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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think only the computer literate can now go on a foreign holiday

307 replies

rookiemere · 24/10/2021 18:46

We're just back from Tenerife and had a wonderful time, but oh my goodness the online forms to fill in were not easy for either Spain or UK, nor was the Randox registration for our PCR tests on return ( in Scotland).

I consider myself to be reasonably computer literate, but I was very grateful for some prompts I found on a Facebook help group. It took me an hour for each passenger locator for, and another hour roughly for three PCR tests ( plus an additional half hour to drive to a drop box as apparently they don't accept Royal Mail boxes anymore).

I get why the documentation is needed, so I'm not against that per se, but the fact it must be done on a device means that some people may not have that and are now forced to buy a smart phone which seems unfair.

You also need to be pretty literate to interpret the questions, so again could be tricky for some.

So my AIBU is, is it right that the form can only be completed online ?

OP posts:
Caffeinefirst · 26/10/2021 11:34

I think it’s very condescending to assume everyone “should” be technically competent. Many apps, websites are full of bugs and do weird things. You have to be competent to understand the problems and how to resolve them.

My mum was a teacher and never had to use computers. So she can do the Times cryptic crossword but struggles with IT. It annoys me that people nowhere near her intelligence level would look down on her because she struggles a bit with IT.

Decent design seems to have gone the way of all things so things are flung out to users with insufficient testing and support for when they fail.

I’m travelling abroad in a few weeks for the first time in 2 years and whilst I’m looking forward to it in one way I’m dreading all the testing and documentation that will go with it.

callmeadoctor · 26/10/2021 11:45

I have only just heard of this, is it not possible at all to fill it in by hand?

user1497207191 · 26/10/2021 11:59

@callmeadoctor

I have only just heard of this, is it not possible at all to fill it in by hand?
As said by a couple of posters above, it does seem to be possible to do it by hand at the airport with the help of holiday reps and/or check in staff.
Original poster
rookiemere · 26/10/2021 13:00

Nope @callmeadoctor it cannot be done manually as you need the QR code that the online system generates.

OP posts:
Original poster
rookiemere · 26/10/2021 13:08

Also when I say "it" a separate form needs to be completed for the foreign country you're going to, as well as the one to return to the UK. Plus booking and registering any covid tests required.

OP posts:
Porridgeislife · 26/10/2021 13:41

I certainly wouldn’t assume it’s possible to fill it out manually it at the airport. On our return recently we watched one half of a couple miss their Easyjet flight from Kefalonia as they’d turned up with only one PLF filled out and he couldn’t get it filled out online fast enough to board before the doors shut, even though airport staff were doing all they could to get him onto his flight.

ilovesooty · 26/10/2021 14:23

@Porridgeislife

I certainly wouldn’t assume it’s possible to fill it out manually it at the airport. On our return recently we watched one half of a couple miss their Easyjet flight from Kefalonia as they’d turned up with only one PLF filled out and he couldn’t get it filled out online fast enough to board before the doors shut, even though airport staff were doing all they could to get him onto his flight.
I agree. It's not easy for a lot of people but you can't rely on help being available at the stage of arrival at the airport.
Original poster
rookiemere · 26/10/2021 14:26

It does sound though that if you book a package holiday, the rep would help with it. Mind you imagine what a queue there would be as it would take at least 15 mins per plf.

OP posts:
thenightsky · 26/10/2021 16:58

We were meant to be going away next month, but I've cancelled it due to anxiety over forms and testing.

Badbadbunny · 26/10/2021 17:01

@Porridgeislife

I certainly wouldn’t assume it’s possible to fill it out manually it at the airport. On our return recently we watched one half of a couple miss their Easyjet flight from Kefalonia as they’d turned up with only one PLF filled out and he couldn’t get it filled out online fast enough to board before the doors shut, even though airport staff were doing all they could to get him onto his flight.
No, of course you wouldn't "assume". You'd check it out beforehand, by asking your travel agent or holiday rep or whatever.
Original poster
rookiemere · 26/10/2021 17:11

That's a shame @thenightsky - having been through it, I'd say the holiday was worth it, but then I do pride myself on being pretty organised.

OP posts:
angstridden2 · 26/10/2021 18:32

I didn’t realise Smartphones were so cheap, but I don’t want to change the phone I have which I can work! I’m sure I’m one of thousands of not really old but getting there people who can use a computer, have an iPad etc. but are really anxious about uploading codes etc. And getting stuff printed while abroad.

julieca · 26/10/2021 22:55

This puts me off going on holiday.

LemonSwan · 26/10/2021 23:00

I can maybe buy into people in their 80s possibly not being computer literate, but everyone below that, including people in their 70s have used computers actively for a long time now.

