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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 23rd March

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Comments (289)

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  • John Caribbean says:
    23 Mar23 March 06:33

    I’m looking to fly Loganair Glasgow to Islay in November, but the flights aren’t loaded yet. Does anyone know when they might be?

    • Michael C says:
      23 Mar23 March 06:59

      Is it seasonal? The Edinburgh one was originally Mar.-Oct.

      • John Caribbean says:
        23 Mar23 March 21:39

        Good thinking. It looks like it will run over winter, but they haven’t released the timetable, and won’t for a few months. No rush I suppose..

  • Sunil says:
    23 Mar23 March 06:40

    Message for Kitten, thanks for your advice a few months ago. MCOL update:

    Lastminute and Air India had not been refunding me for a cancelled return leg of a flight during first lockdown. The split of cost between outbound and inbound was not clear to me, and as AI had failed to provide the service sold to me I raised an MCOL case for the full return fare, although the outbound had been flown (it was the inbound that was cancelled). Within days of the MCOL filing LM partially refunded me about 35% of the return fare, stating the flown outbound UK to India leg is a higher cost than the cancelled inbound India to UK.

    Post refund LM filed a defence, AI never responded to the MCOL case, so when the time lapsed I asked MCOL to issue judgement against AI, which they did. This finally woke AI up and I’ve now received a letter from their lawyers stating they have refunded me all I am due (the inbound, cancelled, leg) and would only now pay my £60 fees to close this out.

    My question now is, given how long they’ve messed me about and given they only woke up to the refund I was due once I’d taken the MCOL step, I’m inclined to decline and demand full reimbursement or at least further compensation. I purchased a return, they failed to fulfill that contract, I did not purchase two singles. For the sake of £60 I’m willing to play this out and push for full settlement, which is what MCOL have issued a judgement in default of AI not responding to the claim.

    What do you all think? They’ve not offered a penny of compensation/interest, nor an apology for not refunding until I took them to court, so I’m not inclined to play nice.

    (For what it’s worth, my single emergency inbound repat flight cost as much as the return, so this approach would leave me net neutral, financially).

    • blenz101 says:
      23 Mar23 March 09:22

      I think the difficulty you have here is that it isn’t reasonable to expect to have flown the outbound and expect a judge to agree it is reasonable for you to be reimbursed 100% of a return ticket cost.

      If you had submitted a claim for the single repatriation flight with supporting evidence to return you home then depending on the circumstances of why LM were unable provide a reasonable reroute I could see this being awarded in your favour.

      There is also the potental (at the time of claim) to add statuatory interest of about 8% on the amount sought which could have been added.

      MCOL will not result in you getting appologies or goodwill compensation awards from LM’s suppliers.

      FWIW I think 35% may be about right given disproportionatly high carrier charges and taxes from the UK.

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      23 Mar23 March 09:28

      You might be able to get more if you claim for interest as mentioned by blenz above, delay, hardship, stress and any incidental expenses incurred by you by having to rebook and travel on another day.

      • blenz101 says:
        23 Mar23 March 09:48

        You cannot make a small claim for your own time, emotional stress or consequential loss via MCOL.

        You need to submit evidence of your actual losses and can potentially claim the interest on top.

        If you have issued a claim for 100% refund on a return flight to LM and they have come back and presumably can now evidence (via AI breakdown) that 35% is the correctly calculated portion of your return leg then are you saying this the settlement offer (plus now your costs)?

        You can’t seek compensation via the court for this taking time and you feeling messed about.

        Given it sounds like you didn’t book with AI but your contract is with LM I am surprised they have responded to you at all.

    • kitten says:
      23 Mar23 March 10:07

      If your claim was stated as for a refund of the original ticket the amount reimbursed to you may well be correct. LastMinute or your documents should be able to prove this by showing the original fare breakdown including everything under the heading ‘taxes’.

      Once you ask and get a refund based on the original ticket this is what you can get. It could be worse : according to which country, airlines can structure the return half of a ticket to actually cost, say, £20.

