Will you travel? [Mod Note in Post #1 - Travel Discussion Only! Megathread]

embraer170

theguzman wrote: »

Just looking at the media and social media posts I have seen from vaccinated people they get a simple handwritten card with date and batch on it. It seems totally inadequate as a certificate of vaccination. I was expecting a computer printout with a QR code linked back to a central database, scan the QR code like the boarding pass and you get the all clear at the airport. Obviously this would be a low priority in the push to get vaccines out at the moment.

It's not like they haven't had many months to plan this.

embraer170

Donald Trump wrote: »

I was there (Brazil). Never got any vaccine before going. There were a load of recommendations but when I asked my Brazilian friend she laughed and said I didn't need them. (That said, she might have been complacent being from there).

Try getting on a plane from Brazil to Panama, Jamaica, Cuba, a number of African countries without a yellow fever certificate and see how far you get (regardless of nationality).

The travel forums are full of surprised and disappointed travellers.

the explorer

Realistically is there any chance that flights from Dublin to the canaries would be suspended over the next 2 months? I’m assuming that bookings are relatively strong and as the islands are so dependent on tourism they would not want to stop flights.
Do they set their own rules or would Spain?

johnire

johnire wrote: »

At the moment vaccination certificates specifically for Covid aren't required for travel but for other types of disease they are required for some countries.

Yes I know. The question was about whether a PCR test wasn’t needed if you’d had a vaccination, and at the moment it is as we don’t have a vaccination certificate protocol for travel

Donald Trump

embraer170 wrote: »

Try getting on a plane from Brazil to Panama, Jamaica, Cuba, a number of African countries without a yellow fever certificate and see how far you get (regardless of nationality).

The travel forums are full of surprised and disappointed travellers.

You are talking about from Brazil to certain other places.


I am talking about flying to Brazil

theguzman

Donald Trump wrote: »

You are talking about from Brazil to certain other places.


I am talking about flying to Brazil

You needed absolutely nothing when flying to Brazil from Ireland all along, now however a Negative 72hrs PCR test is required, it seems ridiculous considering how out of control the situation there is and as a continent sized country its not like this measure is going to make much of a difference.

polesheep

My daughter is heading back to France (she works there) and she's not sure if she requires a Covid negative test prior to departure. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks.

smurfjed

embraer170 wrote: »

It's not like they haven't had many months to plan this.

There is an Irish company offering an electronic health passport online.,healthpassportireland.Ie Not sure if this would be accepted by any airline, however some countries have already adopted the concept and made it available for vaccinated people.

jester77

They need to digitise the current vaccine passport. The current one is too flimsy and too easy to fake an entry. Update it like the current travel passport or driving license and that would solve the travel issue.

gutenberg

polesheep wrote: »

My daughter is heading back to France (she works there) and she's not sure if she requires a Covid negative test prior to departure. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks.

If she’s travelling from Ireland then it seems not - just fill out the declaration.

If she’s transiting through the U.K. though, one may be needed:

https://www.dfa.ie/travel/travel-advice/a-z-list-of-countries/france/

bikeman1

polesheep wrote: »

My daughter is heading back to France (she works there) and she's not sure if she requires a Covid negative test prior to departure. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks.

I’m the off chance that she is flying with KLM Vi Amsterdam, she will need a negative test within 72 hrs even if she is just transferring at Schipol Amsterdam airport.

Flying direct to France, no test required. There is a passenger locator form in case there was a positive case on the flight.

Minier81

theguzman wrote: »

Just looking at the media and social media posts I have seen from vaccinated people they get a simple handwritten card with date and batch on it. It seems totally inadequate as a certificate of vaccination. I was expecting a computer printout with a QR code linked back to a central database, scan the QR code like the boarding pass and you get the all clear at the airport. Obviously this would be a low priority in the push to get vaccines out at the moment.

Just got mine and received an email with a certificate within 5 minutes. Very impressed. Also got the handwritten card you referred to.

Vico1612

polesheep wrote: »

My daughter is heading back to France (she works there) and she's not sure if she requires a Covid negative test prior to departure. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks.

https://ie.ambafrance.org/covid19-eng

theguzman

Minier81 wrote: »

Just got mine and received an email with a certificate within 5 minutes. Very impressed. Also got the handwritten card you referred to.

Oh very good, did you get it as a HSE frontline worker? Has the Certificate got a Barcode or QR code on it for easy verification.

