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Original poster

Going on holiday

116 replies

BEANBAG765 · 20/12/2020 11:33

Not sure how to create a poll So if you could please share your opinion.

Our holiday to a very safe destination had not been cancelled. Flight still going ahead.
We had been isolating for over a week and paid for expensive pre travel PCRs for all of us.
If our PCRs are all negative, why should we not go?
How is this fair?!?
I worked from home and hardly had seen any people all year.
We had not been anywhere for the whole year.
Desperate for some sunshine and walks.

OP posts:
timeforanewstart · 20/12/2020 13:05

Sorry just reAd tier 4 so goverment are not allowing it
A negative test one day just means you don't have it that day , 2 days time could be a different story

VanCleefArpels · 20/12/2020 13:05

The negative test thing is a bit of a red herring. You can still carry the virus and test negative until the day it shows as positive. This coukd be before or even without symptoms. So you are negative on say a Wednesday, travel on Friday, start shedding the virus on Saturday, a week later get so short of breath you need hospital treatment in the other country (oh and without insurance cover) or - worst case- you remain asymptomatic and pass the virus on in the hotel, the taxi to the airport, in the airport, on the plane, in the passport queue, next to the baggage carousel and in the carpark.

Not a great idea OP is it?

Mamascoven · 20/12/2020 13:05

Go!!

letsmakethetea · 20/12/2020 13:06

If the flight is still departing and you've taken all of those precautions, definitely go! We've a difficult few months ahead, take any (safe!) good time you can.

LovingLen · 20/12/2020 13:08

Of course you can't go if you are in tier 4 and I am one who is a bit meh about the rules if it is just advice.

thebestever · 20/12/2020 13:09

We are in exactly the same position. Tier 4, due to travel to Dubai tomorrow, and spent £400 yesterday morning on PCR tests. No flight refunds available although they will issue a voucher.

Very very frustrating and tempting to just go.

What swung it for us is that our travel insurance would be totally invalid (hadn't booked it yet as was waiting for negative test result). No travel insurer covers COViD in its entirety, and if you don't follow the FCDO rules then all travel insurance is invalid anyway. Plus it's a condition of the tourist visa that Dubai issue that you have valid travel insurance. There are all sorts of risks and it's just not worth it.

Not worth the risk and we have cancelled.

LovingLen · 20/12/2020 13:11

@Santababy56

I know a couple who travelled to Tenerife in past 3 weeks - just the 2 of them for a couple of nights - leaving older teens at home,

Negative tests pre and post. 4 days after getting back 4 of their family testing positive and ill. Ambulance called out for one family member.

This isn't really relevant though is it as it is just as likely to happen staying in the UK and abiding by the rules

The fact that OP is in tier 4 is.

LovingLen · 20/12/2020 13:18

Other countries don't appear to want us anyway...

notimagain · 20/12/2020 13:18

Tier 4 rules = don't go.

Rules aside we've seen the Netherlands ban incoming passenger flights from the UK overnight, talk of other countries possibly suit....if that happens and this all unravels the way it did in March then many flights into/out of the UK are going to be suspended PDQ.

Travelling as a package tour there may be some protection from the tour company if rapid repatriation is needed but if travel is being done independently then it could very quickly be "squeaky bum" time....

Faultymain5 · 20/12/2020 13:18

Looks like it will be out of your hands. More and more countries are announcing their refusal of UK holidaymakers.

Chloemol · 20/12/2020 13:25

You are T4. The tests are only valid for the minute you take them. You may go down with it a day latter

Just do as asked, no international travel

RoseAndRose · 20/12/2020 13:48

@Faultymain5

Looks like it will be out of your hands. More and more countries are announcing their refusal of UK holidaymakers.
Belgium (trains as well as planes) and Italy have also announced bans, and France and Germany are reported to be considering them, at least until situation with new variant is a bit clearer.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55385768

BBCONEANDTWO · 20/12/2020 15:00

@Faultymain5

Looks like it will be out of your hands. More and more countries are announcing their refusal of UK holidaymakers.
IF that happens then at least the oP will get a refund as the airline will have to cancel, it's the fact that they haven't cancelled means they will lose all the money they spent.

