Benny80

Hi Fellow Expats
I am keen to make a trip back to the UK from UAE. I'm guessing i am not the only one. Any thoughts or insights on when the UK travel restrictions may ease to make this more practical?

From www.gov.uk i gather UAE is currently on the Red travel list with no predictions on when or if it may be downgraded to Amber or Green.

In my case i want to fly from Abu Dhabi to England at the end of July for a memorial service from my Gran who passed away last year (Was not able to travel last year for the funeral as it was in the first lock down.) As i can only get a couple of weeks off work i would spend 10 days of that quarantining in a hotel so its not looking great. Would also keen to let my wife and kids be able to enjoy the end of the summer in UK but if the 10 day quarantine is still in place i think we will be enjoying the heat in the UAE.

Would be interested to hear your guess predictions on when travel to the UK may get easier?

csdf

Our base case is no "easy" travel to the UK before the autumn. Some friends have (optimistically, in our opinion) booked flights back to the UK for July but I can't see it happening, sadly.

Benny80

Autumn sounds about right. I am trying to be realistic. Will probably book leave from work when I hope to travel and then if things change and its possible enter UK without Quarantine I will book last minute flights. If not it will be another staycation in UAE or holiday somewhere on UAE's green list.

Millhouse

Not direct flights I assume?

I have a ticket hanging from March.

Best case is September when holiday demand drops.

UKMS

you can book direct for July with Emirates i booked mine a couple of day’s ago. ….. I also had a ticket hanging over from March to use ….. it’s a flex ticket so nothing lost.

UKMS

I would predict UAE going to amber before the summer hols, so 5 days in home quarantine.

Millhouse

on what basis? (genuine question)

UKMS

just my prediction assuming our numbers stay as they are or less. ….. there are far worse countries in Amber and very little changed in the listings yesterday. 3 weeks time at the next review I think there will be more countries shifted between the colours.

For me amber is good enough for a 5-6 week trip back

the biggest ball ache will be arriving at the UK airports …. I can hack it but feel sorry for anyone going back with a young family.

Millhouse

Fair enough. A part of me agrees, but my more negative cynical side tells me it will be a lot longer... they really messed up in December and I feel like there is a punishment to it.

csdf

"They" being the UK? Or the UAE?

UKMS

both 😃

Millhouse

Both but it is always better to blame someone else.

The travel corridor was open and abused on all sides. I saw the mess of the airport immigration first hand. No way can stuff like that be repeated, add on the influencers etc. The U.K. has an island mentality and they are petrified of letting in new variants.

nonthaburi

I seem to remember a UK government minister talking about the UAE saying that case numbers there weren't the problem, but it was because it's a hub for travel, and they just can't (or don't want to) track everyone's previous movements.

Benny80

The transit hub quote was by Grant Shapps https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/26/uae-...confusion.html

I think the transit hub is the main reason UAE is on the red list (rather than amber) is because aside from that the UAE is doing better than most places (testing, high vaccination rates). I would imagine there is a lot of political negotiation going on behind the scenes from the UAE to get this fixed because it must be really hurting their airlines.

From the UKs perspective i guess it's hard to reliably track where someone flying from UAE has been previously in the last 10 days. Whilst one would expect the route through UAE to be rife for abuse, equally any other country on the green list could be used in the same way so it doesn't quite make sense.

csdf

I disagree. With the exception of Singapore (which I assume has dramatically ramped down in the last year anyway), none of the green list countries have an established wide-ranging travel hub. When was the last time someone said "I want to go on holiday to Florida, but direct's too expensive, so I'll fly via Tristan da Cunha on Norwegian"?