Minier81

theguzman wrote: »

Oh very good, did you get it as a HSE frontline worker? Has the Certificate got a Barcode or QR code on it for easy verification.

Yes got it as a hcw. No QR code though. But maybe after I get the second one. we will see! Was very impressed,sitting the the recovery area for the 15 mins observation when the email came in.

theguzman

Minier81 wrote: »

Yes got it as a hcw. No QR code though. But maybe after I get the second one. we will see! Was very impressed,sitting the the recovery area for the 15 mins observation when the email came in.

Best of luck with it! Good to hear positive things about this.

smurfjed

China has banned flights from the UK. I really laughed when I read this, now if only the world had banned flights from China a year ago.

Golfman64

the explorer wrote: »

Realistically is there any chance that flights from Dublin to the canaries would be suspended over the next 2 months? I’m assuming that bookings are relatively strong and as the islands are so dependent on tourism they would not want to stop flights.
Do they set their own rules or would Spain?

Over the next 2 months, flights schedules likely to remain very fluid based on demand and any new restrictions, however I wouldn’t hesitate to book. Load volumes are creeping upwards for Feb and March for Spain and the islands and there is a very noticeable increase from April onwards. I’d book now while flights are still cheap and just be aware that you may need to be flexible by a day or two on either side. By April there should be more certainty in flight schedules as most European countries lock in their travel policies for the coming summer and people book with more confidence.

expectationlost

Nightmare as Dublin Airport passengers left stranded after travel rules change overnight https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/dublin-airport-passengers-stranded-covid-19593004

they knew this was coming

normanoffside

expectationlost wrote: »

Nightmare as Dublin Airport passengers left stranded after travel rules change overnight https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/dublin-airport-passengers-stranded-covid-19593004

they knew this was coming

No they didn't. Germany changed their rules overnight

johnire

Surely that's the chance you take though if you decide to travel during a world wide pandemic? This isn't the first time over the last few months that people have found themselves in this situation.

normanoffside wrote: »

No they didn't. Germany changed their rules overnight

normanoffside

Mr.S wrote: »

So just get an anti-gen test and results shortly after. "Stranded" is a bit OTT.

A bit difficult at 5am when the flight is departing in 2 hours.

Candamir

normanoffside wrote: »

No they didn't. Germany changed their rules overnight

Yes they did, and a lot of passengers travel plans were disrupted as a result. However, the DAA have facilitated 2 private companies to do PCR testing at the airport. Despite being asked, they haven’t facilitated any company offering rapid antigen testing. Neither have any of the airlines (although I think the responsibility should lie with the DAA).
PCR testing at the airport location is of zero benefit to either arriving or departing passengers.
Antigen testing on site at the airport would mean that all those passengers would have made their flights.

johnire

johnire wrote: »

Surely that's the chance you take though if you decide to travel during a world wide pandemic? This isn't the first time over the last few months that people have found themselves in this situation.

Have to agree. The goalposts can shift at anytime and if you plan on travelling you must accept the risk.

Northernlily

Northernlily wrote: »

Have to agree. The goalposts can shift at anytime and if you plan on travelling you must accept the risk.

Absolutely. It’s a risk that all of us that intend to travel are taking. I will be taking the laptop with me so I can work from wherever I am if it comes to that

theguzman

Northernlily wrote: »

Have to agree. The goalposts can shift at anytime and if you plan on travelling you must accept the risk.

I had thirteen different flights cancelled on me since April, only 2 out of the 15 flights in total that I had booked went ahead as scheduled without flight time/date changes or cancellations.

acequion

theguzman wrote: »

I had thirteen different flights cancelled on me since April, only 2 out of the 15 flights in total that I had booked went ahead as scheduled without flight time/date changes or cancellations.

May I ask if that includes short haul Ryanair flights? Following your posts you seem to do a lot of long haul travel, so that's why I ask. Thanks.

KnicksInSix

I arrived back to Dublin yesterday on a nearly full plane from Italy and we all merely handed over papers to say we'd comply with restrictions blahblahblah. It seems so ridiculous that a testing requirement isn't in place for all arrivals.

theguzman

acequion wrote: »

May I ask if that includes short haul Ryanair flights? Following your posts you seem to do a lot of long haul travel, so that's why I ask. Thanks.

I had three Ryanair flights and two of them went ahead. Only 3 of those 13 were long haul flights, the rest were intra-European. I had a particular nightmare of trying to get going to Spain earlier in November, my first trip abroad after Covid starting. I had been abroad at the start but managed to get home before all flights were cut off for like 3 months.

