Covid - International travel over xmas

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AndroidMan

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I have flights and hotels booked seperatley for a destinstion outside the EU.
I am going with Aer Lingus to Paris and Air France to India.
I booked the end to end flighy with one agency.
Hotels are with biiking.cim and they toik ni money yet.

If France or Ireland ban non essential travel before I go, will my flight be cancelled?
What if one leg is cancelled and the other is not and i am unable to reach my destination?
What about booking.com? Seems i coukd just cancel online.
Same with return trip.

The trip is a holiday, essential in my opinion but probably not in the eyes of the government.

I have premium travel insurance but the terms are quite ambiguous.

Am now losing sleep over this!
 
AndroidMan said:
I have flights and hotels booked seperatley for a destinstion outside the EU.
I am going with Aer Lingus to Paris and Air France to India.
I booked the end to end flighy with one agency.
Hotels are with biiking.cim and they toik ni money yet.

If France or Ireland ban non essential travel before I go, will my flight be cancelled?
What if one leg is cancelled and the other is not and i am unable to reach my destination?
What about booking.com? Seems i coukd just cancel online.
Same with return trip.

The trip is a holiday, essential in my opinion but probably not in the eyes of the government.

I have premium travel insurance but the terms are quite ambiguous.

Am now losing sleep over this!
Click to expand...

Currently there is no ban on travel - essential or not. Except to restricted countries (India isn't one). You'll need to comply with Indian entry requirements (whatever they are) and when you come back you'll need to test prior to arriving in Ireland. Check with the French site but if you're transiting through a single airport you'll probably not have to meet requirements

Ask your agent if the trip is booked under a single reference or two "point to point" trips. If the former, and if flights from Ireland were cancelled, you would get refunded for the total. If the latter, you won't
 
Thanks @EmmDee
If I was travelling today, I would not be concerned.
I am leaving a few days before Xmas and am worried how things will change.
Even if non essential travel is banned, the flight may still run right?
Where do I stand there?
 
Well Aer Lingus will let you change your flights up to 24 hours before hand. I presume Air France have some sort of flexibility as well. But you will need to discuss with your Agency even though I doubt they know. There are too many variables to give you a definite answer. The speculation this morning is very unfair on people who have trips planned. I can't see them banning travel at this stage to be perfectly honest.
 
AndroidMan said:
Even if non essential travel is banned, the flight may still run right?
Where do I stand there?
Click to expand...
If the flight departs, you lose. No refund, and no voucher. As above, you would need to reschedule the flight in advance.

During previous restriction periods, some people were successful in seeking a chargeback on their debit or credit card, but the banks have since admitted they were wrong to do so, and RyanAir will not let those people travel with them in future unless they repay that fare.

The hotel situation depends on the terms & conditions you signed up to. Did you choose rates with a free cancellation policy? Most hotels on that platform offer free cancellation up to a day or so prior to check-in, but they also offer cheaper non-refundable rates. You'll need to confirm which you chose.
 
So if there is a non essential travel ban and the government says I am not allowed to fly, yet the plane departs for people with essential reasons to travel, would insurance not cover this?
The insurance T&C's are not clear, probably intentionally.
 
AndroidMan said:
So if there is a non essential travel ban and the government says I am not allowed to fly, yet the plane departs for people with essential reasons to travel, would insurance not cover this?
The insurance T&C's are not clear, probably intentionally.
Click to expand...
Depends on what your insurance says, but many people's experience last time was that it was not covered. You need to read your policy, but most insurers have introduced clauses since the pandemic begun to exclude cover for such events. For example, InsureMyTrip advertise Covid cover benefits and speak to additional cover it offers, but at the end of the list of benefits they state they offer no cover for cancellation due to government restrictions.
 
Thanks @Leo
So what is the definition of essential travel? And who is the decision maker at the airport?
Will getting some warm weather cut it? :)
 
The Government define it. They removed that requirement earlier in the year and looks like the list they considered 'essential' was taken offline.
 
Sunny said:
. There are too many variables to give you a definite answer. The speculation this morning is very unfair on people who have trips planned. I can't see them banning travel at this stage to be perfectly honest.
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What speculation is this? Is it the media jumping the gun again trying to generate drama and headlines out of covid. At least nphet have been gagged for the moment.
They already jumped the gun by requiring covid tests for people re entering the country even with vaccine certs. The government have an economy to worry about now and a massive internationally traded sector. I think this will be as far as they can go with travel restrictions
 
Thankfully cases are dropping here and hospital admission is also dropping.
It is highly unlikely for any further restrictions here as people have heeded advice and been getting their boosters and many vaccine skeptics have realised that it's far better to have a vaccine than not.

