Global Travel Taskforce not releasing traffic light countries until early May - help

[TellerTuesday]

Unlucky enough to have a 'once in a lifetime' holiday due to depart on 17th May (already rescheduled twice)

I have until 19th April (28 days before departure) to change the dates but I really just wanted a refund.

Now it says the Global Travel Taskforce will not report until 'early May' on which countries are on which traffic light.

What do I do now?

1. Hold my nerve & pray it's cancelled
2. Change the dates to next year even though I really don't want to.

It's such a bloody mess 😩

[userxx]

Where is your destination? I'm 99.99% sure that it won't go ahead but I'm not gambling with my money! I'm assuming it's all been paid?

[GoWalkabout]

If you can't risk the possible additional costs of going then I guess you will have to postpone again. But how likely is the country to be green red or amber?

[TellerTuesday]

USA so all I'm seeing is that they could be 'green'

I feel like all I have done is check gov travel links & the TUI website for months.

Yes all paid, almost £10k tied up in it but there's so much we could do with the money, I would prefer a refund and to redecorate etc.

[Crazycatlady83]

If it’s on the green and amber list it will go ahead (and it will be your responsibility to test and quarantine if necessary) Airlines and the travel industry aren’t going to cancel holidays until the foreign office says not to travel to countries at all (I.e a red country) and that’s not the purpose of the green / amber countries.

[Aposterhasnoname]

Check the TUI website on this, but I was reading it the other day and it said if you change to a cheaper holiday they will refund the difference. Can you maybe swap it to a cheap week in Benidorm next year and get the difference back? It’s a long shot, but worth a try.

[TellerTuesday]

Just seen that Jet2 have suspended all flights now until 23 June, hope TUI follow suit

[TellerTuesday]

I'll look at that aposter thank you

[Crazycatlady83]

Jet2 have cancelled their holidays because they are a different company. They sacked all their resort staff at the end of last season and now don’t want to increase their costs by re-employing local staff which may not be needed in some countries (I.e Turkey) which is looking like a red country.

TUI kept all their staff on in their resorts over the winter and therefore have the people / hotels ready to go (indeed Germany customers are already visiting) This isn’t a problem for them.

If you are going to the USA, it’s likely to be on the green list and the flights / holiday will go ahead. It’s because Heathrow / BA / Virgin all rely on the transatlantic route and the government are desperate to keep the new Biden administration/ BA happy.

[moochingtothepub]

The USA is likely to be green as they have high vaccination rates. Your holiday is unlikely to be cancelled but speak to them, they may be willing to postpone, give credit if you aren't comfortable with long haul

[LadyIsabellaWrotham]

Bless him, he’s one of the least competent spammers I’ve ever seen. Reported.

[thekingfisher]

@LadyIsabellaWrotham

Bless him, he’s one of the least competent spammers I’ve ever seen. Reported.

[bluebellation]

I'd be unwilling to travel anywhere so soon. OK, you might be allowed to go, but what if something changes while your there and the country gets moved to a 'worse' list that means you have to pay for 2 weeks quarantine when you get back? I would also be reluctant to spend so much on a holiday where I had to keep remembering to put a mask on, social distancing etc. I want to relax on holiday and not worry about whether the waiter's sanitised his hands etc.

[nickymanchester]

What everyone is forgetting here is that while the UK may well change regulations about travelling to/from the USA, the USA have their own regulations about entry into their country.

At the moment, you cannot enter the USA if you have been in the UK or EU in the previous 14 days.

Until the USA drop that requirement, the only way to get there is to spend 14 days in somewhere in the Caribbean, get a covid test and then fly on from there to the US.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Unless Mr Biden decides to lift the US travel ban for UK and other European citizens, you won't be travelling to the US at all. There is no indication from the American government as to when such a ban will be lifted.

A refund should be given to you.

[BG2015]

TUI says that if your destination requires you to quarantine at either end you can get a refund or amend.

So that applies to all amber countries.

[fiveminutebreak]

Yes, was going to say the same thing as PP. You'll only be allowed entry to the US if you're travelling from the UK if you're a US citizen. No idea when this is going to change, but highly unlikely before May 17th. Your travel company should have advised you of this and changed / offered a different destination or cancelled your holiday, I would have thought?

[Zodlebud]

Current mutterings from the USA (I work over there) is that only fully vaccinated travellers will be permitted entry unless there is a medical reason why they cannot have it. You need to consider if you will have had both doses of the vaccine before 17th May.

Note, this only came from my employer who recruits a lot of seasonal international staff and as a result may or may not be true but it’s enough to determine that I won’t be working over there this year.

[TellerTuesday]

Oh really @Zodlebud that's interesting thank you and also kind of what I'm hoping for. Neither of us has had the first dose yet, both group 11 and obviously DC won't have.

I've decided to hold my nerve 🤞

[Zodlebud]

It’s only a month away. I can’t see things are going to change hugely between now and then either. If you were talking about August then I’d say there’s maybe a chance but May is really pushing it.