      If on the other hand your claim was stated as for a reroute then that is based on the cost of your replacement ticket. This would strictly speaking be a reimbursement. Depending how exactly you wrote your claim and if you stated the cosr of your replacement ticket as what you were looking for (or even just stated it) if your case was decided remotely and as there may be some leeway towards claimants who may not have expressed things exactly if you did mention the replacement ticket cost figure, you could go back to mcol and say your refund wanted was mentioned in the claim and referred to the replacement cost you had to fork out due to them not providing the reroute you asked them for not to the original ticket. (Only works if you had asked at any time for this replacement cost or to reroute you.)

      It is possible AI is still trying to pull a fast one and is trying it on by just refunding original ticket costs whereas your claim may have referred sufficiently to the refund you sought being for the replacement ticket cost not whatever was left on the original ticket (and you’d have had to put the amount somewhere in your claim).

      If you didn’t put the cost of the claim then you could be stuck with this.

      On the 8% pa amount you could also have claimed for statutory interest it’s up to you to put that in the claim it’s not automatic.

      Did you have any extra hotels, meals (3/day) or transport costs to or from any different airport or hotel that you needed to use due to replacement flight being later or taking longer? If so you could probably go back and claim these as a new claim. But unless you did refer to the refund you wanted being of your rerouting costs ( and had asked them for a reroute) in some kind of way you may be stuck with the refund based on the original ticket.

      Is your original claim going to work as having been for this?

      PS there isn’t a way to claim for stress etc in this type of claim.

      • Sunil says:
        23 Mar23 March 10:31

        I kept the original claim very simple and did not mention repat costs. My original claim was : I purchased a return flight, by cancelling the second leg I didn’t get what I paid for, claiming for full refund plus 8% stat interest. Even they are right in a partial refund they’ve not paid/offered the interest, so I’ll definitely go back on that.

        Does the fact that MCOL have issued judgement in the absence of an AI response make a difference here? I.e. isn’t it too late for AI to dispute it now? Or is that not how it works?

        • kitten says:
          23 Mar23 March 12:48

          It was up to you to include the interest in your claim and you didn’t and it’s been judged so you cant include it now.

          You could do a new claim for extra accommodation and meals etc but you’d have to start off asking LM/AI for this then new MCOL.

          Since you asked for a refund and made no reference to the cost of the reroute you had to pay (the reroute) then LM/AI have got off lightly as they’ve refunded you according to your request and claim. That closes the matter as they have satisfied what you chose to claim – ie you asked them for a refund not a reroute.

          Be careful what you wish for. In any case where an airline refunds you willingly it may be they want to avoid reroute and/or duty of care liabilities which can be much more onerous for them – so they then are willing to refund to limit these.

        • Chris Heyes says:
          23 Mar23 March 14:40

          Sunil Sorry but if you make a claim “making a simple” claim helps the airline or whoever you make a claim off.
          Never make a simple claim “Always” make a full claim full of the facts of what you are claiming for including all the facts of costs ect
          It sound to me you got what you asked for “if not what you meant”
          A good solicitor would probably worded your claim better, but of course no good if you haven’t access to one. Although CA have solicitors on there books in most towns
          My cousin used to volunteer in Newbery, but long retired now

    • Mouse says:
      23 Mar23 March 11:27

      It seems quite clear – whether or not it was reasonable, the court issued a judgement for a 100% refund, so you are entitled to receive a 100% refund. If not received, send in the bailiffs!

      • blenz101 says:
        23 Mar23 March 11:45

        The issue is that Sunil has no contract at all with AI and MCOL has zero jurisdiction. The claim has to be against LM who appear to have responded and settled at 35% of original ticket cost (being the cost of the leg that was cancelled).

        By claiming for 100% of the ticket cost, even if the intention was to keep it simple, this isn’t reasonable. Hence the defence LM have filed, it isn’t clear where the matter is with LM. Had the claim been for the cost of a replacement single ticket ticket and the unused portion (even at 50%) and evidence supplied then this would likey have been awarded.

