Here are the countries where you can travel without quarantine …. if they let you in

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• Jeff 99 says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:43

  All this marketing nonsense being quoted by news outlets about how flight bookings have “exploded” over the last week. Are they incapable of applying a bit of critical thinking before quoting numbers?

  Everything seems to be “versus the previous week” or “versus April”. I wonder why they’re not giving year on year numbers 🙄

  The only company I’ve seen giving yoy numbers is eurotunnel who actually saw an “explosion” in bookings.

  • Nick_C says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:01

    Eurotunnel makes sense. I would rather spend 24 hours in my own car than 3 hours on a plane right now.

    • Jeff 99 says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:04

      Yes and they had they’re busiest day of bookings last weekend, so clearly a lot of people agree with you.

      I’m not saying that nobody will be flying but people who take marketing nonsense without even questioning it, regarding the increase in flight bookings need to stop being so naive.

      • Simon Cross says:

        4 Jul4 July 08:30

        Also extremely cheap if you use Tesco vouchers which convert at three times value into a eurotunnel voucher.

• Gaetano Ferrante says:

  4 Jul4 July 08:45

  So I can to travel to Rome in Italy and not have to quartine on my return to the UK. But the Foreign office advises against travel to Vatican City?

• Stuart says:

  4 Jul4 July 09:42

  Where is the source for this statement in the article –
  if you have previously returned from a country on the list below, you can end your quarantine on 10th July

  I’m in Spain due to fly back on Monday but when the government said restrictions lifted from 10th July I bought a second flight for Friday but would prefer to go home on Monday and self isolate til Friday.

  • Simon Cross says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:51

    I have read it on one of the gov website links – I forget which one but it is definitely correct.

• YKW says:

  4 Jul4 July 10:03

  Hello. I’m due to take an easyJet fight at the end of July. As the guidance hasn’t changed does this mean easyJet will refund my flight?

  • Travel Strong says:

    4 Jul4 July 11:14

    No, not unless they cancel it. If you don’t want to wait and see if that happens, they will usually have options for fee free changes or vouchers though. See easyjet website for your options.

    • YKW says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:33

      Thank you for the reply – I thought if the FCO advise against all but essential travel then I would get a refund?

      • Joseph Heenan says:

        4 Jul4 July 13:45

        Only from your travel insurance , if covered

• GeorgeJ says:

  4 Jul4 July 10:15

  I am planning to escape the UK lockdown and was planning to drive across Europe, I checked the FCO list and all was well the necessary countries were removed from the restriction to travel. I then happened to look at the exemption to quarantine and one country wasn’t there. I thought it was me and then compared the two lists and there are a lot of differences! As far as I can see (and I have ignored the British, French, Dutch and Danish associated entities)

  Exempt from 14 day quarantine but not from FCO restriction
  Fiji
  Mauritius
  Seychelles

  Exempt from FCO advice against travel but still have to quarantine
  Estonia
  Latvia
  Slovakia
  Slovenia
  Bermuda,
  Canada
  Brunei
  Malaysia
  Thailand
  Singapore

  I can almost understand the second of these two differences they might be an amber list or waiting for reciprocity (though plenty of others on both lists dont let us in either). The first list of three just seems daft, we can return without quarantine but are not supposed to go in the first place (they are definitely not major business destinations so that cant be the reason).
  Schapps and Patel at their best?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:31

    Just because people can come here from
    There doesn’t mean more people from
    Here should be travelling there

    I also suspect the FCO advice may be staying due to the fact they are tiny nations without easy access to medical care.

    • Lady London says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:33

      +1

  • Jeff 99 says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:38

    “ I am planning to escape the UK lockdown”

    What lockdown? Pretty much everything is open now?

    • GeorgeJ says:

      4 Jul4 July 16:30

      Where are you living!

  • Ian says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:57

    Yes, the whole long sad story has been one of total chaos. Just bear in mind that you are not (with few exceptions) allowed into Thailand yet.

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 13:02

    The most surprising one I would say is Sweden, which is both still subject to 14 day quarantine on return and the FCO also advise against travelling to it. But if you fly to Norway, Denmark or Finland and drive in to Sweden and then back out again before flying home no one is going to be any the wiser assuming that they won’t be putting a Swedish immigration entry stamp in your passport. Except that I think you have to still fill out a form saying where you have been on arriving back in the UK so if you omit Sweden from your list of visited countries and then subsequently prove to be a Super Spreader then all kinds of hell will probably come raining down upon your head. Also these days even if there is no stamp in your passport Swedish or other Scandinavian immigration authorities may still swipe it as you enter or exit (not sure what the Schengen position is in Scandinavia and/or if Schengen is currently still suspended) and that could be tracked by the authorities if needed (i.e. because you develop COVID and spread it to a lot of people on your return). Some how Norway is in Schengen, even though it doesn’t belong to the EU or use the Euro!

