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11/05/21 - BA load more flights to 13 destinations from LHR for Summer Hols

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11/05/21 - BA load more flights to 13 destinations from LHR for Summer Hols

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Old May 11, 2021, 9:49 am
  #16  
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Originally Posted by steview111
Why else would they add Turkey to the red list when it’s cases were falling and around 20,000 per day, and not when they were 60,000+?
Because nearly 3% of people arriving in the UK from Turkey, all of whom had a negative test, turned out to be carrying Covid. The bulk of them could be described as having connections with the Indian sub continent. The UK background rate is 0.04%.
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Old May 11, 2021, 9:58 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
Because nearly 3% of people arriving in the UK from Turkey, all of whom had a negative test, turned out to be carrying Covid. The bulk of them could be described as having connections with the Indian sub continent. The UK background rate is 0.04%.
Exactly, people arriving from the Indian subcontinent were trying to go use Turkey to reach the UK with false negative tests and with false declarations on their passenger locator forms that they haven't been to a red-list country; it was unavoidable that UK needed to stay stop to this.

It's really sad but I have also seen some FT members asking advice about this getaway from the community to avoid the hotel quarantine.

Originally Posted by IAN-UK
I'm not sure I understand. Assuming red list inclusion was only because of the risk from quarantine evasion (and that's a brave assumption), how will that risk have evaporated in only a few weeks ?
We'll all see...
I am also waiting for Turkey's solution.
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Old May 11, 2021, 10:06 am
  #18  
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Originally Posted by ISTFlyer

It's really sad but I have also seen some FT members asking advice about this getaway from the community to avoid the hotel quarantine.
Were these members seeking advice on how to fly through Turkey and lie on their PLF after making a connection OR were they seeking advice on how to spend 10 days in Turkey to cleanse their travel record? If the later, then I don't think there is anything "sad" about that. I think that's what a lot of people did who found themselves in red countries. Its entirely legal.
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Old May 11, 2021, 10:08 am
  #19  
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Originally Posted by steview111
To stop 10,000+ football fans (with or without tickets) going to a place with a fairly high rate of infection. Pretty obvious really.

Why else would they add Turkey to the red list when it’s cases were falling and around 20,000 per day, and not when they were 60,000+?
I'm not sure you can have it both ways.

Turkey offer the same types of risks of as the other middle-east nations hosting major transfer hubs: not so much quarantine evasion, but lack of confidence in the testing credentials of some transfer passengers.
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Old May 11, 2021, 10:09 am
  #20  
 
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Encouraging to see them betting the farm on Greece (or at least some islands) going green...

I think we'll be giving the day trip from Rhodes to Turkey a miss this time round though
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Old May 11, 2021, 10:16 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by KSVVZ2015
Were these members seeking advice on how to fly through Turkey and lie on their PLF after making a connection OR were they seeking advice on how to spend 10 days in Turkey to cleanse their travel record? If the later, then I don't think there is anything "sad" about that. I think that's what a lot of people did who found themselves in red countries. Its entirely legal.
Absolutely. A bit like tax avoidance/evasion

10 days in a comfortable hotel in a pleasant environment at a pocket-friendly rate compares well with the alternative. Comfortably within the letter of the law, though some might see it as stretching the spirit just a little.
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Old May 11, 2021, 10:18 am
  #22  
 
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I won't go for a long weekend in Greece given the £200pp T&T return cost from an amber country. Outbound and inbound PCR tests on top are inevitable, at additional cost.

Nothing on that list is green at present. So it's all a lot of gambling at the moment, really, isn't it?

Roll on status extension please...
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Old May 11, 2021, 10:46 am
  #23  
 
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I'll take a punt on Greece for the end of June, I think. Vaccination rates are really going quite well in the EU now.
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Old May 11, 2021, 11:59 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by IAN-UK
Absolutely. A bit like tax avoidance/evasion

10 days in a comfortable hotel in a pleasant environment at a pocket-friendly rate compares well with the alternative. Comfortably within the letter of the law, though some might see it as stretching the spirit just a little.
I wouldn’t even say it’s against the spirit. The UK has decided that 10 days is the correct risk based incubation period. That’s being followed. Either the person will become symptomatic and/or their pre departure test for the UK flight will be positive. Either way the spirit (preventing high risk passengers from spreading the virus in the UK) is achieved just as it would have been with 10 days in the LHR motel 6.
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Old May 11, 2021, 1:40 pm
  #25  
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Originally Posted by KSVVZ2015
I wouldn’t even say it’s against the spirit. The UK has decided that 10 days is the correct risk based incubation period. That’s being followed. Either the person will become symptomatic and/or their pre departure test for the UK flight will be positive. Either way the spirit (preventing high risk passengers from spreading the virus in the UK) is achieved just as it would have been with 10 days in the LHR motel 6.
I'm not offering an argument about the legality of forms of quarantine.

But whether or not Turkey shuffle follows the spirit of the law, I'd suggest there's a difference in outcome between 10 days spent freely wandering Istanbul, and being stuck in the room of a Holiday Inn (et al) near Heathrow.
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Old May 11, 2021, 3:17 pm
  #26  
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Originally Posted by KSVVZ2015
Were these members seeking advice on how to fly through Turkey and lie on their PLF after making a connection OR were they seeking advice on how to spend 10 days in Turkey to cleanse their travel record? If the later, then I don't think there is anything "sad" about that. I think that's what a lot of people did who found themselves in red countries. Its entirely legal.
It's unfortunately the former that I have seen. The latter is perfectly fine.
An example: Travelling from Qatar to UK - proof of UK hotel quarantine req'd by TK?
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Old May 11, 2021, 3:51 pm
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by BrianDromey
I think the Government are trying to stop people from Red list countries arriving in the UK. By banning direct flights and cutting off 4 major ME hubs (UAE, DOH, IST) they can achieve that from Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and Asia. Bodrum as a beech holiday destination might be an exception.
If Bodrum is made an exception, then people won't book India-Istanbul-London. Instead, people would book India-Istanbul-Bodrum and then Bodrum-London on a separate ticket, pretending to have been in Bodrum for long enough to avoid hotel quarantine.

Actually, won't people just find some other airport where they connect on separate tickets to avoid the hotel quarantine if IST no longer works?
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Old May 13, 2021, 6:16 am
  #28  
 
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Wonder if they'll also add a few more flights to OPO at the end of the month...
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Old May 13, 2021, 6:24 am
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by ratechaser
Wonder if they'll also add a few more flights to OPO at the end of the month...
They’ll have to. I mean it’s going to be a big money maker.
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Old May 13, 2021, 6:31 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by BAeuro
They’ll have to. I mean it’s going to be a big money maker.
Full Y at £1285 return... indeed it will be.
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