charlotte

Hi
has anyone returned to the UK since Covid started? My F-I-L is in hospital and we are trying to work out if my husband can actually get back to the UK, and then get back into Australia.
we are aware there is no quarantine in UK, and that Victoria is closed to international flights (so quarantine x2 on return maybe) , & that you have to apply for a permit to fly. The airlines are showing flights for sale, and I was wondering if anyone else had been in this situation?
thanks for any help
charlotte

louie

One thing - you say no quarantine in UK. Not Oz-style locked in quarantine, no, but the possibility of home isolation for 14 days depending on which airline you fly (and thus where you transit).

We booked to go back for Christmas early on in the pandemic, naively expecting it to all be over by then. With Etihad. Unless things have changed since I last checked, that means we need a negative test in the days before we fly and then home isolation for 14 days because we will be in Abu Dhabi airport for a couple of hours. Almost certainly academic in our case as I don't suppose we'll get a permit and if we do, I'm concerned we'd be putting my parents, with whom we would be staying, at risk, so I doubt it will happen.

So your husband may not be able to leave the house for 14 days and in any case, he may not be able to visit his father if he is still in hospital. The isolation issue can be resolved by choosing the right airline though. You'd need to check which countries the UK is still allowing arrivals from not to isolate; I think Hong Kong is one, so Cathay might work.

He would also need to be prepared to get stuck in the UK for a potentially lengthy period.

charlotte

thanks for this
hadn't even considered that the stopover affected your quarantine when arriving in UK
cheers

paulry

I'm not sure if it works that way. If you fly direct from Australia (Perth) to the UK then no quarantine UK side would be required. I'm not sure about any other combination though because with transit connections you're potentially rubbing shoulders with people from all over the place.

louie

Qantas aren't flying that route at that moment as far as I know, so I think that is out. Even if they were, I am not sure that WA would allow you to transit (from Melbourne) there given the WA border is closed. Probably academic anyway.

paulry

Ah right. I hadn't thought of that regarding the direct flight from Perth. My guess is if you're not flying direct from a country that is considered quarantine free then you should probably isolate. But the rules seem unclear because taking it at face value, those of us travelling from Australia (no mention of transiting stops) we don't have to self isolate. Of course coming back to the penal colony there is no ambiguity - everyone has to do quarantine at expensive allocated quarantine locations, decided-on, and escorted-to by the state of arrival.

https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-52544307

I've just spoken with my sister over the phone who last weekend flew from South Africa to the UK. She said when she booked the flight with her travel agent she had to go online to a UK web site to fill in a form stating where she is travelling from, which transit points she passed through, what her quarantine address would be and what her address would be after that. Then she had to print the 3 page form and take it with her. On the plane before landing at Heathrow the passengers were told to have the form ready, and that there would be a fine for those who hadn't completed the form beforehand. On landing no-one told her she had to isolate - it seems it was just taken for granted that she should do so. My nephew met her at the airport, all masked up etc, and drove her to Wales and dropped her off at the quarantine accommodation he'd booked for her.

brits1

You should self isolate for 14 days, it inform you of this on the government website, in certain locations they have certain tier systems which you must comply with as well. It's all well and good not having "guards" to make sure you do self isolate..it's a moral duty to do so.

bcworld

There's no ambiguity about it and the rules are very clear that transit locations matter when it comes to the self quarantine requirement.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavi...-corridor-list

As noted on that page: Visiting includes making a transit stop.

Note that England, Wales, Scotland and NI each publish their own travel corridor lists but I think the detail below applies to all.

Currently from Australia the major quarantine free transit points are Singapore and Hong Kong. I think there may be Japan options too. Not sure if flights via Malaysia / Taiwan are currently bookable. And I know there are no flights via Thailand.

The notable transit points that are not on the 'safe list' are UAE and Qatar.

old.sparkles

Not the best place to be - Wales is on lockdown for at least the next three weeks. Everything closed except essential shops, who can only sell essential items.

spouse of scouse

Hi Charlotte, I'm sorry there's a health emergency in your family, they're tough at the best of times and these aren't the best of times.

As others have said, getting a flight back into Australia is likely to be your husband's biggest hurdle. Given the number of people reporting getting booted/cancelled from booked flights back into Australia, I'd only purchase a one way flight initially but others may have a different view.

You'd know that international flights are departing from Melbourne (as long as the passenger has an exemption to travel), I don't know where in the UK your husband would be travelling to but as an example Singapore Airlines is showing one way availability for a couple of days this week: Melbourne - London economy with a stopover in SIN, for around $1,400 (a hundred or so less or more, depending on cancellation fees), with complimentary booking changes. Interestingly, for the same airline and route a return ticket for a 4 week stay (just an example) is a bit over $3,200, so more than double the one way fare.

It really depends on yours and your husband's personal situation, ie does his work and home life allow him to be absent from Australia for a possibly indefinite period. It's a hard decision and I wish you the best of luck.

paulry

I believe so. For my sis, in a week's time it's going to be out of quarantine accommodation and into lock down accommodation. And then she has to see if she can venture out to look for work and start all over again. It's not looking good at all.

Meanwhile, here in Australia, a job advertised by the company I work with received 142 applications!

paulry