HB7

Hi All,

As I'm sure most here may be aware, the government is in talks to implement 2-week hotel quarantine according to reports: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/138045...tel-two-weeks/. If this does happen, and it is looking very likely at the moment. Obviously, this would completely kill leisure travel. I assume it will be brought into place in the coming weeks and who knows how long it will last, but surely it will last at least 3 - 4 months, meaning only an Autumn return to any form of leisure travel.

BA has it extremely tough now due to lockdown and many countries banning people from the UK entering. How does BA survive this? Does anyone think they can survive this? I know this is a BA forum, but also anyone in the UK working in the travel industry - how do they survive this?

13901

As we were saying earlier on another thread, if this folly is introduced for all countries it's not just BA that folds - it's everyone in the industry that does. From airports to airlines to Eurostar. Still, from the Torygraph it seems that it's more a boutade coming from Priti than anything else.

DYKWIA

Nobody should be traveling for leisure at the moment anyway. But, going off what's been posted on here, it appears that a lot of people think the essential travel only rule applies to other people, not themselves. It will be interesting to see how many essential trips are still essential if it involves 2 weeks in a hotel room.

I personally can't see this happening. The government has proved so far that it can't organise a "drinking session" in a brewery, so I don't hold out much hope for this.

If it had been done a year ago, then maybe it would have worked. Way too late now though.

Dave Noble

Given that there shouldn't be any leisure travel, it shouldnt make an issue to it

Implementing a quarantine seems like finally a good idea but will , I expect, impact number of flights that BA will operate as , so called, essential trips become non-essential

Freddorick

I don’t expect this to happen. The current government seems reluctant to introduce rules that limit individual freedoms and usually only do so if they have no other option.

If it does happen I would assume that the government will bail BA out.

HB7

I completely agree non-essential travel should not be happening now. If this is implemented in a few weeks and we as a nation are doing so much better than we are now, how long will leisure travel be banned and how BA gets through another 6 months of virtually no one traveling unless they absolutely have to.

Yellowbelly

Only realised this week Eurostar is down to only two trains a day in each direction, one London - Paris and the other London - Brussels -Amsterdam. I guess they will need government support to survive this.

Confus

If nothing else, it would show that the government is finally getting serious about getting this thing under control. Domestic rule compliance would also go up if they’re seen to be serious... and of course people shouldn’t be going for leisure travel at the moment anyway.

But more importantly, as I’ve said before, stopping people entering the country (and therefore leaving in the first place) at a time when it’s expected that domestic restrictions are likely to be reduced will lead to a huge amount of leisure/holiday spending within the UK, which would be a massive boost to the economy. Yes it means also preventing foreign tourists arriving, but realistically, who else is stupid enough to come here right now anyway? So for this reason alone, I think the government won’t be able to resist the temptation, it’s realistically a one-time-only offer they have.

BA will be fine.

13901

Having had to do 'local' holidays in the UK this year, if by the summer I still can't go abroad I'll most probably stay at home in London. I remember getting stuck in a massive tailback of caravans north of Newcastle thanks to even more caravans getting stuck at a junction and wondering "why the hell am I doing this?". To each his own I guess but, as far as holidays go, our two "staycations" in the UK were wholly forgettable.

brunos

Sad indeed that the UK is only starting to take covid seriously in terms of entry. It has the benefit to be an island but did not take advantage of it. Many countries in Asia have adopted quarantine in hotels or dedicated centers (or very strict home quarantine) long ago and are those faring the best in terms of health and economy.
But that is another debate.

Except in China, and possibly the US, all airlines are in ICU. They are all desperate to survive and BA is no exception. On the other hand, it is obvious that planes will still fly in a few years time. How the airline industry will restructure is an open question.

On the other hand, compulsory hotel quarantine for all arrivals would be a life saver for many hotels. If there are only 20,000 daily returnees and a 10-day quarantine, that means 200,000 rooms occupied each day (OK, there are some couples).

Joshm300

I’m really surprised that the government is under the impression the public would support this for U.K. citizens for the whole summer. In my opinion, It’s very different in Australia and New Zealand where you can ski, go to a rainforest, lie on a hot and sunny beach etc. All within the same country. I would understand it if it was just for Feb and March, but the reality is it will take the U.K. government months to implement and then take them months to decide to end it, and before we know it, the summer in Europe is lost. The vast majority of brits didn’t get a decent break last year and we’ve all carrying ourselves through this grim winter on the thought of getting away in summer 2021, so if it impacted U.K. citizens for the summer, I think it would be massive hit to morale and BA.

It’s getting really worrying for BA, every day this goes on, there will be hundreds of companies deciding they don’t need to do business travel again. As someone who advocates face to face meeting, even I’m beginning to think to myself, that if we don’t get flying for work this year, it’s just going to unjustifiable saying I need to go somewhere after we’ve coped without it for two years, and I work for a company of 22 people, not a massive corporate where they’ll be seeing millions saved at the moment.

HB7

Exactly. If hotel quarantine goes ahead, by the time it is implemented, it'll likely be late Feb/March. And then it will likely go on for 3 - 6 months and the summer is done.

BA is doing it tough now, add another few weeks and then 6 months of required hotel quarantine, which kills off any leisure travel altogether and then severely reduces business travel from current historic lows now already. What's left?

valdor

I don’t understand the logic of this, why would they implement such restrictions now that the vaccination campaign is underway? Wasn’t the point of the restrictions to protect the NHS? (which won’t be at risk once the vulnerable groups are vaccinated)

brunos

Maybe it is time to accept that there cannot be any foreign leisure travel during this crisis?
And that means for many months to come.

Skimo

Because until the whole world has reached immunity through vaccination this health crisis isn't over. I imagine the fear of new, super infectious variants will be a significant factor in suppressing international travel for quite some time.