BA and Portugal
#17
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 1,281
I guess we’ll see what the political decision is later on - but if this uncertainty continues it might be cheaper for BA to furlough more staff for the rest of the summer, making a later ramp up very difficult.
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,008
The googly would be Portugal restricting access to UK visitors. Not likely, but it's best to be aware that things can change.
Whether it's fair or not, domestic reporting hasn't been entirely sympathetic to UK visitors and there's some nervousness waiting for impacts from the tourism, sporting fixtures and the relaxing of local restrictions.
Whether it's fair or not, domestic reporting hasn't been entirely sympathetic to UK visitors and there's some nervousness waiting for impacts from the tourism, sporting fixtures and the relaxing of local restrictions.
#20
Join Date: Nov 2004
Programs: BA GGL, LH FTL
Posts: 3,578
If not Portugal, then maybe one of the other attractive destinations on the green list...
Israel, currently very exciting with lots of action and adventure. Or a beach holiday in Iceland, I hear the black sand is not that cold when the sun shines directly on it. Or of course AU, NZ, SG (assuming one has a diplomatic passport and thinks it is fun to holiday in a quarantine hotel with room service).
Let's face it - holidays in 2021 are only for those who are very tolerant of disruption. The rest should stay home.
Israel, currently very exciting with lots of action and adventure. Or a beach holiday in Iceland, I hear the black sand is not that cold when the sun shines directly on it. Or of course AU, NZ, SG (assuming one has a diplomatic passport and thinks it is fun to holiday in a quarantine hotel with room service).
Let's face it - holidays in 2021 are only for those who are very tolerant of disruption. The rest should stay home.
#21
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: Some
Posts: 5,263
If not Portugal, then maybe one of the other attractive destinations on the green list...
Israel, currently very exciting with lots of action and adventure. Or a beach holiday in Iceland, I hear the black sand is not that cold when the sun shines directly on it. Or of course AU, NZ, SG (assuming one has a diplomatic passport and thinks it is fun to holiday in a quarantine hotel with room service).
Let's face it - holidays in 2021 are only for those who are very tolerant of disruption. The rest should stay home.
Israel, currently very exciting with lots of action and adventure. Or a beach holiday in Iceland, I hear the black sand is not that cold when the sun shines directly on it. Or of course AU, NZ, SG (assuming one has a diplomatic passport and thinks it is fun to holiday in a quarantine hotel with room service).
Let's face it - holidays in 2021 are only for those who are very tolerant of disruption. The rest should stay home.
#22
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Munich, Algarve, Sussex or S.F Bay Area
Programs: Mucci, BA Gold, A3*Gold, AA Plat, HH Gold, IHG Plat Amb, Marriott Plat
Posts: 4,164
The googly would be Portugal restricting access to UK visitors. Not likely, but it's best to be aware that things can change.
Whether it's fair or not, domestic reporting hasn't been entirely sympathetic to UK visitors and there's some nervousness waiting for impacts from the tourism, sporting fixtures and the relaxing of local restrictions.
Whether it's fair or not, domestic reporting hasn't been entirely sympathetic to UK visitors and there's some nervousness waiting for impacts from the tourism, sporting fixtures and the relaxing of local restrictions.
Despite being in Munich right now, I am a permanent Portuguese resident. There is a huge fear that the early opening to British tourists (and football fans) will cancel out the hard work of getting Covid numbers down. The ecenomy desperately needs the income, particularly in the Algarve but not at any cost. I would not at all be surprised by moves by Portugal if Indian variant trends in the UK continue.
As for the UK travel traffic light system, I‘ve always thought this was set up to control where Brits travel to rather than who can enter or closely following global trends. It‘s all a question of optics.
As for BA, it‘s been nice seeing the aircraft regularly taxiing into position recently, but my gut feeling is that this is, for now, temporary.
#23
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,238
That was barking mad. I've seen photos from friends in Porto of fans behaving as if it was a normal away day in the sun, minus perhaps the worst vandalism. To have staged that game abroad when both teams were English, only because (as it's alleged) UEFA crooks couldn't be bothered to self-isolate once here is crazy.
And there's worse to come with the Euros.
And there's worse to come with the Euros.
#24
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 726
For some reason IATA believe 2.2% of all incoming passengers tested getting a positive result after previously being negative means we should open up more. Strange logic if you ask me but that's for another thread.
- Between 25 February and 5 May 2021, 365,895 tests were conducted on arriving passengers to the UK. These were PCR negative before travel. Only 2.2% tested positive for COVID-19 infection during universal quarantine measures after their arrival. Of these, over half were from “red list” countries, which were considered very high risk. Removing them from the statistics would result in test positivity of 1.46%.
- Of the 103,473 arrivals from the EU (excluding Ireland), 1.35% tested positive. Three countries, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, accounted for 60% of the positive cases.
#25
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Scotland
Programs: BA Silver, Hilton Diamond, BD Blue (RIP)
Posts: 1,986
#28
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,440
The whole system is a mess...AGAIN!
What happened to the ‘Green Watchlist’, why arent there more ‘Green’ countries?
If they remove Portugal and don’t add anything else, then the industry is screwed.
Malta should definitely be green, it has lower cases and high vaccinations than the UK. It doesn’t hold a risk.
What happened to the ‘Green Watchlist’, why arent there more ‘Green’ countries?
If they remove Portugal and don’t add anything else, then the industry is screwed.
Malta should definitely be green, it has lower cases and high vaccinations than the UK. It doesn’t hold a risk.
#29
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club, easyJet and Ryanair
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: UK/Las Vegas
Programs: BA Gold (GGL/CCR)
Posts: 15,930