mmxbreaks

BA11 tonight had to take five crew off, including two flight crew, one of which was the pilot, because Singapore has changed its entry rules: anyone who has been to mainland China AND/OR HK is ineligible to enter.

Crew had to call in short notice backup. We're now 65mins late fully boarded, ironically with a broken tug that's adding greater delay.

I suspect, given the limits of the A380 route and its specifically qualified crew, that BA will cease HK by tomorrow.

This, I admit, I sheer speculation. But if ones A380 crews from HK can't service other routes on that aircraft, how can it continue to operate in and out of there?

Safe travels all...


Moderator correction
Currently, entry/transit restrictions by Singapore government is limited to mainland China.
Please see: https://www.ica.gov.sg/news-and-publ...ntrol-measures for official information.

golfmad

Passengers (and presumably crew) are being asked before boarding flights to the USA whether they have been to mainland China in the last two weeks. I am not sure whether they are automatically barred from entering the US but I suspect it will become quite tricky.

KARFA

Yes the US 14 day restriction is for mainland China and explicitly excludes Hong Kong and Macau for now.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/president...l-coronavirus/

Often1

BA 11 for those who haven't memorized the schedule, operating LHR-SIN.

The US will deny admission to non-US nationals (and other very limited categories) who have travelled to China within the past 14 days. The burden of checking, at least in the first instance, falls to the carrier.

wb1969

Could BA sub the A380 with 747 until the travel restrictions are lifted? That would give them access to a bigger pool of pilots and crew.

mmxbreaks

It's kind of bizarre. Crew told me the pilot during their pre-flight meeting got a memo that he couldn't fulfil service. That also affected an additional four crew. One was sent back to NI, apparently, having flown in specifically for this service.
Wheels up in a couple of mins anyway... Sounds a bit unfolding... (the situation, not the wheels... maybe both).

Can I help you

I think that BA will be able to handle this scheduling restriction.

GrahamClarke

I guess it's an evolving situation. I flew LHR-IAD on Monday and wasn't asked at departure or by any BA staff subsequently, but was asked by CBP upon arrival. 6 years since I last did a day trip from HKG to China, so not an issue :-)

bisonrav

I can't find any reference to Singapore including Hong Kong as part of the zone requiring 14 day quarantine, has this been confirmed?

Cassie55

This seems strange. We flew from HKG to SIN today on (a nearly empty) CX. And it looks like CX is still operating HKG-SIN tomorrow which surely they wouldn't if no one was allowed entry.

We were asked if we had been to mainland China but no problem with entry. There were about a dozen people armed with the temperature guns but they seemed to be concentrating on Asian people rather than westerners. (We did have our temperatures taken at the hotel in HKG before we could check in though).

stevie

This is a very misleading thread title and also I am not aware Singapore is banning HK originating passengers.
Mods need to review as many people struggling to get out of China thru HK and on reading this would be very concerning.....if true

carrotjuice

Agree. Or people may be misled to cancel their trips to HK for fear of not being able to enter Singapore.

Confus

For the benefit of those too lazy to read the US proclamation, an exemption is very clearly given to ‘non-immigrant operating crew’, so no rostering issues for US flights.

And even if there were an issue, with c.20,000 crew, it would not be hard for BA to split the rostering for a while if they absolutely had to. They’d probably even get enough volunteers to run HKGs and back, it’s a popular route (even now).

Finally, if the OP is reading, I’d love to know who the other ‘flight crew’ is if not a pilot......

golfmad

You have a most charming way with words.

I haven’t seen the documentation and was reporting verbatim what was said at LHR today during both a passport/visa check and during the boarding process.

bobbytables

I cannot find any source for HK being included, and I know several people who have flown from HKG (where they live) to SIN in the last few days. I call bollocks.