There is no doubt that the UK government's policy on travel has been a chaotic, inconsistent mess, right from the start of the pandemic until now, and the complexities and uncertainties around the rules are deterring many people from travelling.

But the blame can't be placed squarely at the government's door. There is still widespread uncertainty and worry around the rules for entering destination countries and many people - myself included - simply can't be bothered travelling until they can do so without PLFs, PCR tests, vaccine passports, social distancing, self-isolation and other requirements and restrictions. And, to be honest, I haven't really missed it - I've had one of the most enjoyable summers I can remember, right here in the UK - and might not ever return to the level of flying I used to do.

Airlines might have an uphill battle to win back all the customers they've lost.

Indeed. It's going to be a whitewash or a complete mockery. At best some useful idiots will be used as scapegoats.

I see your point... up to a point (pardon the pun). I might need to spend some time travelling around Europe this autumn and I'm considering a partial relocation somewhere on the continent. There, with the green pass, it's pretty much an easy thing. No need for pre-flight test, day 2 / day 8 nonsense, going around to find a mailbox, all that jazz. wearing a mask is a little price to play (for me) to be honest. The biggest issues (queues, pre-flight test, day 2/5/8, all that rubbish) is HMG's own creation. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd be missing my wife and I'm paying for the mortgage anyway I'd be thinking about it. It's a shame because the UK used to be, in my experience, the "simplest" place to "be" if you see what I mean.

Daily data:

Cases 42,076 (38,046 last Friday)
Deaths 121 (100)
Patients admitted 985 (953 on the 23rd)
Patients in hospital 7,541 (6,992 on the 26th)
Patients in ventilation beds 1,038 (982 on the 26th)
People vaccinated up to and including 2 September2021:
First dose: 48,171,998
Second dose: 43,142,747

The rolling seven day daily average for cases is now up 0.4% on the previous week and the same measure for deaths is up 5.6%. The rolling 7 day daily average for deaths is 114.0 today.

I travel as much as I did before right now. No difference. My only current limitation is the USA.

Daily data:

Cases 37,578 (32,406 last Friday)
Deaths 120 (133)
Patients admitted 985 (987 on the 24th)
People vaccinated up to and including 3 September2021:
First dose: 48,205,585
Second dose: 43,251,037

The rolling seven day daily average for cases is now up 2.4% on the previous week and the same measure for deaths is flat at 0.0%. The rolling 7 day daily average for deaths is 112.1 today.

The long queues at LHR were mentioned in one of these threads. HAL are now complaining about it according to the BBC:

And the Home Office's predictably comedic response:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58448565

Not for nothing is it "Border Farce". :)

Sack Priti, sack Grant, scrap day 2 testing, scrap the red list. Job done.

Day 2 testing is probably THE thing to not scrap. If someone get sicks during his/her vacations, day 2 (and day 5) testing is your best bet to catch it.

Sure, but use a free antigen test from the NHS to do it if it's such a public health concern.

No one else in Europe is doing it for intra-EU travel (and somehow they have less cases than the UK).

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0ea5cf9295.png


There's a racket with the obligation to do PCRs as the 'excuse' is that they need do DNA sequencing. Too bad that the actual numbers look like this:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...50c191ebae.jpg
High time this was scrapped. Especially for vaccinated travellers coming from low-risk countries. If it's needed to be kept for, say, arrivals from South America or wherever sure, but it should go. Shapps' friends in the testing industry should've done plenty of hay on our backs by now.

BTW, don't know if it's scaremongering or what, but I went to pick up a new box at my local testing centre and they were saying they might stop dishing these out.

Whilst I agree that some sort of arrivals testing can have benefits, the way it is done in the UK is an absolute farce. The only beneficiaries are the owners of the testing companies. There are plenty of countries that do manage to do arrivals testing in an efficient manner - usually at the airport on arrival and for minimal charge. All the time that we have test providers that fail to give results (I have been waiting 2 weeks for my last day 2 test results) or transit passengers are charged for tests they have no need to actually take it becomes very hard to justify the test regime here in the UK.

The way it is done is a different affair and I agree it is problematic. Pricing is a serious issue (I pay my antigen test 99 cents if self made, free if made by someone else) and guarantee of quick results another one. [MENTION=10052014]13901[/MENTION]: not sure this is true. In Germany testing after arrival is necessary depending on origin country (test at 5 days). They made it "mandatory" by using it as a way to cut short quarantine.

I was looking at this a week or so ago. I could see references that the contract for pharmacies to distribute the LFT kits was due to expire at the end of August and I could not see anything obvious at the time that it was going to be extended.