        Claiming against AI directly is a red-herring MCOL can issue as many judgements as it wants but the poster has no contract at all with the airline directly. AI will not pay out. ​He must deal with LM who in fairness have responded.

        Travel insurance would be a much simpler route to make this type of claim. Let the insurer recover their costs.

        • kitten says:
          23 Mar23 March 12:51

          not sure @Blenz101. Best to sue both as defendants and let court sort it out as travel sellers seem to be able to shield themselves from an awful lot by claiming they were just agents.

      • kitten says:
        23 Mar23 March 13:20

        It could be worth your while to finally sort this out by contacting mcol and asking was the 100% value of the ticket given by the judgment made in AI’s absence. It’s just possible as not responding/not turning up is looked on with disfavour by courts so court might have thought well they didn’t turn up on or before the judgment to say it should be less – so whether reasonable or not you get the whole amount you asked awarded as they didn’t turn up to defend.

        You might be that lucky so check. However if the above was not how it went then most of us would think you consumed part of the product so only the unused part should be refunded.

        If judgment did give you all that you asked (assuming you did say the 100% cost of the original ticket) then as they didn’t respond on or before judgment date then an appeal by AI/LM to reduce the amount awarded based on the fact that you’d consumed part of the ticket might well not be allowed by the court. As if they were going to say that they should have responded by the court date.

        Give that a try by contacting the mcol people and say you’ve been paid lesd than the judgment and let us know what happens.

        • Sunil says:
          23 Mar23 March 14:44

          Thanks all. To clarify, I did claim for interest which they have not offered, so that part of the claim stands. I claimed for a full refund, because they did not respond the court ruled in my favour for my full claim.

          So my question really is whether they have the right now to ask the court set aside the claim, or having not initially responded surely that ship has sailed for them?

          • kitten says:
            23 Mar23 March 16:04

            Aha excellent Sunil.
            Looks like as the defendant made no submissions against your 100% claim on or before the court date so you got a judgment in your favour by default. Yippee. Provided you mentioned the actual 100% ticket price as what you were claiming in your claim.

            If AI/LM want to pay less, then with this judgment already given, it would be up to them to appeal the judgment they cant just pay you less if you won the 100% already. I would actually be surprised if an appeal would be allowed by the court as they didnt bother entering any defence before the judgment was made which they would have had enough time to do.

            I suggest you call the court clerk and say they’ve paid less than the amount you were awarded and ask them where you go to enforce.

            I really, really hope your claim mentioned the full exact price you were claiming and not just something nebulous like return half or something. After making a claim on the less remunerative basis (refund) instead of rerouting basis (therefore higher replacement cost) you may just accidentally have gained a victory by them not defending the claim and judgment by default in your favour.

            Please report back what happens next.

          • ChrisC says:
            23 Mar23 March 16:21

            It’s not what they offered what matters but what the Judge awarded. If the Judge didn’t award you the stat interest then you ain’t getting it. What did the written judgement say?

            Same with what did LM write in their defence about the amount they refunded you and how it was calculated?

            TBH 35% of the total fare sounds roughly right for a leg to the UK given that APD only applies ex UK and LHR fees are very high compared to other airports.

            Yes AI can ask the court to set aside your claim and the judgement against them on the basis that they believe that both were issued in error because they aren’t the correct defendent and the Judge will rule on that issue once they make that application.

  • KBuffett says:
    23 Mar23 March 06:42

    *BREAKING NEWS* 🤑
    Costa to stop accepting AmEx at all coffee shops. Its being withdrawn over then next few weeks.

    • CF Frost says:
      23 Mar23 March 07:18

      Hmm. Curious. Although prefer NatWest debit at Costa: 5.875 avios per pound spent with a permanent offer in place.

    • John says:
      23 Mar23 March 07:34

      You shouldn’t spend at costa directly. Buy costa gift cards at Morrisons. Also 5% off at topgiftcards (no amex). Self refer on the loyalty scheme and every second drink is practically free.

