What If My Flight Is Diverted to an Amber or Red?

[PAXboy]

Hi folks, I saw a reference to this question but the website was behind a pay wall. Does anyone know what happens if there has to be a divert to a country outside the Green List?

[Pat UK]

Well if you have been in a red country, even just as a transit passenger, within 10 days of arriving in to England then you shall need a negative covid test before departure and upon arrival get banged-up in a Boris B&B for 11 nights at a cost of GBP1,750

An amber country is similar, a covid test before departure but upon arrival in England you may self-quarantine for 10 days at home or in a rented accommodation that you may have booked but upon arrival in England you must travel directly to that accommodation and not take any deviation en-route, once in that accommodation you are not permitted to leave it until the 11th day.

Scotland and N. Ireland rules may vary and last I checked there were no such flight arrivals permitted in to Wales.

As n newbie member I'm not permitted to post links but google for "How to quarantine when you arrive in England" and look for a gov dot uk site amongst the results

[Squawk 6042]

I would presume the same rules would apply as for a planned transit stop. From: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-englandTransit stops in amber or red list countriesWhen you arrive in England you need to follow the rules for the highest risk country or territory that you have been in or passed through in the previous 10 days. That can include transit stops.

A transit stop is a stop where passengers can get on or off the same part of the transport in which you are travelling. It can apply to ships, trains or flights. Your ticket should show if a stop is a transit stop.

The rules of a country or territory that you make a transit stop in could apply if:


new passengers get on and are able to mix with you
you or other passengers get off the transport you are on and mix with other people, then get on again

Making a transit stop would not affect what you have to do on arrival in England if, during the stop:


no new passengers, who are able to mix with you, get on
no-one on-board gets off and mixes with people outside
passengers get off but do not get back on

[S.o.S.]

Welcome to the 'cabin' of PPRuNe Pat UK and thank you for a good contribution. Do stay around, we still offer a full service!

[Alsacienne]

I can see why this would be of concern ... it may depend on whether you have to exit the aircraft and be considered 'landed' in the non-green country in which case the quarantine and testing requirements of that country will apply once you arrive at the UK's point of entry. Not what anyone would want, but the risk is there. Maybe there will be some insurance available in the future to help mitigate unexpected financial expenditure, but life is risky and you have to weigh the odds before you start and that sadly may mean accepting the consequences.

Not perhaps what you might like to hear but ....

[crewmeal]

I think the OP is asking about a diversion not a schedule transit stop. I guess it would be the same anyway.

[Mr @ Spotty M]

Anybody planning a flight to GIB, take note.

[Pat UK]

I think the OP is asking about a diversion not a schedule transit stop. I guess it would be the same anyway.

I'm travelling to UK during July, my non-refundable ticket with a transit stop and aircraft change in IST was booked when Turkey was a safe country, now it's on the red list, "**** happens" as they say and it's going to cost me GBP1,750 banged up in a Boris B&B ... Oh well, 11 days and nights of full English breakfasts, lunches, 3 course steak dinners and as much beer as I can possibly drink from a H24 room service menu for my GBP1,750 :)

[Johnny F@rt Pants]

Anybody planning a flight to GIB, take note.

I would imagine they’ll FR filing FAO as the alternate.

[krismiler]

The problem is that diversions often involve technical problems which ground the aircraft, or the crew run out of duty time. Either way you can end up in a hotel for 12 hours before setting off again.

A simple diversion due to fog on arrival, divert and refuel with everyone remaining onboard with the doors closed, and come back 2 hours later shouldn’t be an issue.

[Pat UK]

The problem is that diversions often involve technical problems which ground the aircraft, or the crew run out of duty time. Either way you can end up in a hotel for 12 hours before setting off again.

A simple diversion due to fog on arrival, divert and refuel with everyone remaining onboard with the doors closed, and come back 2 hours later shouldn’t be an issue.

You can't refuel with both pax on board and the doors closed, the doors would need to be open with steps present and cabin crew manning their door positions.

[wiggy]

You can't refuel with both pax on board and the doors closed, the doors would need to be open with steps present and cabin crew manning their door positions.

True, but I can see how in theory at least you could do that and by using great care, ensure "no-one on-board gets off and mixes with people outside".....I think the bigger issue might be the handling of any paperwork..(ground engineer, tech log, etc etc)....

[Pat UK]

True, but I can see how in theory at least you could do that and by using great care, ensure "no-one on-board gets off and mixes with people outside".....I think the bigger issue might be the handling of any paperwork..(ground engineer, tech log, etc etc)....

Yes, I had been thinking similar myself, the refueller would like a crew member to sign for receipt of his expensive product that he has just provided, a copy of the carnet or whatever, how about a walk around inspection by one of the flight crew, kicking the tyres and all that, is that a mandatory or merely optional requirement on a turnround?

[wiggy]

Not sure about all operators but where I was until all this kicked off one of the crew had to do a walk round during any turn/transit...I guess they could do the walk round clanging a bell and have a flashing light on their hat to ensure no mixing occurred.:E

Last time was involved in professional aviating we had or were doing away with a lot of the traditional paper paperwork :bored: and moving more and more towards electronic logs - for example at base the refueler would ping the refuelling carnet up to the operating crews iPads and if all was OK, numbers added up, the re-fueler would never set foot in the aircraft.. however such systems relied on ground staff having the compatible kit and a robust telephone system or other means of connection. That could be a problem even at base so I suspect a diversion to somewhere "offline"the fancy options may not be available and it will be back to paper paperwork.........

Be interesting to see how this works out in practise as the industry gets going again - no doubt (thinking UK operators here ) Red/Amber/Green status will play into the crew's decision making process for non urgent diversions and maybe operators will come up with protocols for handling unscheduled turns at the Red/Amber stations.

[PAXboy]

Thanks folks. I posed the question for others, not myself. I do not expect to travel for another couple of months. Like many, we have a lot of friends in the Uk to catch up with first.