Would you go abroad by plane over the summer?

[Sundiamond]

Assuming that the government will do yet another U-turn over travel quarantine on return to the UK, would you get a flight to say, Portugal for a holiday over the summer? I'm just curious how many would etc.

[KaptenKrusty]

Just got a flight to Dublin for Thursday for 15£ am going home to spend a month with my family! working from home anyway then can isolate whenever I get back to the UK! Can't bloody wait - have already had 4 flights cancelled to go home since March!

[user1728393]

We have flights booked in 3 weeks. If an air bridge is announced where we're going and our flights aren't cancelled we'll be going. If not, we'll book something to a country with an air bridge for august time.

[Longdistance]

We fly about 3 times a year. We won’t be going anywhere by plane. Norfolk for us this year in August. Hoping the sunshine stays.

We’ll see where we’re at in the summer, might book Eurostar to France for October.

[HoldMyLobster]

Thinking about it, my DD is due to go back to university in mid-August which will involve a plane journey, and either her dad or I will go with her.

It's not a flight abroad but the distance is 1700 miles so we're not likely to drive it instead.

[Meadowland]

@sansou. I totally agree.
Going without a holiday abroad is a small price to pay. The damage caused could be huge, setting us back to Square One.
We are going to use this time to explore lots of lovely places in the UK - - at a safe distance.

[sansou]

I’ve waivered for the past few weeks because I really love travel/holidays and the reckless part of me thinks that we should risk it for this summer since there will definitely be a second wave come autumn/winter/flu season/lifting of lockdown restrictions and this would be the last holiday abroad for awhile. Then the sensible side wins out.....

[sansou]

It pained me to cancel our accommodation bookings for our summer holiday to Slovenia this year. We prioritise our holidays but not over our health or other people’s. As it stands, we lose £1200. If our flights don’t proceed and we are refunded, it’ll be mitigated to £400. I love overseas travel but it’s a luxury and I don’t want my family to undertake unnecessary air travel at the expense of increasing the rate of transmission. Btw, I don’t bleach/wipe the shopping but I have started wearing a home made face mask in the supermarket.

Staycations for the foreseeable. Yes, it’s a sacrifice but I’m not willing to throw all the social distancing that we’ve done for the past few months just because the world is prioritising the economy for July/August.
Individual responsibility is key. It’s one thing to have to travel for your job but another for leisure in these times which is my line in the sand.

July/August will be overcrowded airport queues and packed planes - even in the midst of a pandemic if this MN thread is representative. What’s the point of everyone socially distancing if loads are ready to pack themselves like sardines in a tin can?

[eatyourcake]

Yes.

I love travel and this lockdown is the longest I haven't traveled in a decade. I'm going to visit family abroad for 3 weeks in Aug and desperately hope I won't have to quarantine over there. We already booked Iceland in December and really hope to go somewhere warm in Sep/Oct.

I will be wearing a tight fitting home made mask with filters on planes/airports!

[IcedPurple]

there lies the problem with the vaccine, and probably why 18 years were wasted trying to find one for SARS

They did not 'waste' all that time trying to find a vaccine for SARS, because it was successfully contained in 2003. Why would you spend years - and millions of pounds - looking for a vaccine for a disease which didn't really exist anymore? And where would you find the people to test it on?

[Kazzyhoward]

And to all the people saying that restarting air travel is putting finance ahead of health, do you think the same about opening cafes, restaurants, pubs, museums, cinemas etc?

Well I'd prefer to see schools, hospitals and GP surgeries open first before the leisure sector as I think health and education is more important than a holiday or a day in a theme park.

[pigeon999]

driving and there lies the problem with the vaccine, and probably why 18 years were wasted trying to find one for SARS.

[Swiftier]

I would/I will.

I’m not particularly at risk, so I may think differently if I had a health condition or someone in my immediate family did.

There is a risk from flying but it’s possibly not as high/not for the reasons that a lot of people think. Research suggests that if an infected person is on a plane, it’s really the people immediately near them at risk and those who touch the same surfaces (which can obviously be mitigated somewhat by cleaning hands regularly/using gel, not touching your face).

Yes, planes use recycled air but it is filtered.

www.bbc.com/news/business-52822913

And the risk of contracting Covid once you get to another country may well be about the same or in fact a lot lower than getting it at home. I’m not sure I’d go to somewhere like the US to be honest, but somewhere like Germany, or Portugal? Yes.

