Skiing in Austria - Jan 2022

comerla

My wife just went into the child vaccination centre here in Cork. She was told that they have had an awful lot of people bringing in their 12 year oids to get boosted, but that there isn't a hope in hell of getting it done. Boosters are not approved for people under 16.

I've just sent an email to the Austrian address up below - there is no consistent rationale behind their policy and it is causing stress and potentially an awful lot of expense/ disappointment to families.

a148pro

Pretty sure booster has not been approved for use in the under 16s in Ireland.

I'm sorry, its a personal decision obviously, but the idea that people are boosting their kids in order to meet ridiculous entry requirements in Austria is bonkers. Everyone in Austria is going to be exposed to COVID over the coming months whether visiting child skiers have zero or eleven jabs. Its utterly pointless. Too late for people who've already booked but I hope other people consider voting with their feet, Switzerland as I understand it now have zero entry requirements, Spain is still treating Covid cert as 9 month validity and will let anyone in with an antigen, masks are gone outside and covid certs abandoned in Catalonia at least. Countries who carry on like Austria (and I appreciate they're in a bit of a bind because of a relatively low vax uptake) need to feel the effects of their policies or they'll keep them in place.

Just an idea for people shopping around to avoid this nonsense.

(I say this as someone who recently skied in Austria, to my shame!)

dzer2

Very hard to vote with your feet when you have paid up all the flights and accommodation in front.

I only got vaccinated as not to feck it up on all the rest of the population. I would happily take my chances. Also I travel quite a bit and don't need my nose rooted every other week

TCP/IP

Heading to Salzburg next weekend for a week skiing in Bad Hofgastein.

My wife and I are triple jabbed and have the Irish Covid digital pass confirming this so we are all good.

Our kids are 11 and 9 and not vaccinated and from research, they don't need to be to get access into Salzburg am I reading this correctly, just want to make sure and not have hassle at the airport. Also, have a box of FFP2 masks purchased and ready for the trip.

If someone can confirm I am reading the rules correctly please let me know.

comerla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530142#Comment_118530142

We got an amazing deal with CrystalSki in Scheffau. Worth checking it out. Its very quiet at night though - suited as as we have small kids.

dzer2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118617050#Comment_118617050

That's correct and they don't need masks on the lifts either

TCP/IP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118617430#Comment_118617430

Thanks a million for the confirmation mate.

prunudo

Any issues or tips to be aware of flying into Munich but heading onto Austria with a family of vaccinated adults but with a couple of unvaccinated over 6s. Is the negative pcr test still the only requirement.

a148pro

You have to fill in a form when landing in Munich, or at least you did a few weeks ago. It doesn't allow for onward travel to another country so apparently you put in Munich airport in the address section. You need the postal code which you'll find online.

You may find the Germans maintain you're supposed to isolate on arrival but clearly not if you're going skiing. Border control asked me was I going skiing on arrival in Munich so it's the norm.

I'd be surprised if you get stopped at Austrian border. From recollection if you arrive by land you don't need to fill in an equivalent form for Austria, but check that.

In general the Department of Foreign Affairs website is good for individual countries' entry requirements and kept up to date. If you Google "arriving in Germany from Ireland" or whatever countries you want it usually comes up. The only hard part may be figuring out what "fully vaccinated" means in given countries, vis a vis different types and numbers of jabs.

Sheedy234

Hi

I thought you were exempt from filling the form if you were transiting through Germany. I'm flying to Munich Monday and getting the train straight away to Austria .

Not sure what to do there are 4 of us so don't want any hassle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118622503#Comment_118622503

we filed int he form anyway, just comented that we Were driving to Austria on the day,

Verifly looks for it to be filled in at Dublin airport, when we landed, We were asked were we straying in Germany or not, to ehich we said we were driving to germany that day,

Sheedy234

Thanks I'll do it so. I couldn't get verify to work either !

Sheedy234

RobAMerc

lads I am totally confused as to what we need.

Flying next Sat to Vienna.

Parents both double jabbed and recovery certs from xmas

12 year old double vaxed

9 year old double jabbed too.

I cannot make head nor tail of the requirements. Anyone able to enlighten me ?

thanks

a148pro

As an aside, verifly, Jesus Christ took me about an hour to get it sorted. How do aer lingus manage to do this kind of stuff so badly? Older passengers would struggle I think.

You may well not need the passenger locator form but my experience with European bureaucracy and police forces in particular is don't **** with them, they're there to enforce their authority, just comply with whatever junk they want. Form is easy enough to fill in better to have than to not and then need it or get hassled.

