Isolation at airport hotels.

[itsgettingwierd]

I maybe being thick and missing something obvious.

But I just don't understand how come 1000 people a day are travelling from red list countries and therefore more in total?

We aren't meant to be travelling. So no one should be going on holiday?

Anyone got any insight and could explain it to be better so I can make sense as I don't trust the negative MSM continuous reports which are opinion more than actual fact most if the time!

Fwiw I agree with the quarantine and think we should have been better at it earlier (like a year ago!)

@IrmaFayLear, where can you see live video of people arriving to or from Heathrow, today?

[quote yeOldeTrout]@IrmaFayLear, where can you see live video of people arriving to or from Heathrow, today?[/quote]
I saw it on itv this morning.

But I've since seen photos on news of same people.

I have to admit I have no idea why they travelled and also people were travelling for som many reasons. I think I've been led into some false sort of belief the whole world can run via teams or zoom

One things for sure, if the general public are still, a year down the road, convinced everybody they see arriving at LHR is or has been on holiday, or that "essential workers" can be picked out in an immigration queue by their clothing and behaviour, then the leaders and politicians responsible for the air travel industry have done a * awful job at portraying the reality of what goes on at major airports and also have failed to explain why aviation is pretty much part of the UK's essential infrastructure.

My brother is a diplomat and my cousin works in oil, they've both had to travel.

I can confirm that they both look like normal travellers. My brother does not wear a smart suit with tie to travel in, and my cousin doesn't wear his high vis clothes and hard hat.

What a daft thread 😂

Idon’t think many oil-rig workers are 70+ couples, and if the latter are diplomats then they are deep undercover...

Idon’t think many oil-rig workers are 70+ couples, and if the latter are diplomats then they are deep undercover...

Are you under the impression it's illegal or wrong in someway for over 70's couples to be in a queue at Heathrow?

Some of the fascination with the queues is starting to sound unhealthy TBH. I know a little bit about what goes on at LHR and I do know most holidaymakers don't arrive back in the UK wearing a sombrero or carrying a stuffed donkey...

Clothing, baggage and often even age tells you nothing about what an individual does for a living or why they are travelling, and certainly doesn't indicate whether they have travelled from a "red country list", either directly or indirectly...

...and having spent days of my life in queues at that place in my experience as entertainment they are much less exciting to watch than watching paint dry.

@natalienewname

My brother is a diplomat and my cousin works in oil, they've both had to travel.

I can confirm that they both look like normal travellers. My brother does not wear a smart suit with tie to travel in, and my cousin doesn't wear his high vis clothes and hard hat.

What a daft thread 😂

It's hardly daft.

Everyday people moan on here that people are undeceived and should learn.

Now I e started a thread to try and understand why so many people are still entering the country and we have the hotels and that's daft.

You can't win

It's not people's,clothes either that prompted me to ask. Just to clear that up

I just wondered what the truth was compared to the media spin with their personal bias 🤷‍♀️

I spoke to someone just back from Italy today. He'd been there 4 months. He was retirement age so I guess that's his winter home. Do you call that 'on holiday'. I don't mind.

I wouldn't trust who I saw on TV to be meaningful because it's not the same as getting a report from someone who surveyed 200 travellers chosen at random over many hours to get their demographics and travel reasons. Who you see on TV is just whoever was there at the time the filmer was there. The film shots will be of interesting people, so more likely to take pictures of unusual than usual people.

All the time the filmer stood there and no one walked by at all? That doesn't get broadcast. They only film when the place happens to be busy so there's something to see, which could be a mere 1 minute/hour.

What we see on TV tells me nothing definite about 'typical' conditions.

I wouldn't call that on holiday. Lots of people have second homes abroad.

And 4 months means travel there was pre the tier 4 etc and so no reason to think this would happen I guess?
But whether I'd chose to do it during a pandemic I don't know? I'm not in the position to have that choice.

I travelled back from the USA end of Jan, a 4 week visit starting early March 2020 got extended up till almost 11 months! I only travelled back as my visa was about to run out - and know a LOT of people in similar situations. My fiance lives in the US so I'll be on the plane again as soon as allowed!

On a side note - the arrivals photos are true - JFK was empty, 50 people max on the plane - Heathrow was busier than I've ever seen it! And I used to travel through there twice a month

Heathrow was busier than I've ever seen it! And I used to travel through there twice a month

It may well have been when you went through but overall arrival figures are massively down, something like 10% of normal and that ties in with what I've seen on the ground and heard from those that are working there. certainly the last few times I've been through departures it's been pretty dead.

I think one issue with arrivals is that is causing the visible crowding you've witnessed and "as seen on TV" is that the authorities/management are struggling to facilitate the 100% physical check of everybody's arrival documentation... once upon a time a lot of people went through the e-gates.

I understand all arrivals from the red list are only coming in through 4 airports so you'd expect traffic to be higher than previous pandemic numbers due to this?

Some people went abroad before Christmas to see family. Left UK early December to comply with local quarantine requirements and be out of isolation before Christmas itself, and had already left the UK before the new UK variant was announced.

Then the borders shut and people been stuck in various places including red countries since then.

@itsgettingwierd

I understand all arrivals from the red list are only coming in through 4 airports so you'd expect traffic to be higher than previous pandemic numbers due to this?

Maybe, but not massively more so, and not until today.

This is generally a very slack time of year and with the UK restrictions on travel having taken effect quite some time ago I wouldn't really expect to see large numbers of people suddenly arriving into the UK at Heathrow instead of, say, the likes of East Midlands, but I guess there might have been some effect.

With regard to my about 10% figure upthread FWIW Heathrow's stats (from www.heathrow.com/company/investor-centre/reports/traffic-statistics)

Passenger numbers:

Jan 2020 - 6,099,370
Jan 2021 - 677,356

I've heard reports of lengthy queues at a couple of the Heathrow terminals before this last rule change and that seems to be very much down to increased checking, and the amount of resources deployed to do the same, rather than people suddenly travelling again.

I guess if today " Border" were asking everybody arriving searching questions about their travel history there would indeed be scope for even more congestion, even if in relative terms very few people actually arrived.

@itsgettingwierd

I understand all arrivals from the red list are only coming in through 4 airports so you'd expect traffic to be higher than previous pandemic numbers due to this?

also most terminals are closed and all arrivals are being sent through the same terminal. Doesn't make it 'busy' but you'd expect that to mean higher levels of congestion at the border checks with the officials presumably trying to work out where everyone has been

most terminals are closed and all arrivals are being sent through the same terminal.

Yep.

As I understand it (open to correction) the current state of play at Heathrow is only Terminals 2 and 5 are in use.

T3 and 4 are shut due lack of demand, and Terminal 1 has been closed for several years due to redevelopment work.