A1pax

"crying" - we want to get home! another year to wait ...

mikeyfly

There are other airlines out there !

Hawes7701

Just had email saying our F flights from SYD - SIN in august has been cancelled.

spoke to you first and no alternative offered. Said they have no agreement with Singapore airlines. Suggested the only possible would be on Qatar via DOH but said that she wasn’t sure it would allowed

13901

It's deep, deep, deep into crystal ball territory but I personally doubt Australia will allow international travel before their summer season. We'll see what QF does with their self-imposed international travel embargo in March 2021.

nufnuf77

Our SIN and KUL flights in F for May were cancelled as well. I think we shall rebook to CNY 2022 when the window opens up in feb 2021.

lorcancoyle

I’m not surprised they’ve cancelled flights. I had a couple of Avios bookings for May / August so will wait at least until March / April to make a call.

Also more time to negotiate an extended 3-4 weeks off with work

Now if the UK could start providing vaccination certificates if feel a bit more confident about being allowed in!

nufnuf77

Are people not getting certificates once vaccinated? I am surprised, as personally thats one of the key reasons, if not THE KEY, I would get the vaccine

BrianDromey

Not at the moment. There are worries that people may be discriminated against if the choose, cannot get vaccinated or that their turn has not come up yet. Administration of the vaccine will be kept on the individuals health records. Depending on the system used by the vaccinator this may be in a GP or Hospital system. I don't think that most countries will ask for COVID-19 vaccination until the majority of vulnerable people have been vaccinated. This is mainly for reasons of supply, as most countries, even the USA, are vaccinating free of charge on a public health basis.

Things might looks different around the Winter 2021/22 schedule, I would guess. Or just about when BA are planning to re-start their service.

HFHFFlyer

Just a hunch but I fear that this route will not return. I doubt very much that the Aussies will have the level of population vaccination that their conservative approach requires before the end of 2021. I don’t see the borders opening until early 2022. By that point, I suspect BA will drag their feet on reinstating the route because of depressed demand. The yield and level of equipment it absorbs have both long cast doubt on the route’s viability. With the option of code sharing with QR, I suspect the temptation to do simply nothing and hope people forget all about good old 15/16 will be too great.

Mwenenzi

As post 176 in https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ocea...l#post32888617

16 Dec 2020 (news.com.au)--->Coronavirus updates live: NSW confirms one new case

Confus

It’s not just about you though, is it? There is still no evidence that the vaccine reduces transmission risk, only that it tends to stops the person vaccinated falling seriously ill. So unless this changes, in addition to you being vaccinated, the vulnerable population in your host country also needs to be. A certificate won’t help you or anyone else in that situation.

dddc

Crumbs! I had a 2-4-1 booked in J for Feb when they had the Avios sale recently. The next day the Australian gov't announced no international flights until at least Oct so I cancelled the flight as still within the 24 hr booking window. If I'd kept the seats and now BA cancelled the route until Nov, could I have held onto the seats indefinitely, would it have converted into a travel voucher, or would they have refunded the Avios - but what would have happened to the Amex 2-4-1 voucher as it would have expired by then (and it looks like it's going to expire anyway the way things are going!).

HFHFFlyer

I agree. An extremely conservative approach is required and nobody should assume that vaccination eliminates transmission risk. However, it is not correct to say that there is "no evidence" that the vaccine reduces transmission risk. There is, in fact, considerable evidence in both the Pfizer/Biontech and Oxfor/AZ data that it does indeed reduce transmission risk. The point - very obviously - is that this evidence is not conclusive; not because there is lots of conflicting data but because there is insufficient data, and, in circumstances like this, you need the evidence to be conclusive that it eliminates (rather than reduces) transmission risk.

Its hard to predict where this will all land but if I had to stick my finger in the air, I would say Australia will complete the vaccination of its adult population by the end of 2021 and then, provided the vaccine is shown to be giving lasting protection from data elsewhere in the world, will allow vaccinated people in from early 2022 without quarantine requirements.

The events in Sydney in the last 48 hours go to show that extreme caution continues to be required.

neofung

Unbelievable that massive cancellation in Asia region but HKG still has two daily flights

BrianDromey

Possibly. But there are a number of routes that BA have permanently suspended, SYD is not on that list, even though it has been cancelled all the way through the summer season. Im hopeful it will return, BA has long ago abandoned routes that were prestigious but unprofitable. But, given the numbers of 747s retired there is significantly less fleet availability, even with reduced demand, which might tip the scales away from the SIN-SYD extension.