GUWonder

This morning the Swedish border control police at Hyllie handling train passengers coming from Copenhagen are wearing those bluish "medical" masks when checking passengers on the arrival platform and on the arrival train. But the couple of Swedish policewomen escorting back the rejected passengers -- mostly its male travelers being rejected at Hyllie, and it's overwhelming that this morning too -- aren't wearing masks when awaiting the trains headed back to CPH with the "rejected" foreigners.

Yesterday there was no staffed border control checks in place at Hyllie. Today, there are. Those wanting to come across without checks can do it more easily by chancing it with the trains, more so if they only just get informed and plan properly. Chancing it by driving in personal vehicles across the bridge is more iffy than even flying non-stop from CPH to Sweden as Dr. Micke Mussa. That's been the case before and during the pandemic in Sweden. Fortunately for those foreign visitors coming to Sweden directly from Denmark, things with Swedish border control are way more akin to what they were like for these crossings pre-pandemic (in 2019) than they were in the early part of the current year.

GUWonder

So on what basis will vaccinated Elton John be allowed into Sweden for the concert in Sweden? By transiting via Denmark, Norway or some other country accepting vaccinated Brits vaccinated in the UK or US? By getting a favor on the basis of economic/cultural VIP status or some other more personal exemption? Or a change in the Swedish entry rules to open the door to more visitors from beyond the EU/EEA, perhaps to vaccinated visitors from beyond the EU/EEA?

the810

He can just travel via the EU (preferably Denmark). Hopefully he won't encounter one of those mythical policemen who supposedly make up their own rules at Hyllie 😂

SusanDK

He's performing at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen on September 28th and the concert in Sweden has been moved to October 1st (from September 17th). Maybe that's why it was moved, so he can enter from Denmark?

the810

It's more likely that they moved it so he can have full capacity on the concert. There are severe audience caps in Sweden at the moment, which will be withdrawn on 29 September.

vanillabean

It's pity I'm going a birthday party that day haha (or having a beer with @nacho if she's up for it). Seriously though, I did go to Sacramento for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road a couple of years ago and enjoyed it.

SusanDK

I'd like to see him but not at the price of the few tickets that are left. If I remember correctly, when I looked today, he may be playing two consecutive nights in Copenhagen so have a look if it might work for you. I also am not yet willing to attend a large event, despite being vaccinated. Not worth the risk.

the810

I'm not particularly keen on Elton but I'm determined to go to some large event now that they're possible again. I miss big crowds and this seems to be the best option. I'm waiting until I fix my No Time To Die premiere which is one day after restrictions ease (coincidence???!!!!111!) and then I'm gonna look at whatever big events are available in Sweden around 29th. It might be Elton.

(I'm surprised only few remaining tickets are available. Have they been selling full capacity before the easing of restrictions was announced, or did they sell tens of thousands tickets in those few days?)

SusanDK

Not sure, I just looked it up quickly when I saw the earlier post about him having an upcoming concert in Sweden. I only viewed the availability for one of the Copenhagen listings and there were only a few seats available for ca. DK 3800. Now that I think back, I don't think it was two dates in CPH, but two separate listings, for 'regular' tickets and for VIP packages. I didn't look at the Sweden concert availability.

the810

Uff! 3800 DKK (~510€) is really steep. I've checked Swedish prices earlier this evening and it started at 1500 SEK (~150€), which seemed reasonable, although that's the price for the lowest ticket category.

GUWonder

Denmark has opened up way more and faster than Sweden, and perhaps it shows in the prices for some leisure-related events. The informal word at least is that the Elton John concert was rescheduled in Sweden because of Sweden's pandemic restrictions, while the Danish concert schedule stuck. Yet another sign that Sweden's being "more open" than Denmark didn't work out to be all that better for the Swedish economy and that Sweden paid an unnecessarily high price in terms of lives and health of its public? Perhaps.

The line producer (Per Henry Borch) for No Time to Die is a very close Norwegian contact of a good friend of mine, and I've been incidentally aware of his travel schedule during the past couple of years because of that. The name of the Bond movie was already in the works well before the pandemic hit, even discussed as being given well before the fall of 2019. Lots of major movies around the world have had their theater release dates delayed and pushed out due to the pandemic. With or without government restrictions in place during the pandemic, sensible people aware of the pandemic would still have avoided large events and big crowds ... and the entertainment industry knew it well. They also knew they weren't necessarily immune from financial penalties related to infection spread. In Sweden, most ideas of penalties and punishment are more or less about as serious as Sweden's approach to pandemic control measures; but releasing movies into theaters is a global business, and Sweden's relative openness doesn't really matter in that regard when it comes to a movie like this.

the810

Denmark completely opened approximately a month before Sweden, which is good but not as good as Sweden never closing down completely.

Of course I'm aware that NTTD isn't scheduled around Swedish restrictions, I'm not that dumb. I'm a massive Bond fan and I've been following the drama all along That sentence a) was a joke (I hoped those !!!1! which are often used by conspiracy theorists will make it obvious) and b) that joke was about Swedish government removing audience caps because of Bond, not the other way around

But without joking, I'm pretty sure Filmstaden is very pleased with the timing of lifting restrictions just in time for pretty much the only big movie of the year.

GUWonder

Swedish border control is back in place part-time today again at Hyllie. But it's bare-bones presence and bare faces for the police this time. Missed a train because of the border control police -- not because of any checks but because they seem more interested in socializing with each other -- flirting even -- than in anything else, and that is all while hogging the escalators in such a way that my not keeping a distance wouldn't work to get by them.

nacho

I guess he would be using the bridge rather than taking a train. The chance of him being checked is high. I was checked on Wednesday, not only the guard looked at my Swedish passport, she scanned it (like the car in front), and asked if I have Swedish driver licence, I said no then she let me go. I guess they were told to scan everything, licence plate (if it's with SE licence plates), passport, driver licence etc.

The troublesome ones were not the police but the passport checkers - we always get great service and no issue when the police check our Swedish passports.

This is from 2016 onwards:

I'm not joking about the totally YMMV situation - I convinced Mr. to get a Swedish passport to reduce the ordeal from daily commuting. Before he had his Swedish passport, they asked him questions like "where do you live" or "where are you going" and once in a while they asked for his personal number to check if he really lives in Sweden (honestly it doesn't matter - he has the right to enter pre-pandemic). I was asked those questions once in a while too, but since I didn't cross daily it wasn't such a big deal.

Then the pandemic closed the border to DK so I had to show proof of my Swedish citizenship, sometimes personbevis works but not all the time, so once in a while they told me to go to secondary check by the police. I decided to get myself a Swedish passport to avoid the hassle.

GUWonder

That's sort of what I too have experienced a bunch; not always, but frequently enough that I knew how it goes. Never anything about a personal number for me, although I've seen it asked of others. You could say that I really know how to come across like a way out of place foreigner, so no reason for me to be asked everything that a person more commonly perceived as a "local" or potential "local" could get asked.

Funny thing is that the very kind of answers that I supply at airports to passport control and security contractors in the region and around the world seemed to not fly as quickly for some of the control personnel for bridge crossings into Sweden. My guess is that they have become so reliant upon putting people into little boxes that they are sort of uncomfortable with people who come across without being ready and willing to get stuffed into a pre-manufactured box for the convenience of the border controllers.