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

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• 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.

• 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.

    • 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.

• 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.

• Jeff 99 says:

  4 Jul4 July 14:53

  “ The government in Spain’s Catalonia region has re-imposed coronavirus controls on an area of 210,000 people after a sharp rise in infections.
  President Quim Torra said no-one would be allowed to enter or leave Segrià, an agricultural area west of Barcelona which includes the city of Lleida.”

  I can imagine this being a bit of a mood killer if it happens in a place whilst you’re on holiday. Not a ridiculously unlikely possibility….

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 15:01

    I’m presuming you will be taking your bucket and spade to Blackpool this year Jeff.

    Or may be you could ring up BBC Radio 5 Live and express your outrage that we aren’t all to be prevented from going abroad for many months more or that pubs have now been allowed to reopen.

    Then when you get on air on BBC Radio 5 Live I can switch straight over to BBC Radio 4 Extra, as I often currently have to do to avoid another “we can never unlock as it may not be safe” COVID moaning minnie.

    • Jeff 99 says:

      4 Jul4 July 16:00

      “ Or may be you could ring up BBC Radio 5 Live and express your outrage that we aren’t all to be prevented from going abroad for many months more or that pubs have now been allowed to reopen.“

      Not really. It’s great that pubs have opened and that people can go on holiday.

      Not really sure what you’re on about to honest.

      • Julian says:

        4 Jul4 July 16:44

        You complained about the Spanish letting Brits in again on holiday and I think almost nobody else here would support you on that.

        Brits and Germans account for the vast majority of foreign tourists in sunny beach parts of Spain and July, August and September are the peak tourism months. So by suggesting the Spanish ban Brits for the rest of this year you are suggesting areas almost wholly dependent on tourism like the Balearics, Canaries and most of Southern Mainland Spain at least halve their annual income, leaving aside what they have already lost and can’t get back with excessively cautious people already scared out of going on holiday abroad for the rest of this year like my sister (who unlike me never exceeds the speed limit and also thinks its unsafe to use a fully installed manufacturer hands free mobile phone installlation).

        Your suggestion that lots of other people than Brits (who you wrongly seem to imagine are all drunken larger louts) would fill the place of British tourists in this year of all years are also wildly and totally unrealistic. Building up new groups of tourists who visit a country regularly takes many years rather than months.

        You were basically suggesting that Spain loses half of its tourist market for the rest of this season for no apparent reason other than excessive caution on your part.

        • Jeff 99 says:

          4 Jul4 July 16:49

          “ So by suggesting the Spanish ban Brits for the rest of this year ”

          I can’t find anywhere where I said that?

        • Julian says:

          4 Jul4 July 17:06

          Jeff 99 if I may quote you exactly a few posts above :-

          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 DESTINATION FOR NON-IDIOTS NOW THAT CLUBS WILL BE SHUT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. IBIZA FOR EXAMPLE COULD REINVENT ITSELF AS A DESTINATION (misspelt I note as Designation, the kind of error that surely only a drunken uneducated chav of the kind you clearly despise would surely tend to make) FOR NON-IDIOTS NOW THAT CLUBS WILL BE SHUT FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR (I’VE NOT BEEN BUT APPARENTLY ITS ACTUALLY QUITE A PICTURESQUE PLACE)

          But if you actually had been then you would know that only San Antonio Town was really ever full of drunken yobs (and even then only at night in a couple of streets where the clubs are) and there literally used to be broken glass all over the ground in some of those streets the following morning but that was the 90s and even by the 10s that was no longer true.

          Also the rest of the island is full of quiet and scenic family resorts and the island of Cabrera off the south coast of Ibiza (that you can only get to by Hydrofoil or boat from Ibiza town) is now an extremely expensive upmarket destination full of overpaid British and German city types where most hotels cost several hundred pounds a night, even though I preferred in in the 90s when it was full of chilled out ageing hippies who had been going since the 1960s.

          Perhaps next time actually research a place or better still go there before you start making comments based on a narrow stereotype from the past that was never true of the vast majority of the islands of Ibiza.