    However still including Sweden in quarantine restrictions and the FCO also recommending against travelling to it amounts to deliberate political sour grapes in my opinion, just to punish them for not going with the flow on the economically crucifying and totally unnecessary 3 plus month long lockdown………..

    • @mkcol says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:25

      When you enter Norway from UK you need to quarantine for 14 days, then entering Norway from Sweden you need to quarantine for 14 days, then when you arrive in the UK having correctly filled in the form saying you’ve been in Sweden you need to quarantine again.

      • Julian says:

        4 Jul4 July 14:40

        And Norway and Sweden both purport to be in Schengen……………

        • @mkcol says:

          5 Jul5 July 01:19

          And what of it whether they are or not?

    • Nick_C says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:37

      Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people, as at Jul 1, 2020
      Shown is the rolling 7-day average. The number of confirmed cases is lower than the number of actual cases; the main reason for that is limited testing.

      Sweden – 107.7 cases/million
      Portugal – 33.68
      UK – 13.56
      Spain – 7.86
      France – 7.73

      Norway – 3
      Denmark – 5.11
      Finland – 1.52

      Makes perfect sense to require quarantine on people arriving in the UK from Sweden.

      • GeorgeJ says:

        4 Jul4 July 16:46

        Its great to have a data analysis to back things up.
        This is actually pretty conclusive in terms of the margin in rates for Sweden and Portugal. Only as good as the data input of course, but the UK piece is directionally correct.

        • Derek Broughton says:

          6 Jul6 July 10:20

          It’s really _not_ conclusive. I suspect that that’s exactly the basis of the Foreign Office’s list. Sweden has good testing and the UK basically claims they’ve tested twice as many people as they have, and as the Donald says if you have more testing you have more disease. Canada is markedly safer than the UK (never mind how many active cases each country _says_ they have; how many people are dying?), and yet you have to quarantine when you come back. That’s OK, they’re not going to let you in anyway.

• Tom says:

  4 Jul4 July 10:22

  It all seems arbitrary, Estonia has one of the lowest active cases and numbers per 100k in Europe, but it is not on the list, why? No idea

  • James Vickers says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:39

    Think they still require quarantine on arrival though with exemptions? If you are exempt though you can go there..

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 13:05

    I think the mentality in Estonia is the same as in Australia and NZ. Namely we are a long way from any major centres of COVID and haven’t got a big problem with it so keep the foreigners out in case they bring it here.

    By contrast somewhat culturally xenophobic countries like Spain can’t afford to take this little islander approach for long because far too much of their economy is reliant on tourism………..

    • Jeff 99 says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:29

      I’m surprised Spain have let Brits in though. We obviously account for a big chunk of tourist spend but if we weren’t allowed in then they might have an increase in numbers from domestic tourists or tourists from other countries.

      There’s surely people who don’t go to some of the islands in Spain because they don’t want to be surrounded by 18-30 holiday lowlifes from England urinating in water fountains.

      Ibiza, for example could reinvent itself as a designation for non-idiots now that clubs will be shut for the rest of the year (I’ve not been but apparently it’s actually quite a picturesque place).

      • TGLoyalty says:

        4 Jul4 July 13:32

        There is a lot more to the island than San Antonio and Playa d’en bossa even when the clubs are open but most likely have to put up with the 18-30 crowd on the flight still.

        • Jeff 99 says:

          4 Jul4 July 13:47

          “ There is a lot more to the island than San Antonio and Playa d’en bossa”

          Fair enough but many people who don’t know this will assume the worst based on what they’ve seen on tv (who remembers Ibiza uncovered on sky one in the 90s 🤯) and heard from others so they won’t want to go there.

      • Julian says:

        4 Jul4 July 14:53

        Jeff99,

        You are living back in the Ibiza and Mallorca of the 1990s in your head and the places just aren’t like that now.

        The reason is that the introduction of the Euro caused huge inflation in prices of things involving labour like restaurants and hotel rooms with the net result that the young lout classes (AKA Club 18-30) found it was no longer cheap enough and so moved on to Bulgaria, Turkey and elsewhere.

        Even Magalluf as the old epicentre of trouble and drunken-ness and falling off balconies is way quieter and the only time of the year in any way reminiscent of the old days is May and very early June but there still isn’t the same trouble as its still too expensive for the super yobs and the Spanish Police tend to crack down on troublemakers a lot harder than they did 20 or so years ago.

        • Harry T says:

          5 Jul5 July 01:17

          Is there a special club for people aged 18-30 who despise the kind of 18-30 year olds who go partying in Ibiza? If so, consider me a committed member. I can’t stand that crowd, and the other forms of British tourists who behave poorly abroad and make no attempt to experience or respect other cultures.

        • pauldb says:

          5 Jul5 July 09:50

          You just need to have a bit more imagination than those you are trying to avoid. In the Med, assuming you still want to be by the sea, I can recommend Corsica and Montenegro with very few Brits, and yes Ibiza at quieter times.

