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Would BA be fined [for allowing a passenger to travel against COVID restrictions] ?

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Would BA be fined [for allowing a passenger to travel against COVID restrictions] ?

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Old Oct 3, 2020, 12:08 am
  #1  
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Would BA be fined [for allowing a passenger to travel against COVID restrictions] ?
My wife and I are due to fly to Miami and neither government will allow us to travel. UK government banning all but essential travel, the US government not allowing us in. BA have confirmed that the flight is currently still live. I have asked them whether they would allow us to fly due to the government restrictions, because presumably they will be fined as we wouldn’t be allowed through immigration?
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 12:11 am
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Originally Posted by botham
My wife and I are due to fly to Miami and neither government will allow us to travel. UK government banning all but essential travel, the US government not allowing us in. BA have confirmed that the flight is currently still live. I have asked them whether they would allow us to fly due to the government restrictions, because presumably they will be fined as we wouldn’t be allowed through immigration?
If you don’t have a valid ESTA or visa, you won’t be allowed on the flight. If the US CBP thinks you’re intending to fly, thanks to the airline submitting your API before the flight, your ESTA will be suspended.

Incidentally, the UK has not banned all but essential travel. The FCO is merely advising against it.
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Last edited by GumshoeW12; Oct 3, 2020 at 12:27 am
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 12:19 am
  #3  
 
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If you’re asking if you can force BA to refund you as you can’t fly then the answer is no. Satisfying entry criteria is solely the passengers’ responsibility. Your travel insurance should reimburse you if it’s a decent policy & you booked prior to this becoming a “known event”.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 1:16 am
  #4  
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Originally Posted by mda03jb
If you’re asking if you can force BA to refund you as you can’t fly then the answer is no. Satisfying entry criteria is solely the passengers’ responsibility. Your travel insurance should reimburse you if it’s a decent policy & you booked prior to this becoming a “known event”.
I believe my travel insurance will gain me a refund, but as I only paid just over £2000 per person to fly first, I know I’ll never get such a cheap deal again, so I prefer BA to cancel the flight or the booking so we can transfer it 12 months.

I originally booked the flights before anyone had heard of Covid, so my insurance should cover me or I’d settle for a voucher.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 1:27 am
  #5  
 
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Originally Posted by botham
I believe my travel insurance will gain me a refund, but as I only paid just over £2000 per person to fly first, I know I’ll never get such a cheap deal again, so I prefer BA to cancel the flight or the booking so we can transfer it 12 months.
Dont worry about it. There’ll be cheap F fares across the pond for the next two years at least to persuade us all back.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 1:47 am
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Originally Posted by GumshoeW12

Incidentally, the UK has not banned all but essential travel. The FCO is merely advising against it.
true, but I think that if the FCO advises against it, then most travel insurance would be invalid. Not sure I’d travel to the US without insurance.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 1:50 am
  #7  
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You’ll certainly get those prices again! In fact you could get Club any time next year from LUX for £800 and upgrade using Avios to F with availability quite generous
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 1:55 am
  #8  
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There are plenty of people who can fly from the UK to the US so it is far from certain that the flight will be cancelled. As others have pointed out, ability to travel is solely the responsibility of the passenger, so BA won’t be fined.

Incidentally, I doubt there will be cheap fares anytime soon. Nobody will need to be convinced of anything, capacity will be way down, and demand will increase. Air travel is likely to become much more expensive.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 1:57 am
  #9  
 
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Originally Posted by LondonElite
There are plenty of people who can fly from the UK to the US so it is far from certain that the flight will be cancelled. As others have pointed out, ability to travel is solely the responsibility of the passenger, so BA won’t be fined.
BA would (probably) be fined if it let OP fly without authorisation. Hence why he won’t be allowed to fly.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 2:08 am
  #10  
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Originally Posted by botham
but as I only paid just over £2000 per person to fly first, I know I’ll never get such a cheap deal again, .
I agree with A P Yu that we are almost certainly entering into a buyers' market, so there will be bargains coming up, as there have always been, and maybe the TPA and MCO services will be departing from LHR too. But regardless of that, First Avios availability is wide open in First to MIA at the moment, and a return is 170k Avios plus £667, so not far off the £2,000 figure anyway. Add in a companion vouncher and you're well inside £2k. That just normal "playing the redemption game", and allows semi-flexible tickets.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 2:08 am
  #11  
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I presume you don’t want to travel since you can’t enter the US? Is a FTV an option?
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 3:43 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by KARFA
I presume you don’t want to travel since you can’t enter the US? Is a FTV an option?
Yes, a FTV is an option.

Thanks to everyone with the helpful information about cheap fares in and use of two-for-one vouchers, although one of my reasons for booking in F was to get upgraded to silver status.

it all seems so meaningless now.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 3:57 am
  #13  
 
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Originally Posted by botham
Yes, a FTV is an option.

Thanks to everyone with the helpful information about cheap fares in and use of two-for-one vouchers, although one of my reasons for booking in F was to get upgraded to silver status.

it all seems so meaningless now.
there are other, cheaper and better ways to get Silver than an F fare to US.
check out the TP run forum
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 4:06 am
  #14  
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Originally Posted by PGberkshire
there are other, cheaper and better ways to get Silver than an F fare to US.
check out the TP run forum
I can see why I should be spending my retirement reading these forums in more detail.
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Old Oct 3, 2020, 5:49 am
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by PGberkshire
there are other, cheaper and better ways to get Silver than an F fare to US.
check out the TP run forum
But it is by far the most civilised way of getting to Silver...
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