School trip to Europe

[HastingsLikeTheBattle]

DD is due to go on a school trip to Europe in very early April. At the time of af announcing I did query what would happen in the event of Brexit, given that it's literally one week prior - to be told not to worry, it may just mean DD needs a visa

Before I contact school, could anyone give me any pointers on what I should be asking please?

I doubt they know anything - the government certainly doesn't!

I'm not sure they can tell you as no one knows. It would be worth asking what their cancellation policy is with the tour operator in case of Brexit issues as not sure if you'd need to claim through your insurance or they would.

Don't panic I'm sure nothing significant will have changed by early April.

DD's school had their trip to France set to start 29th March! Parents asked for it to be moved, so now the kids are leaving the week before. Many of them have European passports, and some parents were afraid their children would experience delays coming back to the UK.

Hester and I thought the 3rd April was bad

DD is so excited to go, I'd hate for it to be cancelled

She won’t need a visa... but would need good health insurance

Bookmarking as my son is also going on a trip, 5th April.
I haven’t organised any health insurance, anyone know how I go about doing this? (I haven’t travelled abroad for a very long time!) thanks

I think it's optimistic to think anyone would know how things are on 5th April ;-), considering what a shitshow it is at present. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it (I will have the same issue travelling from continent to UK), as long as you have travel insurance as your E111 won't be valid anymore.

I hadn’t thought of this. DD’s trip isn’t until July though.

We do have a family annual travel insurance policy so that’s one bit covered.

I paid (£850!) for the trip early as well because I am getting divorced and wanted it paid for before my income reduced!

She won’t need a visa... but would need good health insurance

Sorry, but nobody can say for sure yet whether either of these things will be true.

I don't think you have much choice other than to hope this mess gets sorted out sooner rather than later, so that things start to become clearer.

I'd double check there's 6 months on the passport as that's one of the few things that's easy to fix just in case

If the UK does indeed 'crash out' on 29 March it will be total bedlam.
I am not suggesting anyone in the UK or EU will be 'nasty' or deliberately unhelpful but simply that NO ONE will have concrete legally binding information.
Both side have said they will do something to make it as easy as a trainwreck can be so until the smoke clears literally anything can happen. If you are traveling, make sure you have good sustaining food with you and water and be prepared for delays.

In a no deal, the EU has said it will cover MOST direct routes but as many airlines hop to different EU airports on current schedules, these will not necessarily happen so planes will end up in 'wrong' places.
One of the oddities pulled up in the Y2K excitement was the realisation that there is not enough space to have all the planes on the ground at once, they have to fly.

How did we manage during the Icelandic volcano eruption LtClerc? Much of the airspace was grounded. It is true that there aren't enough gates though.

Op, I think as someone else has said, make sure she has 6 months left on her passport from the time of travel, check that insurance is robust. Other than that, there's nothing that can be done really at this point. Don't pass on your worries to your dd though.

{How did we manage during the Icelandic volcano eruption LtClerc? Much of the airspace was grounded. It is true that there aren't enough gates though.}
i can't remember unfortunately but it was not the same scenario. It was a gradually unfolding natural disaster and legality of flying and where planes could be was not the issue. A 'crash out' is a legal issue and of course airlines will have places in mind of where to put planes.
Just don't say that Grayling is in charge. It is the very quick timetable changes that will cause issues for a few days as planes will be in the wrong place.

The Drone at Gatwick caused enough of an issue.

There was still a massive issue of a huge amount of airspace being shut very quickly and displaced aircraft grounded all over the place.

Looking at www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7730428/Volcanic-ash-timeline-of-the-flight-disruption.html we didn't actually cope!

I have a good family multitrip travel insurance policy, but under-18s aren't covered if they are not travelling with me. They also can't sign for a policy in their own name if under 18, so the school policy will need to be robust.

She has just over six month left thankfully, but similar to a pp, our annual trip insurance doesn't cover her for going on her own without me. I think that'll be my main point to check, the schools insurance. Many thanks