And to all the people saying that restarting air travel is putting finance ahead of health, do you think the same about opening cafes, restaurants, pubs, museums, cinemas etc? There’s got to be a balance between keeping the economy going and limiting transmission surely? Otherwise we’d expect to just shut everything down until the disease is eradicated in this country. Also you need to consider the impact of a downturn in the economy on public health - a recession could have a real long term impact on the health of the population. It’s not quite as simple as some PPs seem to think.

[Drivingdownthe101]

Out of interest, how would a vaccine work if having it doesn’t give you any form of immunity?

[pigeon999]

stella I wish they would publish more information on the immunity of positive covid patients that are now testing negative for antibodies, we need much more data.
Assuming this is true from what I read, then we have a (much) bigger problem than before, because everything is now hanging on the vaccine working - it is literally our last line of defence.

I am sure it is being buried for the sake of the public confidence, and progress is being made on the vaccine - which should be ready at the earliest in October (Times today)

The idea that we can safely travel thousands of miles sitting next to potentially infected people in an enclosed space for hours and hours, is really unfathomable. Those that are understandably desperate to get away are doing so by disregarding the significant risk, the risk is still there of course. Flying now feels to me a little like a casino, the safety of it will be based on pure luck.

[Meadowland]

No way. Sitting in a crowded plane just to go somewhere stifling hot where pools will be closed, and beaches regulated.
UK it is for me, much more relaxing.

[notimagain]

I don’t believe the research saying it is safe to fly. IMO sponsored by the airline industry.

....and a lot of it isn't - let Google be your friend and you will be able to find a substantial amount of research from outside the industry

For example a random paper here, plenty more available:

jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/195131

I suspect there might also be some misunderstandings about the idea of being in "recycled air". An airliner is not sealed airtight in such a way that you breath the same "bubble" of air as it goes around and around perhaps for hours on end ...

A percentage of the air leaving the cabin is recycled (that air goes through HEPA filters prior to being sent around the cabin for another lap), but not all of it, a large amount is simply dumped through control valves to the outside world and it is replaced by fresh air taken in from the outside environment. The percentage of recycled to fresh varies but it's reckoned on an average airliner you'll get maybe 10 or more complete changes of cabin air per hour ,probably better than you'll manage at home/in the supermarket.

[Stellakent]

Pigeon999 that's very interesting. I'm very unsure about the antibody tests. However I know a number of people who think they've had it (including a couple who have been in hospital). Those who think they've had it since late Feb have all tested positive after antibody tests. Those who thought they had over Xmas or in Jan/Early Feb haven't.

[pigeon999]

Most of us have actually been exposed to this virus, it’s been doing the rounds in the uk since November

I completely agree mz I had covid I am one hundred per cent sure, my GP was convinced (I could not have a test at the time because they were not available unless you were in the NHS) Now I have taken the antibody test and it is negative. All of our friends that tested positive for CoVid in the NHS with a swab test, are now being tested for antibodies, and a very large majority of them are coming back negative as well, even though the tests are 99.9% accurate. So why is this happening well it is one of two reasons

1. Either there was not enough exposure at the time (viral load) to create enough antibodies, this is extremely hard to imagine as many of these people worked with covid patients day in and day out.
   
   
2. The antibodies simply do not last very long - this is the most likely reason, and this is the reason why the antibody testing is being quietly dropped along with herd immunity. The whole country could be infected by now, right, but how helpful is it if the antibodies only last for a short period of time and people are then reinfected with the next wave, and the one after that.
   
   So be mindful of the facts when you share sweeping statements about mass hysteria and brain washing and it is stopping people from resuming normal life. It may be that some people are simply better informed than you or are seeing things from a different angle.

[reinacorriendo]

No because my DP just cancelled all his leave as he’d been brought back of furlough. I don’t think I’d enjoy it like I normally would with all the restrictions

[Gimmecaffeine]

Yes.

[Newbiehere123]

I Would go as long as I'm not forced to wear mask

[Planetaryexplorer]

Yes.
We have a holiday booked in August to Portugal and I can't wait.
We are all very long risk so I'm not worried

[ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia]

If Covid keeps appearing for years (say 2-3) what would you do if you genuinely believe we are told crap on a daily basis and actually it is a lot worst but scientific community are simply too far behind the discovery and knowledge curve?

Would you think more about flying then or still prepared to hold off new normal life for say 2-3 further years??

Just hypothetically as obviously no one knows actually that much about this disease despite the mixed messages sprouted out daily worldwide!

[Samsen]

Not this year no.

[GreenTulips]

This was an I know virus which led to China closing down a city. It had to be taken seriously.

They now know more about it and are working on cures, medicine, vaccines etc

Remember how it started rather than look back with fresh eyes