      • Yuff says:
        23 Mar23 March 07:45

        Or buy gc’s direct from Costa when they have 25%, like last month’s offer.

        • The real John says:
          23 Mar23 March 09:21

          Is that a regular thing? Haven’t been to costa since September

          • BuildBackBetter says:
            23 Mar23 March 09:35

            I have noticed them selling at discount only after COVID started.

      • Tariq says:
        23 Mar23 March 17:57

        Shame you can’t load gift cards into the Costa app like you can Starbucks!

    • Harry T says:
      23 Mar23 March 07:41

      In related news, is Costa the worst chain coffee in the UK, a country with world beating bad coffee?

      • Jonathan says:
        23 Mar23 March 07:50

        Agree! Even their flat whites contain about a pint of milk so you can’t even taste the coffee. Unfortunately they seem to have got a monopoly on hospital sites

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:
        23 Mar23 March 07:58

        I would go Nero, Costa, Starbucks in that order. I don’t drink from Pret or McDonalds enough to compare.

      • Ken says:
        23 Mar23 March 07:58

        I think you have spelt Starbucks wrong.
        Starbucks also seem to not employ any cleaning staff – utterly filthy.

        People still seem happy to spend £3+ on it though and think getting 6p back in avios makes it a bargain, so where’s the incentive to change ?

        • KBuffett says:
          23 Mar23 March 08:57

          I find the no cleaning levels shockingly bad at all these major coffee shops. The toilets are vile.

        • CF Frost says:
          23 Mar23 March 09:26

          As long as no or little incentive to change there is a margin to exploit. It is surely what the entirety of this game depends upon: other people not exploiting the opportunity but relying instead on points etc as they were intended to be earned. So, for Costa: debit card, discounted gift cards, referrals, order through App, etc..

          • KBuffett says:
            23 Mar23 March 09:53

            Although they allow the use of their own gift cards to order via the app.
            I find ordering on the app and waiting outside until it’s ready invaluable.

      • Nick says:
        23 Mar23 March 08:37

        If you think coffee in UK is bad, try going to USA. Undrinkable….and sadly what they call coffee gets exported under the Starbucks brand. Proper coffee is now all too often substituted with watered down espresso referred to as “Americano”. France and Italy serve the best.

        • kitten says:
          23 Mar23 March 10:14

          Italy
          France has mostly lost it.
          And was never as good as Italy.

          Coffee can be OK in Australia. Lots of Italian heritage there. Coffee snobbery even a thing there apparently.

          • Sal says:
            23 Mar23 March 13:14

            I worked in a coffee shop in Australia in 06/07 and even then they were snobby. The coffees I made were often sent back for a replacement. Maybe snobbery or was just my bad skills! Tbh though the coffee there was generally very good and we’re far from catching up here. I go small independent if I can.

          • Lady London says:
            23 Mar23 March 19:17

            I *cringed* when an Australian family member sent back her macchiato in Costa in our Yorkshire market town. She ended up standing at the counter next to the machine instructing the barista step by step.

            The coffee had actually conformed perfectly to the UK Costa definition of a macchiato but our Stephanie was having none of that :-). In fact even in Italy a macchiato may be served differently from place to place.

            To their credit the Costa staff kept smiling and found it all a bit of a lark. They remembered her specially every time she came in after that during her visit 🙂 .

      • Jill (Kinkell) says:
        23 Mar23 March 09:49

        No…it’s Starbucks that’s the worst! Nero is far too strong.Pret is a bit bitter. Best coffee at our local Courtyard Caff in Dingwall

      • Lady London says:
        23 Mar23 March 10:11

        No @Harry T it’s not the worst one – that’s Starbucks

      • Andrew says:
        23 Mar23 March 10:12

        How do you define the “worse coffee chain” though?

        I love Paul’s cakes. But their coffee gives me really painful cramps, bloating and the kind of wind that you are concerned about trusting…

        I’d rather have McDonald’s Coffee over Starbucks or Costa.

        But Starbucks is useful overseas for a sit-down, loo, and cup of tea. Their gift cards can usually be bought with 10% discount and work internationally too.

