Should we go to Barcelona?

[Hannah2199]

We have a flight booked early July, was expecting it would be cancelled but this leads me to think it will be going ahead?

www.thesun.co.uk/travel/11866308/british-tourists-spain/

Says Spain open to tourists including UK. Really surprised.

Dont think I want to go, weve no accomodation booked as we assumed flight would be cancelled. It's in Barcelona so most attractions would be closed or reduced capacity - so assume bars and museums would be absolutely rammed?

I'd rather stay home. OH wants to go.

What would you do? Anyone in Spain got any advice please?!?! Help! Is it worth taking 3 young children to Barcelona?!

Well as your insurance will be invalid I wouldn't

I should say that obviously we wouldn't book any accommodation until the FCO warning is lifted.

Will the flight go ahead even if the FCO warning is in place? I'm worried we would lose our money if we didnt fly

I would only go If the beaches pools and attractions are open especially with 3 children

And you'd have to quarantine for 14 days on return

Yeah - info is confusing. Anyone know of beaches and pools etc would be open I'm in Barcelona? I know it was one of the worst hit areas.

Would airline let us cancel due to the 14 day quarantine though?? Our insurance didnt cover pandemics so cant claim money back

Did you book the flights before Covid kicked off? If you did, I would imagine your holiday insurance will cover it.

I don't think aspen will be anything like normal by early July and a socially distanced holiday with 3 kids isn't my idea of fun

Yeah we did book before covid BUT OH insurance policy was a yearly one that renewed in march. So the new policy covers us for july and therefore no pandemic cover (FML I did ask him numerous times to check this!)

Also if FCO advice is suddenly lifted we would have to find accomodation at very last minute. Argh just wish government would let us know if travel can definitely go ahead or not

I spoke a friend who has a family member working as crew for Jet 2, officially they are saying flights will resume 15th July, but their relative is has been given return date of end of July, and even then the staff expect it to be extended further.

Sorry to hear that for your family member but that is slightly reassuring. Thank you

Spain aren't letting Brits in at the moment are they? We've just had Jet2 flights to Malaga cancelled for July.

Not with 3 young children, no. If it was a couple's break I'd say maybe chance it!

Apparently letting brits in from 21st june according to the article above (assuming our govt say we can fly)

If the insurance was renewed in March but you had booked prior to then, I am pretty certain you will be covered. Has he just checked online? Maybe he needs to ring them?

If you do decide to fly there how about hiring a car or getting a train to somewhere more rural nearby and hiring a self catering place with a pool or a nice garden or near a beach and just having a very chilled out holiday.
I wouldn’t worry about going to Spain as there infection rate is better than ours, it’s just the flight that would worry me i think.

Thanks. Agree, it's not the infection rate I'm worried about. Just what it would be like when we got there in terms of how busy and restrictions etc. And potentially unlikely to find accomodation at short notice. Also no idea how I would get kids to wear a mask on the plane etc. I'd rather stay home!

If the flights are cancelled and you get the money back that would be excellent news for you and Barcelona.
It is important to keep Spain safe from British tourists.

Would airline let us cancel due to the 14 day quarantine though?

According to Simon Calder, no: the quarantine requirement is separate to your contract with the airlines, so as long as they can uphold their half of the contract (flying you there and back) they aren't obliged to refund you.

Spain aren't letting Brits in at the moment are they? We've just had Jet2 flights to Malaga cancelled for July.

Yes, they are from 21st June: although they're now saying that they, like France, are considering putting reciprocal (i.e. tit-for-tat) quarantine requirements in place as long as ours are in place, which is a major spanner in the works. That said, in France quarantine is voluntary, and they (unlike the UK) aren't pretending to have the infrastructure to police it or impose fines.

All the indications are that there will at the very least be "air bridge" agreements in place by June 29th, more likely a total scrapping of the quarantine requirements for arrivals from Europe, in which case an early July flight will go ahead. And of course, they'd really have to lift the FCO advice if they're going to agree air bridges.