Coronavirus Impact on Air Travel
Have the rules changed in recent months? I've just watched Grant Shapps on BBC1 saying that airlines have the responsibility to check paperwork prior to departure into the UK (passenger locator form). Over the summer I flew KLM, easyJet and Wizz on six separate occasions and not once was my form checked either at the departure airport nor arrival airport. If it is a rule change, it is a welcome one, but I didn't see any evidence of this being correct earlier this year.
And I remember on one occasion at LHR T2 spending 45 minutes queueing at immigration whilst no one from overseas visiting the UK had any understanding of this form (and many UK citizens for that matter).
Add to that and a 80% failure rate of the self isolation rules.
And I remember on one occasion at LHR T2 spending 45 minutes queueing at immigration whilst no one from overseas visiting the UK had any understanding of this form (and many UK citizens for that matter).
Add to that and a 80% failure rate of the self isolation rules.
New rules, announced today https://www.gov.uk/government/news/m...order-measures
It says "starts next week" but the start date/time is not specified.
It says "starts next week" but the start date/time is not specified.
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Mr A Tis
Complete lack of clarity as usual from the government. It doesn't state what type of test is required either. Is it the more expensive, more accurate, slower PCR test or the cheaper, less accurate, much faster lateral flow test? It's taking shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted to a new level too. If one in fifty have the virus in the UK already, it is pointless. It should have been brought in during the early summer when cases were much lower here.
I flew to the UK the week before Christmas. No checks were made by the airline or at the border. I can't imagine many others on my flight did it. You'd expect to see people carrying it around with their passport (like a printed e-ticket or e-visa), but I only saw one or two with it. I completed the form, but I wasn't contacted by phone or email about the quarantine period. I can see why the compliance is so low.
Complete lack of clarity as usual from the government. It doesn't state what type of test is required either. Is it the more expensive, more accurate, slower PCR test or the cheaper, less accurate, much faster lateral flow test? It's taking shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted to a new level too. If one in fifty have the virus in the UK already, it is pointless. It should have been brought in during the early summer when cases were much lower here.
I flew to the UK the week before Christmas. No checks were made by the airline or at the border. I can't imagine many others on my flight did it. You'd expect to see people carrying it around with their passport (like a printed e-ticket or e-visa), but I only saw one or two with it. I completed the form, but I wasn't contacted by phone or email about the quarantine period. I can see why the compliance is so low.
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Clearly the outlook for travel this year is still extremely gloomy but pent up demand is still very much present. During my daily visit to town yesterday I was delighted to see it busy with most shops and cafes open and the pop up bar in the covered arcade doing a roaring trade. Very few people were wearing muzzles and the majority of people across the generation spectrum were ignoring the government's regulations with good sized groups of people walking together in the park. People want a return to normality as soon as possible and travel is part of that which makes me think that as soon as the ludicrous quarantine and testing rules are lifted people will be booking flights and holidays.
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guy_incognito
I think you are living in dream world. Travel sectors most important weeks starts on 25th of December when people start thinking about and discussing holiday plans for the following summer. Based on pretty much no information about what will be open, what will be allowed and what will be possible then few people will be booking holidays.
Now I can understand you questioning why summer is important because travel is 365 days a year but summer is the time when travel makes its money. Now few people are plannong 2021 holidays which means demand IF it exists will be late and many people will pass, Don't overlook the lack of confidence of people to travel.
I think you are living in dream world. Travel sectors most important weeks starts on 25th of December when people start thinking about and discussing holiday plans for the following summer. Based on pretty much no information about what will be open, what will be allowed and what will be possible then few people will be booking holidays.
Now I can understand you questioning why summer is important because travel is 365 days a year but summer is the time when travel makes its money. Now few people are plannong 2021 holidays which means demand IF it exists will be late and many people will pass, Don't overlook the lack of confidence of people to travel.
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I imagine the commercial departments within the travel industry like the expression "pent up demand" because it is pretty much unquantifiable.
I suspect that there is a desire within many to travel but clearly it will be the confidence to do so that will drive the recovery. That is likely to be some months away yet.
I suspect that there is a desire within many to travel but clearly it will be the confidence to do so that will drive the recovery. That is likely to be some months away yet.
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Don't get me wrong, I don't really care what happens as I don't have a dog in the fight anymore. It's just an observation that people are desperate to travel and there is far more open defiance of governmental decrees than there was back in March. I still think that the UK travel sector is irreparably damaged through the quite deliberate actions of this government and I'd be very surprised if any airline or travel company survives in a recognisable form.
