Covid Travel dilemma WWYD

[ComfyQuilt]

I’m NC for this Covid travel dilemma.

I have had second of two vaccines four months ago and am due to have my booster soon. I am 100% legal to enter France.

We are supposed to be going skiing at half term with a large family group. You need a vaccine pass to use ski lifts that is stricter than the rules for entering the country.

The rules is that in order to get a vaccine pass you currently need a booster within seven months of vaccine two.

Im well within this time frame but the rules change DURING my half term trip (booster time limit drops to four months) meaning that I can no longer use my nhs pass on ski lifts.

I don’t want to get the booster yet as two family members have had confirmed Covid within the last month. I had a ‘cold’ and I currently still have impaired taste despite testing negative on many lateral flows and pcr.

I now want to wait before having booster due to increased risk of myocarditis but the rules in France (not to get there but for leisure activities) won’t enable me to wait as I never had a positive pcr.

If it was just me going then I’d reroute to Italy to resolve this but I can’t do this without inconvenience and cost to others.

A boosted relative who is not coming on holiday, and is of similar age has sent me their nhs travel pdf. Would you print it out for use on ski lifts only?
WWYD

1. Use the relative’s pdf for ski lifts and restaurants only for second half of the trip
2. Go but spend day 4 onwards alone in the apartment
3. Cause hassle and cost to everyone and change the trip to Italy
4. Have booster too early ( assuming previous false negative test) and risk health issues ( I already have irregular heart rate and have had cardiology assessment of this)

So wwyd?!

There is no way I would use someone else's pass. That's fraud and makes a mockery of the whole system. I'd get the booster personally.

[quote ComfyQuilt]@whyohwhyohwhyohwhywhy but that would mean taking passport skiing every day if you don’t have an ID card[/quote]
A friend has just got back from the US and you you were required to show both covid pass and ID everywhere. She carried her passport around with her the entire time because some places were a bit funny about UK driving licences. Dunno if the French are being that pedantic but I wouldn't be surprised.

Just back from skiing in Austria. Our lift passes had to be linked to our covid pass. This was checked against our passport when we bought lift passes so the possibility of your fake pass getting flagged is pretty high...

@Frederica852

Dunno if the French are being that pedantic but I wouldn't be surprised

They should being pedantic because the fines on restaurants, etc, can be a bit eye watering be but I suspect it will still vary.

In the days of the now defunct Passé Sanitaire there were at least a few proven cases of QR codes/passes being cloned and passed around.

With the change to Passé Vaccinal the government very much emphasised that there was a requirement for a check of both the code and also the individuals ID

There then followed and continues much grumbling from restauranters, etc. about having to do the work of the police/gendarmes

I'm shocked you are even considering using a fraudulent document to enjoy a holiday.

If you do this, I hope you get found out and penalised.

Why do you think it is OK to use fraudulent documents?

I live in France - if I were to come to the UK would it be OK for me to falsify some documents just to have a holiday?

As it happens, I have just travelled to the UK as my Dad is very ill. He is in his 90s. In France I would be allowed to visit him in hospital. Here I am not and will have to return to France without even seeing him.

There is, quite rightly, outrage about Downing Street ignoring their own rules, yet you think it would be OK to do the same.

You should be ashamed for even thinking about doing this.

Funny isn't it how "we" are law abiding and follow the rules but other countries expecting us to do the same in their countries are "pedantic".

You clearly want everyone to say yes, use the fake pass, that’s fine, or you wouldn’t have it in the first place. Just get the booster.

[quote ComfyQuilt]@whyohwhyohwhyohwhywhy but that would mean taking passport skiing every day if you don’t have an ID card[/quote]
Yes that's actually the law in France, you can be fined for not carrying ID at all times.

I personally would do no.4, get the booster. You haven't even had a positive covid test.

I would get the booster - but I don’t have your health concerns. If I did and the medical advice is to wait, then I would go and not ski for the second half of the holiday.
I would not do your option 1.
I think if you travel to another country then you should follow their rules, however bonkers you think they are. Or don’t go at all.
I live in Switzerland, they always ask for ID with the cert, which is scanned. The ID does not need to be a passport, but if that’s the only thing you have, then yes, you take it. My sister was visiting me last weekend, she used her driving license for ID (I use my annual travel card).
It’s not needed to ski though (only a mask is needed for cable cars - not certs) - and your cert is valid for 240 days since second or third dose for restaurants. You would need a neg antigen as well to use a spa/pools if it’s more than four months since last jab.
But if you change your ski destination, you should offer to cover the other’s costs, which might not be an option for you.

@MsJaneAusten

I think if you choose to travel to another country, you choose to follow their rules. At the moment, that includes covid rules. Either get the vaccine, or don’t go.

This exactly.

There may or may not be a very low chance of being caught using a fake pass, but the consequences would be absolutely disastrous.

FWIW and AFAIK the Proof of identity requirement in France can be satisfied by any government issued photo ID…such as photo driving license, it doesn’t have to be a passport.

@dingledanglewoowoo

I’m in the same position. I’ve just spent ages looking at the rules after reading this thread and panicking!

After lots of reading, and based on quotes from French govt ministers, I believe the new rules (from 15 Feb) are that you must have had your booster more than 4 months but less than 7 months after your second dose.

Whether this will still be the rule in summer is anyone’s guess!