        I thought the world’s most filthy coffee was sold at a cafe on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Then I discovered an independent in Leith sold the identical blend.

        Give me a Tim Horton’s. It’s the only good reason to visit Stenhousemuir.

        • kitten says:
          23 Mar23 March 10:16

          If you ever catch me in a Starbucks it’s for the wifi. It’s a reliable go-to for that in many countries.

        • @mkcol says:
          23 Mar23 March 14:43

          Best comment of the day: “the kind of wind that you are concerned about trusting…”

      • Oh Matron! says:
        23 Mar23 March 14:25

        I’ve yet to find a chain which doesn’t taste like rancid cat urine. I try, as much as is possible, to go local. I’m fortunate to have an Artisan, Blabär, and Ground Coffee Society within walking distance

        Just goes to show that the most popular is rarely the most good (I had to insert the extra most, for balance, you understand)

        Just my tuppence 🙂

    • Andrew says:
      23 Mar23 March 07:44

      Or for £20 a month get a Pret subscription (also takes Amex).

      • BuildBackBetter says:
        23 Mar23 March 09:29

        Wish Costa did something similar. Have Costa near my home, train station and office. That’s 6 coffees a day sorted.

        • BJ says:
          23 Mar23 March 09:57

          Chains are rubbish IMO, coffees generally lack body and are usually too bitter, or overloaded with junk that renders them coffee no more . A good Colombian prepared in a cafetiere at home sets me up for the whole day. Mostly just with a little milk and no sugar, but once in a while black with a dash of honey … perfect 🙂

          • Genghis says:
            23 Mar23 March 11:22

            Since working from home last year, I decided to buy some decent coffee. Highly recommend Spiller & Tait.

          • Lady London says:
            23 Mar23 March 13:25

            Same here @BJ. My coffee addiction has got so so much worse since Covid due to this.

        • Ben says:
          23 Mar23 March 10:37

          This may be controversial but I had a Gregs this morning and was pleasantly surprised

          • Alan says:
            23 Mar23 March 11:02

            How does the Nat West offer work. I have a NW black/rewards account and haven’t seen it.

          • Alan says:
            23 Mar23 March 11:04

            McDonald’s coffee is also surprisingly good.

          • Anna says:
            23 Mar23 March 11:17

            Gregg’s coffee is indeed very good, especially for the price. Their roll and hot drink breakfast combo can’t be beaten.

          • Karl says:
            23 Mar23 March 12:36

            Indeed, I’d add Greggs, McDonald’s and Wetherspoon into the better than Costa for coffee list.

    • Mark says:
      23 Mar23 March 12:16

      so many comments about bad coffee in the same breath as these large multinational chains….if you appreciate coffee you don’t get it from a button pushing, mass market chain. These places don’t dial in the grind, or the pull, and because so many customers take buffer in their espresso (milk, hot water) it goes unnoticed.

      What people really complain about (without realising it) when they say they don’t like one chain over another is usually about the roast of the coffee i.e. starbucks is roasted to a crisp, nero not far behind…and costa…well everything there is actually much more medium usually but the cleanliness ruins the entire experience.

      • Harry T says:
        23 Mar23 March 19:53

        What’s interesting is that the big global coffee chains don’t seem to have managed much of a foothold in Australia… had most of the best coffee I’ve ever had in Australia from mostly completely independent shops.

  • Anna says:
    23 Mar23 March 07:33

    Has nobody read and digested the SI for us yet?!

  • Ken says:
    23 Mar23 March 08:00

    I’d agree with Mr(s).

  • Anna says:
    23 Mar23 March 08:01

    Not looking great for summer holidays although there was one scientist quoted as saying that vaccines plus testing will be as good as they’ll ever be by then so there’s no reason for a travel ban by that point.

    • Ken says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:18

      It feels like the process of softening us up for no overseas travel is well under way.

      At best Johnson is sticking to cautiously under promising this year rather than his glib “over in a few months “ & “save Xmas” of last year.

