Skiing in France in Feb half term?

[winterrabbit]

We have a provisional booking in Feb half term for me, DH, and 3 kids aged 13, 11 and 3. DH and I are double vaxxed and will have had booster by the time we go. Our 13 year old is not yet vaxxed due to potential health risks so trying to work out if he will be able to get a covid pass if he tests every day in the region. Not sure if they still allow this or if they will insist on the super covid pass like Italy. Does anyone know? There's also the issue of the travel ban on UK citizens. Is this expected to be lifted? All looking a bit too difficult really!

Hi @winterrabbit, we have a trip booked in late January. Our 14yo is single vaccinated, but can't have his second vaccine until late Feb. So we are in a similar position.

Our accommodation won't discuss a refund or credit until the day before our booking so we are waiting with baited breath. They also do seem to think that our son's vaccine status is our own fault so may not apply the refund rules that we thought were relevant.

The big 'if' atm is whether the travel ban will be lifted. Lots of people think that maybe it will be lifted because France's infection levels of Omnicron are so high that keeping us away seems futile. But who knows?!

I believe that the French Pass Sanitere may change to a Pass Vacinere on 15 January (subject to red tape). This is the pass for French citizens and it sounds like it will mean that they can no longer get a pass using testing- so their only option for a pass is to be fully vaccinated.

As I say, this is for their own citizens atm. However, I can't help thinking that they will insist on something similar for travellers, but as yet I can't find anything remotely official about it.

Finally though, if your DS is exempt from vaccination for health reasons it may be that other rules apply.

So keep me posted if you find out anything helpful. It is worth being cautious with google though- as so many pages are out of date....

From 15th Jan you will need to be vaccinated for the pass sanitaire if you are over 12 (subject to the law passing today). It applies to everyone French or not.
Pass sanitaire is required for ski lifts as well as bars/ restaurants/ cafes / pools.

@Pineappleunder

From 15th Jan you will need to be vaccinated for the pass sanitaire if you are over 12 (subject to the law passing today). It applies to everyone French or not. Pass sanitaire is required for ski lifts as well as bars/ restaurants/ cafes / pools.

@Pineappleunder thank you for sharing that. Have you a link to this information please? Specifically this big that the new pass rules will apply to tourists?

Our chalet company agreed to refund us if we could not travel, but they are insisting that the pass vaccinare only applies to French citizens....

Our 14 year old cannot have a second vaccine until after we travel so we are really hoping to get a confirmed refund.

@freckles20
It is more that there is no excemption for tourists (can't imagine the French population allowing that ) I live in a ski resort so see it in action daily.

I would put the onus on the chalet company to prove that there is an exemption for tourists (they won't be able to.)

www.gouvernement.fr/info-coronavirus/pass-sanitaire

@Pineappleunder do you know when the French will next review travel restrictions from the UK?

We managed to get our 13 and 16 year old their second vaccinations yesterday and are starting to feel a little more optimistic that we may get away this season 🤞🏻

You will also need your booster if you are over 18. It's very risky as to whether they will lift the travel ban. The numbers are not improving yet.

Thanks @MissAmbrosia. DH and I have had boosters and it feels like a milestone getting our dc their 2nd doses.

Some people are saying the rules are to be reviewed on the 15th Jan / will last until at least 15th Jan but I've not seen anything official saying this (despite looking.)

Booster only necessary if it has been 7 months since your second dose. I believe this is coming down to 3 or 4 months soon.

@Pineappleunder the decree under which the rules are in place will expire on 15th unless it is extended or removed beforehand. It is being considered in a few days’ time I understand.

@freckles20 in your position I would want to understand if they will cancel at all because one of you won’t be able to ski. The French resorts have given a lot of guarantees on cancelling accommodation for covid reasons but in the past they have been quite specific that not qualifying for passe sanitaire doesn’t count (as in many cases this is just a matter of choice, but not in yours I understand). It is not the same as not being able to enter a country or having to quarantine. Hope you are able to sort it out. Based on experience pre Xmas (and summer) the passe sanitaire applies to visitors in exactly the same way as to French nationals. It would be nonsense otherwise as you say.

@abricotine I would understand if they refused a refund- but I do feel we have maybe been mislead as we were encouraged to book by them assuring us that if we couldn't travel or ski then we could have a refund....

Please could anyone help me find anything official showing the previous rules for 12-15 year olds? Specifically that they needed a test every 24 hours. Unfortunately another member of our party is absolutely convinced that under 18s travelling with fully vaccinated parents didn't need daily testing. I know that wasn't that case because I watched the rules like a hawk. However, I can't find anything official as the web pages have updated to the new rules. If anyone could help that would be brilliant .

