Courmisch

(Sorry that this got seriously off-topic.)

As far as I understand, the travel restrictions now are more meant to prevent the spread of hypothetical new mutations or contain (slow down) the spread of known mutations (SA, UK and Brazil's). Obviously the original "baseline" virus is already almost everywhere.

Spain, Greece and probably some other destination countries requested vaccination certificates... Keep in mind, they're not about reenabling FTers to travel. They're about allowing boomers and maybe GenX to come spend their vacation, and reassuring their own citizens that those rich elder tourists are safe to let back in.

GenY (including me and a whole bunch of idiots here) and GenZ are not going to win anything from certificates, since we are (understandably) so far away in the vaccination queue.

Steve_Hun

Actually, some of those things you've mentioned are already reality now. In many countries if your kid does not have the required vaccinations in order, (s)he is not allowed to go to school (obviously not true for those who cannot take the vaccination for medical reason).

Courmisch

Or even to day care and kindergarten, yes. But what about SARS-CoV-2 vaccination? Should people be allowed to travel if they have a medical reason not to be vaccinated? Should people be allowed to travel if they have a valid logistical reason not to be vaccinated yet (in other words, the supply of vaccines is insufficient)? Will minors even be vaccinated at all?

The existing WHO document does not address those issues. I expect that it will take a while for Schengen member countries to agree on the answers to those questions.

Im a new user

Additionally, if you live in a household with more than one person, you can't go on a family trip until everyone in the household has been vaccinated. Children are the last to be vaccinated and so they prevent the whole family from going anywhere. The parents can't leave an infant at home when going on holiday and if the child is a bit older, the child will think that it is unfair that only the parents get to travel. The countries requesting vaccine passports are mainly tourist destinations, but many of the tourists are families with children who can't travel.

srieppo

Well yeah, this is getting of topic, but anyway:

People with a medical condition that prevents vaccination should not really travel much anyway. Reasons why you can't get vaccinated usually has to do with a weak immune system. Those are very serious conditions and traveling with those is generally a very bad idea. Maybe from Finland to Sweden is not that big issue, but traveling to Asia, Africa or South America.

The vaccine problem has to do with weakened live virus or bacteria. Those won't cause the disease if your immune system is ok, they just give immunity, but for weak systems they might. So you can't take those. Covid-19 vaccines are not that kind, but a vaccine might not give a good immune response, so even vaccinated, you might not be safe.

One example of those vaccines is yellow fever. It is a very serious disease with a mortality rate of 10-50%. If you have a weak immune system and therefore no vaccine, it would be plain crazy to travel to a country that has that. And if your reason why you can't take the vaccine is not a weak system, but maybe an allergy, you really shouldn't travel to those countries either. Hepatitis A is another one. If you can't get that vaccine, you really shouldn't travel to any low-hygiene countries. Japanese encephalitis vaccine is another one and it affects travel. Even if you got those vaccines before getting the disease, your immune system might not be up to it anymore. Might not produce the antibodies it normally could and what it needs.

WilcoRoger

It's a mixture of medical, legal and political reasoning so I don't expect anything meaningful coming out of it.

Start with the constitutional right of everyone to be treated equally - it just isn't legally possible to make different rules for vaccinated people vs unvaccinated.

Extra Mile

Is it possible to create a new thread for vaccination, border restrictions, politics etc.? I will hope this thread is only for promotion and talking about that. @FinnairPlus_Ela is there any good promotions coming?

OH-LGG

Yes. It would be then 4th or 5th covid höpöhöpö border/vaccine/politics -thread here.

miamiflyer8

Report the post that started the COVID discussion here and a mod will merge/split/move the posts into the appropriate place.

OH-LGG

https://www.finnair.com/fi/gb/finnair-plus/buy-points

WilcoRoger

No TPs to match? Not thank you. What should I spend the points on?

kauppias

my email offer said the first Tierpoint offer of 2021 o what a dissappointment to read the actual email which was nothing of the sort 🤣🤣🤣

The plaaaah year continues, no promos for the wicked 🤦‍♂️🤣🤣🤣

WilcoRoger

Yeps, I also got nearly excited read the e-mail header, only to come down immediately reading the body of the mail. Someone at AY+ communications has no clue about the AY+ program.

ffay005

Flights, maybe?

I've used up more points than I've purchased, and the deals have been good. If memory serves me right, I paid around 700 EUR for 100 000 points, and I've used those points for two last-minute oneway awards booked a few hours before take-off as well as for two return award tickets where a paid ticket would have been around 400–500 EUR. Money well spent, IMO.

WilcoRoger

I'm sitting on medium high 6-figures points stash currently. With the current rules e.g about having to have tests (200-300€ a pop) to fly AY and all the lockdowns/entry restrictions/quarantines anywhere I actually would want to go I see no way of needing any more points. Now with Sanna and Krista closing restaurants (don't even start - I'm so upset about our rubbish government and their total lack of leadership and achievements), even restaurant gift cards are useless.