      The biggest reason will be any variants that potentially put us back to square 1

      Domestic economy & Education should trump foreign travel by a country mile anyway.

      • Rob says:
        23 Mar23 March 09:19

        Ken, you need to stop peddling this variants line. It makes no sense. Viruses continually evolve and it wil continually take 6 months to adjust existing vaccines to impact them. This won’t change.

        The fact that the vaccines appear to be 100% effective against death (as opposed to illness) from these variants also appears to slip your mind.

        • The Lord says:
          23 Mar23 March 09:35

          It’s just become a lazy sound bite now. “But the variants”, “got to be vigilant cos of the variants”. As you say, the most important thing is 1) will the vaccine stop me from death? 2) will the vaccine stop me going to hospital? And the answer to both is yes whether it’s Kent, South Africa, Brazil or Barnsley. It reminds me a lot of the instant “second wave coming next week” reaction to photos of people on a beach last year. Not based in fact

        • marcw says:
          23 Mar23 March 09:50

          There’s an Australian study that suggest that citizen vaccinated with AZ would require a shot every 90 days. Pfizer and Moderna every year. The study is “pre-print” and still needs to be peer-reviewed.
          medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.09.21252641v1

          • TGLoyalty says:
            23 Mar23 March 10:01

            there seems to be some 0 covid agenda out there where its about no one catching it rather than hardly anyone ending up in hospital and dying (the most important part of the vaccine)

          • The Savage Squirrel says:
            23 Mar23 March 10:05

            That’s a predictive study based on in vitro results extrapolated from a different pathogen. Or, in less formal language – a guess about how a human immune system might react to Covid19 based on ‘flu in test tubes. It’s not a bad guess, but a guess nonetheless.

          • Andrew says:
            23 Mar23 March 12:08

            Or, if you perpetually have a stinking cold, you’re potentially protected too:-

            https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56483445

            (I haven’t had a cold since my last domestic flight in January 2020).

        • Andy says:
          23 Mar23 March 09:59

          Also Johnson talking about the third wave In Europe and the risk it washes up on our shore etc etc seems to ignore the fact that it’s the Kent variant which is predominantly spreading. Which has already gone through the country here so what is the risk of that?

          It’s why the French are allowing brits it, the variant is already there so no point blocking people going.

          • HAK says:
            23 Mar23 March 14:45

            So, are France allowing you to come into the country without any sort of quarantine? Need to go to France in June for business which I think I am to do under the new guidance right?

        • Jonathan says:
          23 Mar23 March 13:26

          Most of the current variants are not concerning. There are tens of thousands in circulation, most very minor genetic changes that result in no change in transmissibility or severity. These minor variations do allow very accurate tracking of outbreaks though. There was an interesting report out last week looking at people returning from overseas in the Autumn.

          Some variants are a big issue & to deny otherwise is plain wrong. The South African & Brazilian flavours are a particular concern as they can massively diminish the effectiveness of the current vaccines.

          Zero Covid is a complete fallacy but that doesn’t mean you should stop aggressively managing the risk of variants by limiting where people can travel & ensuring you still test those who do. As with everything, there’s a balance to be struck but, as with everything these days, people seem to migrate to either end of the spectrum.

        • Chris Heyes says:
          23 Mar23 March 14:53

          Rob That would be brilliant if true Wow we can get a vaccine that’s 100% effective against death
          Although after 500 years the body might not look a great as now lol

        • Ken says:
          23 Mar23 March 19:24

          Then why so much effort being put into surge testing and (for arguably the first time) proper tracking & tracing ?

          Clearly a combination of lockdown, little overseas travel and surge testing has so far suppressed the South Africa & Brazilian variant.
          We will now see if testing , surge testing & tracking will still be successful as lockdown eases.

          Probably next to no chance of track & trace, and testing working if suddenly 5 million people flock overseas in a short period (and presumably a similar but smaller number the other way).
          All this while many who want to travel (the young) won’t be fully vaccinated, perhaps 25 % of under 70’s seem to prefer not to be vaccinated , the main destination Europe being 3 months behind the uk in vaccination & many places in Europe on the road to being out of control.

