your vaccine record; mine steadfastly refused to recognise the code and I ended up doing it on the wifes iPad. You can upload a picture of it, but many people report that a screenshot is rejected as either too small or unreadable.
Thirdly you have to input your day 2 test order number but the field is character limited and would not take the number supplied by Chronomics. I put in as much of the number as I could into the wife's form, dropping the last digit and it was accepted. Put the same number into my form, took that too. I read on Twitter of people re-using old numbers and being accepted.
The PLF also asks you whether you will be staying anywhere else for the 10 days following arrival; as we're double jabbed and therefore not required to quarantine I put no.
None of it was checked at Gatwick, through the e-gate without a wait, collect cases and go.

Agree the passenger locator form was a farce and a pain.
Was in Barbabos last month ( a much delayed holiday) the pre travel lateral flow was easy but had to be done 3 days prior to travel, Locator form had to be completed 48 hours in advance, we did know out seat numbers as we booked them ages ago ( Premium) BUT the passenger locator form would not allow the covid jab form to upload as the file was to large, The iphone would not reconise the Covid jab QR code so the code had to be printed out and then photographed, I was not the only one having problems so why cant one Govt depts forms talk to another?

HAd to do a pre UK departure test 3 days before departure , The Virgin staff at Heathrow checked all documents
Free PCR test on arrival and result back in 2 days in Barbados,
Masks in communial areas of hotel but all bars were outside so no problem, Masks on in taxis and buses.

Masks worn on the flight which was a bit uncomfortable on a night flight home as the temp is turned up to make the pax sleep.

All I would say is print everything in triplicate as its a pain opening the app and when the lines got busy airport staff both at Heathrow and Barbados told people to leave the line and open the app, while us with printed papers were through in seconds.

Heathrow queue was abour 90 mins to get in but was constantly moving. Some asian people had proper work goggles, mask and a visor , now if your that worried why are you travelling?

I was one of the lucky ones to be selected for passport and locator check but it took no more than a minute and I was done after 2 questions.

All in all was well worth it to get away and have a good relaxing break.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Agree the passenger locator form was a farce and a pain.
Was in Barbabos last month ( a much delayed holiday) the pre travel lateral flow was easy but had to be done 3 days prior to travel, Locator form had to be completed 48 hours in advance, we did know out seat numbers as we booked them ages ago ( Premium) BUT the passenger locator form would not allow the covid jab form to upload as the file was to large, The iphone would not reconise the Covid jab QR code so the code had to be printed out and then photographed, I was not the only one having problems so why cant one Govt depts forms talk to another?

HAd to do a pre UK departure test 3 days before departure , The Virgin staff at Heathrow checked all documents
Free PCR test on arrival and result back in 2 days in Barbados,
Masks in communial areas of hotel but all bars were outside so no problem, Masks on in taxis and buses.

Masks worn on the flight which was a bit uncomfortable on a night flight home as the temp is turned up to make the pax sleep.

All I would say is print everything in triplicate as its a pain opening the app and when the lines got busy airport staff both at Heathrow and Barbados told people to leave the line and open the app, while us with printed papers were through in seconds.

Heathrow queue was abour 90 mins to get in but was constantly moving. Some asian people had proper work goggles, mask and a visor , now if your that worried why are you travelling?

I was one of the lucky ones to be selected for passport and locator check but it took no more than a minute and I was done after 2 questions.

All in all was well worth it to get away and have a good relaxing break.

I do the same if I have to travel in economy.

 

[swindonseagull]

I do the same if I have to travel in economy.

is that a attempt at humour?