Airlines checking in order to board, wouldn't fancy explaining the vagaries of the exception at final call to the underpaid airline staff who've prob been told airline pays the bill if someone has to be deported and they get in trouble if they allow you board. Another reason to abandon these intrusions.

Read somewhere that passports only came in after world war one as a temporary measure!

a148pro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118622566#Comment_118622566

On the limited basis of the above comments you prob just need to test the 12 year old

Make sure the parents have updated covid certs to reflect infection

RobAMerc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118622681#Comment_118622681

yes, thanks. That was my reading of it too. But then I saw this

https://www.austria.info/en/service-and-facts/coronavirus-information#additional-measures-in-the-austrian-provinces

back to where I am totally confuxed

a148pro

Ah, that is quite possible as I heard Vienna was a case onto itself and has its own COVID restrictions. Apparently there are very high rates of unvaxxed there, which is interesting, you'd think it was the remote mountain valleys and not the neat orderly city.

Sorry can't give you reliable advice. Best bet may actually be to ring the embassy. And tell them to wake up and smell the coffee while you're at it!

Hopefully next year all this hassle is behind us

Sheedy234

@prunudo

I believe all over 6s need to be fully vaccinated by 14 days before arrival and any under 6 must quarantine for 10days with and out at day 5 with negative test!

Sheedy234

@prunudo

prunudo

Thanks for the replies guys, its not actually for me but I'll pass on the advice. They got a fright when they looked at the requirements for Germany as they are different to Austria. The long and the short seems to be that once you are transiting immediately to Austria you don't follow the Germany rules.

I'll update if I hear of any further changes or solid information from them.

AmboMan

I would imagine transiting means flight change/connecting flight at the airport. Not commuting to another country via land transport ?

a148pro

I don't think so - again the border lads asked me immediately was I going to Austria, skiing. When I travelled I remember reading and thinking Germany nominally wanted me to isolate but as above I think the view was it doesn't apply if you're driving to Austria.

RobAMerc

does anyone know if the HSE masks are FFP2 ? I have hundreds of them. please dont tell me they are good enough for travel to Austria ! 😆

dzer2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118624111#Comment_118624111

They are not the same. The FFP2 are heavier quality and shaped more to suit your face. I will find ours and put up a pic

manshay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118616602#Comment_118616602

Double jabbed-- two jabs

Boosted- two jabs followed a booster 3 months or more later

I'm a pharmacist and administer vaccines in my pharmacy; anyone aged over 16 can have a booster. Under 16's cannot currently have a booster.

We are staying in Dublin airport on Friday night, and have booked a Randox 3 hour test and results service, so fingers crossed for a negative result within the timescale!

comerla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118626298#Comment_118626298

Sorry - I was being facetious.

Everyone vaccinated or boosted can still carry the virus, so I’m struggling to see a rationale behind picking on 12 -16 year olds in particular if they are recently double jabbed.

I heard a figure that 20% of school kids have been out with Covid so they are surrounded by it.

Anyway - good luck with the test. I have ours booked in for Thursday evening.

TCP/IP

Is anyone heading to bad Hofgastein next Saturday?

Can't wait to hit the slopes again with the family.

manshay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118626476#Comment_118626476

Ha ha! Its harder to pick up the sarcasm in simple text exchanges!

There is a scientific logic in this approach. Three jabs are considerably more effective than two. I expect(but have no more insight than anyone else) the teenagers will be offered boosters at some stage, I don't think the boosters are currently licenced in this age group. That said it is a flailing around in the dark approach by the Austrians and I expect it will change, they removed the UK adult travellers need for a PCR.

a148pro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118627908#Comment_118627908

They are a bit more effective in preventing infection for about 3 months, but preventing infection is no longer a sensible goal. We're not going to boost perpetually. Insisting on this will have no meaningful difference to numbers in Austria. Everyone gets exposed sooner or later regardless of other people's vax status.

I actually doubt they will approve boosters for non vulnerable teens here, current trend is moving away from vaxxing or boosting the young and most will have had "natural" boosters. Vax pass is mainly a bureaucratic hangover though it serves to compel people in these low vax countries to get jabbed. Hard to force the reluctant Austrian when you're letting tourists in who haven't.

It is my sincere hope that all of this junk is confined to the bin very shortly. Its not the kind of society I want to live in and I'd be worried about the precedent. They've served their purpose, people got vaxxed in droves. But functionally everyone in Europe will be vaxxed or exposed by this Summer so there is zero public health rationale for keeping them.

Anyway I'm sure we have all had enough of covid so probably shouldn't drag the thread into it. Hopefully it doesn't hold our skiing back much longer. Jesus to be in a packed Moose or equivalent listening to those awful cheesefests!