This could have been booked when it was OK to travel - in fact when we actually had 'travel corridors' for international travel which made people feel safer and that it was OK to go.

cologne4711 · 20/12/2020 15:04

And this is why the rules really are ridiculous. You can still go on holiday but I can't meet with a friend who lives a few miles away in Tier 4 for a run.

As some countries are now banning flights from the UK, there is a chance it will happen with your destination after you arrive - and if the flights aren't going in, they won't be going out and you won't be able to get home. That would be my concern.

millymokk · 20/12/2020 15:16

It's shit, friends flew yesterday so they made it but today not allowed.

testingtesting321 · 20/12/2020 15:19

@BEANBAG765

Re transport to the airport- we are driving ourselves in our own car. Everyone on that plane is meant to have tested before boarding. I think it is more risky have a stroll in my local Waitrose.
Having a negative test prior to the flight is utterly meaningless. It means that there was not enough virus in the nasal passages at that precise time of swabbing. It doesn’t mean they aren’t incubating they virus. It doesn’t mean they couldn’t be infectious 24 hours later at the time of the flight. You don’t even know if your fellow passengers would have swabbed themselves properly in order to get a negative result - for all you know they could have done a 1 second stick up the nose and hand it in for testing.

I’d rather risk a 5 second brush past someone in Waitrose than sitting next to someone for 5 hours on a flight breathing out COVID into my space, including when they take their masks off for half an hour to eat and drink.

If you are in tier 4, please don’t travel. Yes, you’ve booked a holiday and you were looking forward to it and now it’s all gone to fucking shit even more than it was before, but please take responsibility and do what you’ve been asked to do which is not to travel. The holiday will still be there next year.

IrmaFayLear · 20/12/2020 15:27

I would have thought that airlines would refuse boarding to tier 4 postcodes.

Anyway, as others have said, it looks as though more and more countries are not admitting UK flights or trains originating in UK.

Happynewyear1 · 20/12/2020 15:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MimosaFields · 20/12/2020 15:32

Flights are still departing from Heathrow and most people catching them would have traveled from tier 4. I've heard this morning of several Spanish colleagues who have flown to Spain this morning via Heathrow. Everyone needs a PCR before boarding so why not? Where's the logic in this rule?

In any case the airlines are not checking where you live. If the flight is operating, and you have all the documentation, they'll take you

BuggerationFlavouredCrisps · 20/12/2020 15:36

I wouldn’t catch a plane in those circumstances. Far too risky.
Also, what if you get stuck out there and can’t get back?

A friend in her 70’s who usually spends the winter months in the Canaries got stuck out there in March and couldn’t fly back home until June. The hotel she was staying at closed and she was required to leave with 2 days notice. She had to move in with friends who have their own small apartment out there, otherwise, she’d have been sleeping on the beach. It was awful for her and her poor friends too.
Everything was closed so nowhere to go and she had to sneak around outdoors as she wasn’t meant to still be on the Island.

MrsTerryPratchett · 20/12/2020 15:38

Going from Tier 4 to a very safe place.

It's all a bit cunty, isn't it?

WotsitWiggle · 20/12/2020 15:40

@IrmaFayLear

I would have thought that airlines would refuse boarding to tier 4 postcodes.

Anyway, as others have said, it looks as though more and more countries are not admitting UK flights or trains originating in UK.

It's not up to airlines, tour operators or hotels to police though. And some travel is permitted, just not holidays. For all the airlines know, people are travelling for compassionate reasons.
FourTeaFallOut · 20/12/2020 15:43

It's illegal, so you don't go.

SingANewSongChickenTikka · 20/12/2020 15:46

Are you sure the country you’re travelling to will let you in? Several countries have banned tourists from the uk and more look likely to follow.
Travelling unnecessarily from tier 4 to somewhere ‘safer’ is a pretty crappy thing to do either way

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