I dunno.

We had a new receptionist start a month or so back at one of my jobs. Honestly did not know how to save pdf, use word properly, or basics on excel; and the email - but I will give her the email as its a horrendously non intuitive system.

MagpieMary · 26/10/2021 23:00

I totally agree. A lot of people just would t cope with it all. I found it very very stressful and I am pretty tech savvy. Many older people or those without a smartphone just wouldn’t manage it.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who found the testing and form filling a nightmare. Arriving home in the middle of the night and having to do that test and then find a drop off point the next day reduced me to tears.

MagpieMary · 26/10/2021 23:04

@zafferana

I also take the point that it's not just older adults who may find all the forms and tests a barrier to travel - it's anyone of any age who isn't computer literate for whatever reason.

It's also the way that every country has its own rules and the onus is on YOU, the traveller, to find all the info out yourself, order the tests in time, do them, drop them off, register them online within the stipulated time-frame specific to your destination, print off the requisite forms, possibly take the right tests away with you (we had to do this), order tests for your return so you have the ref. no for your PLF, fill out PLFs for every member of your party, have all the right documents/apps when you get to the airport, having obtained them in an often foreign country where you may not speak the language ...

Hell, I found it stressful, and I'm a capable, middle-aged, computer literate, experienced traveller and multi-tasker!

Yes do this!
MagpieMary · 26/10/2021 23:04

To this

julieca · 26/10/2021 23:08

I was looking at a cruise from England. But at each port, you have to complete forms for each country and forms and take tests before and after the cruise. People go on cruises because they are easy. This seemed an enormous faf.

Chimley · 26/10/2021 23:11

Absolutely ridiculous people on this thread getting on their high horses about computer literacy and telling people to just get on with it!

4 parents (mine and DHs) all in their 70s
1 can easily navigate online buying clothes, holidays etc but still asks for my help when researching unknown products
1 runs an online webshop but can't get to grips with online postage label printing so does it with stamps. Just can't get to grips with it. We all have blind spots.
1 can read/send emails but everything else asks someone else to do it
1 can barely read emails nevermind reply. Just does not understand the internet.

Telling those septuagenarians to just get on with it and learn will do absolutely no good whatsoever. Some people just cannot get to grips with certain tasks (whether online or offline). Scoffing at their inabilities won't change anything; it'll just make them feel stupid despite trying hard (in many cases).

Goodness me there's an empathy bypass on here sometimes, 'I can't imagine why someone finds something difficult that I find easy'. Hmm

MagpieMary · 26/10/2021 23:15

My mother has never used a computer and can’t do email. She has a smartphone but hasn’t got to grips with answering it if it rings! There is no way in Hell she could manage to go abroad at the moment.

Chimley · 26/10/2021 23:16

[quote Porcupineintherough]@flippertyop it's not bollocks at all. The opportunity to get familiar with computers and using the internet has been around for many years. That's a fact. Yes some people havent done do but that was a choice.[/quote]
Tech poverty is a real thing. As evidenced during the pandemic. Also rural broadband is patchy. So no, not everyone has been blindly shunning the internet for 20 years. Some people literally cannot access it.

Chimley · 26/10/2021 23:17

Oh and arthritis makes smartphones very difficult to use. As does enormous sausage fingers which my FIL has

julieca · 26/10/2021 23:21

Also, the rubbish being spouted that the internet has been around for 40 years. Forty years ago I was at school. My large school had one computer that most pupils never even saw. My university about 30-35 years ago had a computer science block for computer students. The rest of us still handed in handwritten essays.
It's only really in the last 20 years computers have become ubiquitous. Even 20 years ago I worked with senior managers whose secretaries used to print out their emails as they could not get to grip with email.
Things have changed very quickly. For some people, computers are easy to get to grips with. Others really struggle. Making them feel thick helps no one.

chaosrabbitland · 26/10/2021 23:30

@LittleBearPad

I'd imagine many elderly people would have great difficulty navigating what is required.

Comments like this are so patronising. Why the assumption that elderly people can’t use the internet. It’s been around 20 odd years.

its an assumption thats true for a lot of elderly , my 84 year old mother in full possesion of her facalties struggles to work a pay as you go basic phone never mind the internet or a smart phone , she finds it too complicate , and working in retail i can assure you the number of elderly who whip out a smartphone to print off some pics on our photo kiosk only to look at me in bemusement and ask how do i do this i dont know what to do .. sometimes they can barely unlock the phone , lost count over the years of how often we have had to stand there and talk them through it , if a lot of them struggle with stuff like this then booking holidaus on line would likely prove next to impossible im sure there are a few that find it easy , but im betting their in the minority