SWBKCB
You haven't answered this Guy Incognito. Do you think things are rosy at the moment, the Covid-19 situation is the worst it has ever been at the moment in this winter surge. You advocate 'unmuzzling' the population and people going about their lives as normal. What is your solution?
You haven't answered this Guy Incognito. Do you think things are rosy at the moment, the Covid-19 situation is the worst it has ever been at the moment in this winter surge. You advocate 'unmuzzling' the population and people going about their lives as normal. What is your solution?
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guy_incognito
Words almost fail me. There will be no recovery until we have better control over the virus. Just look at the pressure hospitals are under. Whether we like it or not we should treat everyone as having the virus and follow the rules which have been laid out for our overall safety. It will take some time for the vaccination campaign to have effect and every day that goes by without it being under control means more travel businesses are at risk of not recovering with more job losses. It is not rocket science. I am totally with SWBKCB on this and I hope all other unselfish people. This is the most serious crisis in our lifetimes and needs to be recognised as such!
Words almost fail me. There will be no recovery until we have better control over the virus. Just look at the pressure hospitals are under. Whether we like it or not we should treat everyone as having the virus and follow the rules which have been laid out for our overall safety. It will take some time for the vaccination campaign to have effect and every day that goes by without it being under control means more travel businesses are at risk of not recovering with more job losses. It is not rocket science. I am totally with SWBKCB on this and I hope all other unselfish people. This is the most serious crisis in our lifetimes and needs to be recognised as such!
The rules that the UK applies to its citizens around Covid is a matter for the UK to decide - be it strict or liberal. However, air travel at UK airports is based heavily on people travelling between the UK and other countries - this can only work if other countries make it relatively easy for people from the UK to enter their countries, i.e. no bans on flights from the UK, quarantine on entry or PCR test needed in advance.
Air travel from UK airports will revive only when other countries make it easy to enter their country from the UK - and that will not happen until the number of cases in the UK falls significantly
Air travel from UK airports will revive only when other countries make it easy to enter their country from the UK - and that will not happen until the number of cases in the UK falls significantly
"Pent up demand" is an attractive proposition for the travel industry.
The UK is vaccinating people at an increasingly rapid rate, and I think people will begin to feel "safe" some time in March. The same does not apply to destination countries because the UK is at present ahead of most others. So the question is whether other countries, with a slower vaccination roll-out, will want to accept visitors from the UK who may well be carriers of the virus even if innoculated.
I'm generally an optimist, but I can't see 2021 being anywhere near normal for travel.
The UK is vaccinating people at an increasingly rapid rate, and I think people will begin to feel "safe" some time in March. The same does not apply to destination countries because the UK is at present ahead of most others. So the question is whether other countries, with a slower vaccination roll-out, will want to accept visitors from the UK who may well be carriers of the virus even if innoculated.
I'm generally an optimist, but I can't see 2021 being anywhere near normal for travel.
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guy_incognito
The overall deaths for the year have not yet been published with the breakdown but while there "May" be excess deaths it may not be at the scale that has justified destroying UK economy for the next decade.
What has not been thought through is the "mental and psychological" impact on people.
I sadly have known people who lost family members in nursing homes, NOT from Covid, cut off from seeing family members for months and not understanding why, quite a few gave up, just laid down and died.. There was not jut in UK either.
Travel is based on confidence but there is more than that. It relies on people having cash to spend and willing to do so. People in a lot of cases will be better off at this point in time due to furloughing, WFH etc BUT many people also know their jobs are insecure. Job insecurity is here for a while hence people will see this year out before making big cash spend..
The overall deaths for the year have not yet been published with the breakdown but while there "May" be excess deaths it may not be at the scale that has justified destroying UK economy for the next decade.
What has not been thought through is the "mental and psychological" impact on people.
I sadly have known people who lost family members in nursing homes, NOT from Covid, cut off from seeing family members for months and not understanding why, quite a few gave up, just laid down and died.. There was not jut in UK either.
Travel is based on confidence but there is more than that. It relies on people having cash to spend and willing to do so. People in a lot of cases will be better off at this point in time due to furloughing, WFH etc BUT many people also know their jobs are insecure. Job insecurity is here for a while hence people will see this year out before making big cash spend..
The care home where my partner's mother lives has had its first Covid cases this week. Wonder how that happened? Oh well, comforting to know any deaths will be only be "negligible excess" one's.
More cash for Virgin, BA and Easy:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...e-costly-loan/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...e-costly-loan/