@freckles20 I saved this link back in December which I think says about kids needing testing every 24 hours. www.lefigaro.fr/voyages/montagne/passe-sanitaire-et-remontees-mecaniques-comment-les-stations-de-ski-se-preparent-malgre-le-covid-20211204?al_applink_data=%7B%22target_url%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.lefigaro.fr%5C%2Fvoyages%5C%2Fmontagne%5C%2Fpasse-sanitaire-et-remontees-mecaniques-comment-les-stations-de-ski-se-preparent-20211126%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3kTpnp4Ws_n4VDAltYjX_ZiT159gzhJHhaQohKG5OVc6SgWzo2uGDBYaw%22%2C%22extras%22%3A%5B%5D%2C%22referer_app_link%22%3A%7B%22url%22%3A%22fb%3A%5C%2F%5C%2F%5C%2F%22%2C%22app_name%22%3A%22Facebook%22%7D%7D
I’ve not translated it again to double check though, sorry

And the bottom paragraph on here

Don't do it! It will be horrifically busy and awful. France oversells lift passes at the best of times half term will be rammed.

Italy is much better if you need to go during school holidays, more space on the slopes and far less time queuing for lifts.

@freckles20
Something which caused a bit of confusion is that there were different rules for pass sanitaire and for entry into the country.
Before the current ban, under 18s travelling with fully vaccinated adults could effectively piggyback on their parents vaccination status to enter France.
They could not piggy back on their parent's vaccination status to get a pass sanitaire though, so would need to test; initially every 72 hours and then it got stepped up to every 24 hours.

@Pineappleunder thank you for clarifying that. I had thought that was the case, but a family member who we are travelling with hadn't realised and feels sure I am mistaken- so I wanted to show them something to help them understand.

I appreciate the rules have now changed, but I feel that the previous rules may well set the scene for future rules- I.e. France would consider making it impossible for non fully vaccinated 12-15 year olds to ski. I think I my relative is being overly optimistic and it might be helpful to show them why I'm not feeling at all optimistic!

@freckles20 my worry is they will start requiring teenagers to have a booster as well and not sure JCVI will ever sanction our teenagers getting a booster. With the 12 week waits and sky high covid rates in schools it is hard enough to get 2 jabs done this winter.

@freckles20
@abricotine
It is looking like they might make vaccination only necessary for over 16s (12-15 ) will still need tests.
It's being held up à bit in parliament at the moment but it looks like you might be in luck!
Just need to get the borders open now!

Thanks @DiamondSnow that’s really interesting to know! Is that from the French newspapers?

@DiamondSnow thank you. That's really helpful and I really appreciate you letting us know.

I know that I am in a lucky position to have a possible ski trip on my list of problems.

I'm most definitely pro vaccine. I'm triple vaccinated and my son will be fully vaccinated once he's eligible for his second dose.

But measures that move towards forcing people to get vaccinated- especially young people make me very uncomfortable. I think I'm right in thinking that there is a very minuscule but nevertheless genuine risk of the vaccine causing a health problem. So taking away someone's autonomy to make their own decision feels wrong.

I don't think you need to worry about under 18's having to have the booster - they are not eligible to have it in France yet so it won't become a requirement for their pass sanitaire until they are actually allowed to get it.

That’s great to know @graywall. Thanks.

Does anyone have any new information about when France are likely to extend the British ban or lift it ?

I've read it may be extended until end of Jan and our accommodation has a 14 day cancellation period so that means I'd have to cancel it and not be able to get anything as good if they then lift it.

@rookiemere I've had a close eye on this because we are supposed to be travelling at the end of January, although our accommodation will only refund us the day before if we cannot travel.

I honestly think at the moment nobody really knows what is going to happen. There seems to be lots of speculation, but no facts. I'll come back to this post and update it if have anything concrete.

Very happy to be proven wrong though, I'd love to hear from anybody who has any idea what might happen.

No idea…it would be nice to be more positive but it’s hard to be so.

As you may have noticed France is currently being well and truely clobbered by the omicron wave, with hospitals stretched…..

Politically it’s all kicking off in the Senat ATM (health passes debate and Mr Macron’s use of words in an interview) so unless the ski industry applies a heck of a lot of pressure I’m not sure the politicians are going to be spending much time considering the ban on tourism from the UK.

Guess it’s a case of keeping fingers crossed.

To those saying that you need a booster if aged over 18… that’s only if your second vaccine was more than seven months ago.