        • Julian says:

          4 Jul4 July 17:21

          See this article at http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/formentera-mediterranean-holiday on unspoilt 15 mile long Formentera that you only get to through Ibiza.

          And this article on 10 unspoilt beaches in Ibiza at http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/jun/13/10-best-hidden-beaches-ibiza-spain-bays-coves

          Or this National Geographic article at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/intelligent-travel/2013/08/20/the-quieter-side-of-ibiza/

• Russell says:

  4 Jul4 July 18:39

  What about Albania?

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 18:49

    See http://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/albania

    The Foreign & Commonwealth Office currently advises British nationals against all but essential international travel.

    Albania also not listed as one of the countries you do not have to self isolate or quarantine for 14 days after your return on the goverment exemption list of countries at http://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-travel-corridors#travel-corridors-countries-and-territories-exemption-list

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 18:51

    Albania not recommended as safe to visit by Foreign & Commonwealth Office and not on the issues list of countries now exempt from the 14 day self isolation or quarantine list.

    I tried posting the links but this annoying and never improved online blog chat system refused to let me publish them and says they are awaiting moderation (which in my experience can go on for many days or weeks).

    • Rob says:

      4 Jul4 July 19:23

      If you put 2+ links into a comment, it automatically goes into moderation. All your comments today with had to be rescued had 2 links in them.

      This is because most spam comments are simply robo-posted lists of backlinks to junk sites.

      • Julian says:

        4 Jul4 July 19:35

        I hadn’t realised it was posting two links (rather than one) that caused the post to be placed in the moderation tray.

        Proper internet discussion forums tend to work on a trust basis where someone who is a new member can’t post any links, those who have belonged a while can may be post one and those who have belonged for ages can post as many links as they like…………

        • Alex Sm says:

          5 Jul5 July 01:05

          This forum needs an upgrade for a long time… The two most important features which are still missing and have not been added for ages are (1) notifications about replies to your comments (I can’t understand how people should know that someone responded to their comments, tbh) and (2) ability to edit/delete your own comments (this would help a lot with typos, duplicates, unfinished comments etc). @Rob and co. – can you look into this at some point?

• Roberto says:

  4 Jul4 July 21:15

  Spain on the Costa Del Sol is policed well with bars and beaches in areas like Fuengirola being well run and enforced by local councils and the civil police force. Drones flying over beaches linked to traffic light systems highlighting which areas have availability of sunbeds. Extra toilets and washing facilities with pedestranised one way systems that work.

  I went over the boarder into Gibraltar yesterday and its a different world with little masks and social distancing. I wandered past a complex of 5 bars and there must have been a thousand people in an area the size of 5 or 6 tennis courts..

  Dont knock what Spain is doing , its probably much better run than your local town.

  Of course that could all change once the Brits hit the towns but the police are well used to dealing with idiots….

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 22:25

    Spain is probably doing things in a far systematic way than say the Maldives or wherever it is that Jeff 99 considers is exclusive enough to avoid encountering British Lager Louts…………….

    • Julian says:

      4 Jul4 July 22:28

      Having said the above although the Spanish authorities have had the situation under control in Magalluf in Mallorca for quite some years only recently did they apply sufficient manpower in the Playa De Palma and Arenal areas of the island to bring unsavory elements drawn there by the more loutish end of the German tourist market properly under control.

• Princess says:

  4 Jul4 July 21:50

  Good evening everybody! Any view or idea when China will reopen their border? Recently China has seen few new cases but mating major…
  I haven’t done a deep research, apology if I’m missing something obvious…

  • Julian says:

    4 Jul4 July 22:22

    Historically China always tends to be rather easier to enter than it is to leave, especially if you contract COVID-19 from one of their many statistically undocumented carriers of the disease.

    They have a billion people and had a massive outbreak in Wuhan but some how strangely they claim that almost no one has died from the disease there. And yet for some odd reason they still aren’t at all keen to let foreigners with plenty of money enter the country……………………..

    • Lady London says:

      5 Jul5 July 10:39

      +1

• Alex Sm says:

  5 Jul5 July 01:02

  The first list oddly starts with Andorra, then Germany, then goes again to Andorra and further on…

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