The only possibility is that they will require those over 50 to have had a booster and to even that would be in the new year
 
What I truly don't understand is why they are not updating the cert with the booster information.
Many countries across Europe are now saying that fully vacced means booster included.
I'm boosted, but my cert doesn't reflect this - which means I'm un-vacced in the eyes of many.
I've emailed and tweeted at Leo, Micheal and Stephen Donnelly asking why we don't have this and what is the plan to do so.
Not a peep from them so far.
What reason would they have for NOT updating the app?
I'm not a tin foil hat person, but could there be a motive for this?
 
elefantfresh said:
What I truly don't understand is why they are not updating the cert with the booster information.
Many countries across Europe are now saying that fully vacced means booster included.
I'm boosted, but my cert doesn't reflect this - which means I'm un-vacced in the eyes of many.
I've emailed and tweeted at Leo, Micheal and Stephen Donnelly asking why we don't have this and what is the plan to do so.
Not a peep from them so far.
What reason would they have for NOT updating the app?
I'm not a tin foil hat person, but could there be a motive for this?
Click to expand...
Bureaucratic sclerosis and IT lack of capability is a more plausible explanation.

Look at how clueless MM was going out to bat saying booster takeup was slow due to reluctance, when it was obvious there was a fundamental systems issue and the next day people were being turned away from walk in clinics due to demand. It's like a Yes Minister episode where they want to put Minister in their place.
 
I wonder is there any other way, any workaround we could use in the absence of the updated cert.
Has anybody tried anything at all - I'm at my wits end.
 
elefantfresh said:
I wonder is there any other way, any workaround we could use in the absence of the updated cert.
Has anybody tried anything at all - I'm at my wits end.
Click to expand...

What are you looking for? Where are you travelling to? I am not aware of many Countries in the EU that require Boosters to be regarded as Fully vaccinated (Austria is second jab must be less than 270 days). That is the way it is going but will be at least February before that comes for most Countries.
 
elefantfresh said:
I'm going to France 8th Jan for 3 weeks snowboarding.
For the first week I am considered fully vacced - which I am, including booster
From the 15th Jan, France has stated that fully vacced must include the booster - which our cert does not reflect - as stated above.
In order to use the ski lifts, you must be either fully vacced, recovered or PCR test in last 24hrs.
Meaning, I'll have to do a PCR test every day at a cost of 44e to use the lift.
It just seems like such a stupid issue in the big scheme of things - just update the fecking cert like they're doing in most other european countries.

I know, first world problem - please don't judge me - there are people worse off than me, I'm fully aware of this.
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Did you get a card confirming your booster when administered?Or did they add it to your original card?

They hardly let you out the door without some proof you are fully vaccinated including booster.


I haven't received my booster yet ,so that's why I'm asking.
 
Yes, just a new card saying I'm boosted - but there is no QR code on it - try flashing that to someone checking at the ski lifts!
"Monsieur, there is no QR code - you cannot enter"
"But you can clearly see my paper card with handwritten date and dose, let me in!"
 
elefantfresh said:
I'm going to France 8th Jan for 3 weeks snowboarding.
For the first week I am considered fully vacced - which I am, including booster
From the 15th Jan, France has stated that fully vacced must include the booster - which our cert does not reflect - as stated above.
In order to use the ski lifts, you must be either fully vacced, recovered or PCR test in last 24hrs.
Meaning, I'll have to do a PCR test every day at a cost of 44e to use the lift.
It just seems like such a stupid issue in the big scheme of things - just update the fecking cert like they're doing in most other european countries.

I know, first world problem - please don't judge me - there are people worse off than me, I'm fully aware of this.
Click to expand...

Not judging at all. Pretty annoying. I hadn't realised that France were planning that so early in January. Are they that far ahead in their booster campaign to make that possible?

I don't know why they haven't added the booster to the EU Digital covid certs even if not required. The EU issued coding specifications in the middle of November and by all accounts, it is not that big a code change.
 
elefantfresh said:
Yes, just a new card saying I'm boosted - but there is no QR code on it - try flashing that to someone checking at the ski lifts!
"Monsieur, there is no QR code - you cannot enter"
"But you can clearly see my paper card with handwritten date and dose, let me in!"
Click to expand...
But the dose will be noted, batch number etc and is printed.
Perhaps call the French Embassy maybe they will provide a solution. It'll cost nothing to ask.
 
You know something, thats not the worst idea.
I've just sent them an email outlining all the above.
Thanks for that - lets see if they come back at all.
 
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