          It’s not been about deaths for more than 6 months, the problem is NHS capacity being exhausted .

          Just seems like all the political mood music is pointing to no substantial travel and it will be a wait and see until at least June.

          I don’t feel amongst the majority of people there is desperation to travel outside a small rump of Tories.
          Is Boris about to spaff his hard won political capital for the sake of people going on the wallop in Magaluf ?
          Maybe he is. I personally doubt it.

    • Harry T says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:25

      I’m glad I’ve moved loads of London and Edinburgh HJH stays to the summer, autumn and winter this year after hotels have kindly accommodated my requested due to ongoing closures. I’m hoping the Shelbourne also let me move my stays a few months into the future.

      Having said that, I think we will be able to go abroad this summer, but Europe is looking less likely. USA may be a safer bet.

      • BuildBackBetter says:
        23 Mar23 March 09:34

        +1 for USA. Massive vaccine campaign underway.

        • Anna says:
          23 Mar23 March 11:19

          Fingers crossed, but there’s not much coming from over there to encourage hope just now, though of course they have plenty of other issues to be dealing with just now!

        • Rhys says:
          23 Mar23 March 11:20

          I’m writing about the USA for The Times as we speak!

      • Allan says:
        23 Mar23 March 10:49

        Glad to see some London hotels still going with HJH

    • Andrew says:
      23 Mar23 March 08:31

      Agree that the Government is planting the seed in our heads with this expectation management that 17 May will not bring a return to international travel. But hopefully later in the summer it might be possible to some destinations and agree that USA looks more likely than the EU for that.

      • TomH says:
        23 Mar23 March 11:17

        My guess is that while international travel will be allowed, the list of green countries will be so small or remote to be effectively nil (New Zealand, Australia etc).

        People with families require a trip without quarantine on either end, and those options may be very limited.

        • The Lord says:
          23 Mar23 March 11:25

          Also depends on what hoops are needed to jump through for amber countries. Will amber be effectively red due to the requirements on either end of the trip?

        • Rob says:
          23 Mar23 March 12:59

          You may remember that the vast majority of places on the old ‘travel corridors’ list last Autumn didn’t even have flights from the UK – some didn’t have flights at all, since they were too small to have airports – and that ignores the fact that most wouldn’t let you in anyway ….

  • Anon says:
    23 Mar23 March 08:56

    Is viewing properties abroad going to be allowed with the new rules?

    • Anna says:
      23 Mar23 March 09:13

      Yes, it’s one of the exemptions but that’s dependent of course on whether you can get to your destination. Wondering about scheduling a few Florida villa viewings for August, which wouldn’t be too much of a chore, tbh 😂

    • The real John says:
      23 Mar23 March 09:25

      Everything that is currently a reasonable excuse to leave your house (to go anywhere inside or outside the UK), will still be a reasonable excuse to go outside the UK from next week.

      • Rob says:
        23 Mar23 March 09:46

        Not true. This is the point of the new SI. This now specifically makes it illegal to travel from the UK. You can do what you like in the UK.

        2nd home owners do now effectively have free reign to travel to them outside the UK due to multiple new loopholes added, probably under pressure from Stanley Johnson 🙂

        • The real John says:
          23 Mar23 March 11:37

          That’s what I said. If you are genuinely travelling to manage residential property, it is legal now and will continue to be legal, inside or outside of the UK.

          • Rob says:
            23 Mar23 March 12:57

            I severely doubt there is a way the authorities can show that you are not travelling to ‘manage’ your 2nd home but rather to stay in it for a month for a holiday.

  • KBuffett says:
    23 Mar23 March 08:59

    What’s the best exit routes for Virgin shopping points? They don’t seem to appear in my Virgin airline account?

    • Alan says:
      23 Mar23 March 09:08

      They should just post across automatically. Have they reached cleared status or still pending? If its been a couple of weeks since they cleared I’d email them.

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

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