BA & Dubai

Old Feb 2, 2021, 11:40 am
  #841  
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
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I travelled back to the U.K. this morning from DXB through BAH. Booked a one way ticket at the weekend as I couldn’t risk hotel quarantine on return to the U.K.

A combination of Gulf Air and BA with a 787-9 for both legs made it a great choice for anyone wanting to return back to the U.K. Transfer experience in BAH worked well too.
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Old Feb 2, 2021, 12:10 pm
  #842  
 
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Originally Posted by oneworldglobetrotter
I travelled back to the U.K. this morning from DXB through BAH. Booked a one way ticket at the weekend as I couldn’t risk hotel quarantine on return to the U.K.

A combination of Gulf Air and BA with a 787-9 for both legs made it a great choice for anyone wanting to return back to the U.K. Transfer experience in BAH worked well too.
Have you requested the FTV for the return trip you did have booked yet?
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Old Feb 2, 2021, 12:15 pm
  #843  
 
Join Date: Jan 2021
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Originally Posted by sunshinebob
Have you requested the FTV for the return trip you did have booked yet?
I had already claimed a FTV as I extended my stay in DXB to avoid the lockdown as long as possible so didn’t actually have a confirmed return flight until I booked my flight home at the weekend.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 4:08 am
  #844  
 
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Just watched Hancock being grilled by Sky News about why the hotel quarantine is not in place yet. Sky mentioned the indirect routes back from Dubai and what a loophole it is.

But surely even those flying back to the UK from Dubai via (say) BAH will have a Dubai PCR test certificate, so it will not be rocket science for UK border control to determine they have come in from Dubai - and send them direct to that dreaded airport Travelodge after they eventually get the hotel quarantine sorted?

Absolutely no criticism of Oneworldglobetrotter here by the way - he returned complying fully with current UK laws. Like many I have to travel for my own business, but cannot do it if I am trapped in a hotel for two weeks after I return.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 4:22 am
  #845  
 
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I've often wondered if there's a way to track where the passenger has originated from under an indirect routing. Surely the movement could be identified very easily where you're on a connecting flight?

If you book two one way tickets then I imagine that's your "loophole" and it's much harder to track. As I've said before, the whole reason hotel quarantine is being proposed is because people just brush it off and don't do it. The reasons for this I'm sure vary, but are all likely supported by an impression that they won't be caught. They are probably right as well.

What Sky News and the media seem to be angling it is just about a total ban on passenger aviation in and out of the country, a position I don't support as UK citizens and residents should be allowed to return if they need to.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 4:24 am
  #846  
 
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Originally Posted by MikeManx
But surely even those flying back to the UK from Dubai via (say) BAH will have a Dubai PCR test certificate, so it will not be rocket science for UK border control to determine they have come in from Dubai - and send them direct to that dreaded airport Travelodge after they eventually get the hotel quarantine sorted?
There are so many testing centres and labs in Dubai it is hard to keep up with them all. On a recent trip where i was returning last minute i went to 3 different centres and got 3 different result certs all within 24 hours.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 4:28 am
  #847  
 
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The danger is that anyone who illegally escapes hotel quarantine won't even bother isolating at home. Whereas, a requirement to isolate at home may have resulted in better behaviour for fear of detection.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 4:47 am
  #848  
 
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Originally Posted by bluemoon68
The danger is that anyone who illegally escapes hotel quarantine won't even bother isolating at home. Whereas, a requirement to isolate at home may have resulted in better behaviour for fear of detection.
Im not sure I follow that logic.

Anyone who ‘escapes’ hotel quarantine was never going to voluntarily isolate at home in the first place.

The borderline cases, those who may have breached home isolation on a couple of occasions, are where hotel-based enforced quarantines will be most effective.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 6:05 am
  #849  
 
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Yes,, aware that there are many testing centres in Dubai. The point I was trying (badly) to make was that it will be very clear that those PCR certificates are from a Dubai clinic. So surely they would be useless at the UK Border for proving that you have not originated from Dubai despite flying in from Frankfurt, Istanbul or Dublin.

So, once the hotel quarantine comes in for red list countries, it will not be possible to avoid it by routing via Frankfurt, Istanbul or Dublin - unless you were able to take a PCR test for the UK border without leaving those airports (which is unlikely).
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 7:57 am
  #850  
 
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Originally Posted by Bohinjska Bistrica
I've often wondered if there's a way to track where the passenger has originated from under an indirect routing. Surely the movement could be identified very easily where you're on a connecting flight?
It should be very easy to link PNR data. Having said that, the passenger locator form asks for a passport number, yet UK Border Force needed to check it manually on a sample basis the last two times I came through LHR. Very easy may be too hard for government IT.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 8:49 am
  #851  
 
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Originally Posted by Bohinjska Bistrica
I've often wondered if there's a way to track where the passenger has originated from under an indirect routing. Surely the movement could be identified very easily where you're on a connecting flight?
The system is simple and works as long as there is a code-share or even just an interline. Look, for instance, at flights terminating in or around the US: for all those the last leg carrier must share passenger data with the US Homeland security. Some do with an API, I'm told, most still use the 1960s EDIFACT-based language. Regardless, the last carrier will say to the Homeland Security authorities "Hey, here is Bohinjska Bistrica's itinerary" and, with such an exotic name, you are pretty much guaranteed that Homeland Sec's racial profiling artificial intelligence will you up and "randomly" give an SSSS status to your boarding pass. I've seen it happen even with weird and wonderful interlines I never knew BA had (Daallo Airlines from Mogadishu to Dubai via Hargeisa, then Dubai-London, London-Chicago).

However, if you do have two separate bookings then I don't think it'll work, not unless the authorities of two countries share data. I mean, in my example earlier, naughty 13901 could've been travelling from Mogadishu to Dubai on Daallo, then I could've spent two days enjoying the malls in Dubai (I guess?) and then made my way over to London. Unless the UAE and UK shared data I don't know how UKBF would've known where I was coming from (they could always check my passport stamp but... places like Israel don't give you one).
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 9:11 am
  #852  
 
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Just as a heads up, as if Covid wasn't enough of a complication, Formula 1 is testing in Bahrain from 12th March for 3 days and the actual GP is on the 28th March. I'd imagine flights and hotels are going to be pretty booked up for a lot of March and things will no doubt be much busier around the test and GP dates.

This will not make escaping from DXB any easier
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 9:17 am
  #853  
 
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having recently obtained my fiver year history from border force, i can tell you they do in fact have the full flight information including where you originated from and your PNR.

how that is fed to the agent at a desk though, i do not know.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 9:32 am
  #854  
gms
 
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Originally Posted by Bohinjska Bistrica
I've often wondered if there's a way to track where the passenger has originated from under an indirect routing. Surely the movement could be identified very easily where you're on a connecting flight?
Or Border Force could just look in someone's Passport to see where they have recent Entry/Exit stamps. Obviously not everywhere will result in a Passport stamp, but for locations like Dubai/UAE it is a pretty clear and simple way of spotting that someone may be fibbing if they are saying they have come from somewhere else. Hopefully, there will be severe penalties for anyone found to be lying on any declaration forms.
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Old Feb 3, 2021, 9:35 am
  #855  
 
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Originally Posted by gms
Or Border Force could just look in someone's Passport to see where they have recent Entry/Exit stamps. Obviously not everywhere will result in a Passport stamp, but for locations like Dubai/UAE it is a pretty clear and simple way of spotting that someone may be fibbing if they are saying they have come from somewhere else. Hopefully, there will be severe penalties for anyone found to be lying on any declaration forms.
I have two passports - so looking in the one presented is not going to necessarily provide what you are looking for
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