Rio de Janeiro - Lisbon, TAP Air Portugal, got a refund via Credit Card chargeback after some back and forth with voucher offers I didn't want. I booked this as a backup flight as airlines stared cancelling, good job I didn't have to rely on it as it was cancelled.

Shannon - JFK Aer Lingus, cancelled, refunded 4 months later in full.
JFK- Shannon Aer Lingus, return leg of above, I'd be one week into a five weeks stay now if I had managed to get going.

Belfast City-Heathrow - BA cancelled & refunded
Heathrow-Malaga - BA cancelled, rebooked to Gibraltar at no extra cost despite the higher airfare, this was also cancelled a week later.
Heathrow -Gibraltar - BA cancelled & refunded

Malaga-London Stansted - Ryanair date and time changed, took refund. The changed flight was later cancelled had I accepted that flight change.

Stansted - Belfast International - Easyjet, flight time moved forward to am instead of pm and airport changed to Gatwick, took refund. The changed flight was later cancelled had I accepted that flight change.

Dublin - Malaga Ryanair, Flight went ahead as scheduled
Malaga - Ryanair Flight went ahead as scheduled

Belfast City-Heathrow - BA cancelled & refunded
Heathrow - Lisbon - BA cancelled & refunded

Lisbon - Sao Paulo Campinas. Azul time change causing me to miss-connect with the above inbound from Heathrow.

Promised a refund, not forthcoming, got my money back via a Credit Card Chargeback with Bank of Ireland after 2 months. Decided to cancel my trip to Brazil as a result of all these cancellations and hold tough for the situation to improve.

acequion

theguzman wrote: »

I had three Ryanair flights and two of them went ahead. Only 3 of those 13 were long haul flights, the rest were intra-European. I had a particular nightmare of trying to get going to Spain earlier in November, my first trip abroad after Covid starting. I had been abroad at the start but managed to get home before all flights were cut off for like 3 months.

Rio de Janeiro - Lisbon, TAP Air Portugal, got a refund via Credit Card chargeback after some back and forth with voucher offers I didn't want. I booked this as a backup flight as airlines stared cancelling, good job I didn't have to rely on it as it was cancelled.

Shannon - JFK Aer Lingus, cancelled, refunded 4 months later in full.
JFK- Shannon Aer Lingus, return leg of above, I'd be one week into a five weeks stay now if I had managed to get going.

Belfast City-Heathrow - BA cancelled & refunded
Heathrow-Malaga - BA cancelled, rebooked to Gibraltar at no extra cost despite the higher airfare, this was also cancelled a week later.
Heathrow -Gibraltar - BA cancelled & refunded

Malaga-London Stansted - Ryanair date and time changed, took refund. The changed flight was later cancelled had I accepted that flight change.

Stansted - Belfast International - Easyjet, flight time moved forward to am instead of pm and airport changed to Gatwick, took refund. The changed flight was later cancelled had I accepted that flight change.

Dublin - Malaga Ryanair, Flight went ahead as scheduled
Malaga - Ryanair Flight went ahead as scheduled

Belfast City-Heathrow - BA cancelled & refunded
Heathrow - Lisbon - BA cancelled & refunded

Lisbon - Sao Paulo Campinas. Azul time change causing me to miss-connect with the above inbound from Heathrow.

Promised a refund, not forthcoming, got my money back via a Credit Card Chargeback with Bank of Ireland after 2 months. Decided to cancel my trip to Brazil as a result of all these cancellations and hold tough for the situation to improve.

Wow but you certainly have been messed about! What a pain! You'd want a very easy going temperament for that level of disruption which unfortunately I don't have.

But thanks so much for sharing all that here, it's really useful to know.

I'm really torn as to what to do. I get what a poster said earlier about flights probably being very expensive close to departure but it's so hard to book now with any confidence. Last Easter I had booked a mini trip to Portugal, Shannon to Faro on Ryanair. Cancelled as were my other flights in that March-June period. So I took the vouchers and did use some to fly to Spain in summer. But I've a good bit left on the vouchers so I'm wondering whether to chance rebooking the Portugal trip for this Easter. Flights are all up on website. Shannon to Faro twice a week starting 29th March and several flights a day from Dublin. I know Ryanair will let you change if necessary but while you can change destination they don't mention a route change. If I book from Dublin does that mean I'm stuck with Dublin if there's a change? Does anyone know that please? I rarely use Dublin. So all very messy hence I'm tending towards a wait and see for now.