      • Erico1875 says:

        5 Jul5 July 20:37

        Theres just as many 18 -30 germans and Dutch urinating in fountains in Arenal
        and Playa de Palma. – resorts Brits don’t generally go to.
        I’ve also seen Danes, Dutch and Italians behaving badly on the Venecian Riviera

  • Attila says:

    4 Jul4 July 17:03

    Same with Slovakia!

• Yuval says:

  4 Jul4 July 11:35

  Does anyone know if airlines are required to issue a refund / voucher if your flight isn’t cancelled but the destination country won’t let you in? I’m guessing airlines are required to check this before boarding so won’t actually let you on the plane.
  PS – I know this sound like a strange scenario but as an example Israel doesn’t let foreign nationals into the country but EasyJet still fly there once a day (to serve their own nationals I’m guessing) so they aren’t offering free cancellation to passengers.
  Thanks

  • Anna says:

    4 Jul4 July 12:10

    As answered a few posts above, no the airline isn’t obliged to give you anything unless it cancels the flight – it’s not their fault the country won’t let you in. You might be covered by your travel insurance if you booked before the country made that decision but it depends on your individual policy.

    • Yuval says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:33

      Just seems silly that EasyJet won’t actually let you on the plane but also won’t let you cancel the flight for a refund

      • David says:

        5 Jul5 July 10:47

        It’s babysitting part they won’t have to deal with

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 13:11

    Foreign Office recommends against travel to Israel and Israel won’t let a non resident in at all and does not merely require them to quarantine for 14 days.

    So for an airline not to offer a free change to a later date or a credit note against a future flight for anyone who is not an EU resident booked to travel to Israel would strike me as highly unreasonable and very bad public relations on their part.

    • Jeff 99 says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:30

      I think it’s unreasonable too but those are the rules.

      • Jeff 99 says:

        4 Jul4 July 13:30

        It’s up to the airline if they want to give you a voucher etc but nothing forces them to

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 13:16

    Easyjet did announce that all flight change fees were suspended until further notice back in March.

    So assuming this still applies and you can probably find another flight to Israel costing no more than the flight you can’t now travel on (as you won’t get in to the country) then postponing your booking till next year some time at no cost looks like a possibility.

    See http://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2020/03/13/coronavirus-easyjet-waives-change-fees-for-new-and-existing-bookings/

    • Yuval says:

      4 Jul4 July 13:35

      Thanks but they haven’t published their tickets for the next summer so can’t change a year out. If they offered a voucher then that would allow a year delay. Much more reasonable in my view

      • Julian says:

        4 Jul4 July 14:46

        Can’t you ask them for a credit note valid for a year that you can then use to book flights for next summer when they become available.

        I would have thought so long as they don’t have to refund you they would agree to that.

      • Lady London says:

        4 Jul4 July 21:27

        Hi Yuval,

        I know how Easyjet works quite well , although @Tim M probably knows more. But as I’ve had to fly a lot with them I’e found myself trying to get things done with them quite a lot.

        Here is my best advice. Check their website in detail especially the Covid section to see if they are offering something that would help.

        Dont bother writing to CEO or FD in Easyjet’s case for this sort of thing it’s a waste of time. Of all the airlines Easyjet has been relatively decent so use what’s available.

        First check is your flight still being sold. If it’s marked sold out then it’s slated for cancellation 90%+ won’t go. keep watching till 21 days ahead. That’s when they’ve said they firm up on cancellations. <21 days to flight and sold out mean its cancelled. if cancelled wait till you get an email with ypur options. Refund is there but you have to dig a bit.

        If not cancelled then exceptionally you are currently able to move oe change most flights online for free. you just pay any fare difference there is no change fee. You wont get your money back, ever, from Easyjet unless ypur flight is cancelled. So yoy have to move ypue flight out of the way so you dont lose your money. Do it now to the last date available if ypu're staying same route or change it to something else. You will have to pay a change fee when schedules open up with a date you want but I'm assuming a change.fee would be less than losing everything you've paid. El Al has just stopped flying so move it again as soon as your seatd open because more people will be chasing them.

        No Easyjet is not going to open their schedule.up early just for you. If they cancel you can take a voucher or a refund or do something else with it and you do not have to decide before your cancelled flight date. If it's marked sold out then probably it's cancelled. If it's not marked sold out then personally I'd move it forward now for free and gratefully cough up to the change fee when they do offer later dates if I cant think of anything better to do with it meanwhile.

        Easyjet and any other airline that wont let you on a plane because visa or other restrictions have arisen is only carrying out instructions from the various governments. If they fly you and you are not allowed to enter the country at the other end then they are responsible and their costs will become.your costs. So that is why if entry requirements change they will not let you on the plane. Even if you throw your toys out of the pram.

• Bagoly says:

  4 Jul4 July 13:09

  Yes, all the Baltic states have published numeric thresholds (as does Germany for internal purposes).
  It is truly weird that the English government has put Lithuania on here but not the other two, because the three countries have a “travel bubble”, and similarly low rates of infection.

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