Starting today, we have decided to run a daily chat thread on Head for Points. Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the defacto repository for random comments and questions. It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks […]
Can you claim EC261 compensation due to coronavirus? The EU clarifies your rights
19 March 2020 By 144 Comments
Does EC261 compensation apply at the moment, with coronavirus wrecking flight schedules? The European Commission published a document yesterday with the catchy title of ‘Interpretative Guidelines on EU passenger rights regulations in the context of the developing situation with Covid-19‘. You can read it here […]
Foreign Office advises against all non-essential overseas travel – full statement
17 March 2020 By 167 Comments
The Foreign Office has just issued a statement advising against all non-essential foreign travel for at least the next 30 days. The full statement is below. On the upside, it is possible that such Foreign Office guidance will allow the Government to offer financial support […]
Coronavirus: Qatar Airways policy clarification, South Africa, Australia, Kenya, Lebanon and Dominican Republic restrictions
16 March 2020 By 23 Comments
As we ran a number of articles last week on countries blocking entry for UK citizens, I thought I would do another update. This may become academic given that British Airways will be grounding most of its services from the start of April, but it […]
SAS (Scandinavian) is shutting down its entire airline
15 March 2020 By 83 Comments
Is this a sign of things to come? SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) which operates from and across Denmark, Norway and Sweden is, effectively, closing down for the forseeable future. Virtually all flights will be suspended from tomorrow, except for a skeleton service which will be […]
Potential good news for insurance claims – Foreign Office says avoid ‘all but essential’ travel to the United States
15 March 2020 By 42 Comments
The Foreign Office has just announced that you should avoid ‘all but essential’ travel to the United States: “The FCO advise against all but essential travel to the USA, due to restrictions put in place by the US government with effect from 03:59 GMT 17 […]
Coronavirus: Poland, Denmark, Slovakia and Ukraine close their borders
13 March 2020 By 62 Comments
A new wave of countries have banned foreign visitors, including UK citizens, in the last few hours due to coronavirus: Coronavirus in Poland Poland will close its border on 15th March. This will be for an initial 10 day period but with provision for extensions. […]
Here is the EU proposal to waive the 80% ‘use it or lose it’ airport slot rule – and IATA is not happy
13 March 2020 By 84 Comments
The European Commission has published its draft proposals to relieve airlines of the obligation to operate a flight on 80% of its scheduled dates each season or forfeit the relevant take off and landing slots. You can see the document here. I think this is […]
Coronavirus: Singapore blocking TRANSIT and stays (UK exempt for now), Malta ban, Croatia ban, Argentina ban
13 March 2020 By 74 Comments
Here is a quick lunchtime update of the latest countries to put blocks in place due to coronavirus. This article has updated to reflect the Malta ban extending to the UK. Coronavirus and Singapore: This does not currently cover the UK. However, if you have […]
Coronavirus: Oman, Norway, Cyprus and Czech Republic block UK travellers
12 March 2020 By 91 Comments
Three more countries have placed restrictions on UK travellers tonight due to coronavirus, which effectively means that they are off-limits to most of us. This is on top of the Czech Republic which announced restrictions earlier today. Cyprus From Saturday, the United Kingdom will become […]
Coronavirus: Czech Republic bans travellers from the UK (plus 14 other countries) from Saturday for 30 days
12 March 2020 By 41 Comments
Reuters is reporting that the Czech Republic will close its land borders to travellers crossing from Germany and Austria as it struggles to deal with coronavirus. Of more relevance, the country will ban travel to and from 15 countries seen as posing a high risk […]
Get a free airport lounge pass when you book 4 hotel nights with ebookers BONUS+
12 March 2020 By
In 2018 we reviewed Expedia’s loyalty programme, Expedia Rewards, just to learn that it was a huge disappointment. Compared to Hotels.com (who share the same ownership) and their simple and straight forward Hotels.com Rewards programme (get 1 point per night, get a free night for […]
Coronavirus: India suspends all tourist visas, including issued ones, from 13th March
11 March 2020 By
I thought we might get through the day without a coronavirus announcement, but it’s not going to happen. India has just announced that ALL tourist visas will be suspended on 13th March. For clarity, this covers existing visas as well as ones which are currently […]
Coronavirus: Italy in full lockdown, Israel enforces 14-days quarantine on entry, Vietnam blocks UK passport holders from Friday
9 March 2020 By
There were three core travel-related coronavirus updates on Monday evening. All of Italy has been placed under lockdown The ‘lockdown’ in place in Northern Italy will be extended to the entire country on Tuesday morning. It is not yet clear what the impact on travel […]
What are the best credit card sign-up deals for March? – plus your news round-up
9 March 2020 By
It is time for our regular round up of what is coming and what is going in the world of UK airline and hotel credit card sign-up deals. Our directory of the 16 main UK travel credit and charge cards can be found by clicking […]
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