The HfP chat thread – Thursday 22nd July

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George says:

22 Jul22 July 16:49

Heathrow introduces £5 drop off charge for cars and taxis from October – https://mol.im/a/9813465

This follows the exploration of this idea as per –
https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/12/03/heathrow-announces-plans-for-a-5-drop-off-fee/
r* says:

22 Jul22 July 16:49

Does anyone know if theres a list anywhere of countries that dont require testing for vaccinated arrivals from the uk?

Alternatively, any that just accept a prenetics lateral flow rather than needing pcr?
- Blair says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 16:57
  
  There’s no official list to make it that easy. You could read each country’s entry on FCDO website. Then also read that country’s own advice as FCDO is often subject to a lag. Your best bet is probably one of the near-daily press articles written in otherwise barren travel sections that have headlines like “Who is actually letting Brits in this summer?”
- Sukes says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 18:32
  
  Hattip to AJA further down the thread… try https://apply.joinsherpa.com/map?affiliateid=ba
  - AJA says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 21:30
    
    It’s a great website. I like the way the map is colour coded. I also like the way you can enter departure and arrival airports and it gives a swift answer and then gives links to the country’s specific websites for more info.
Fred S says:

22 Jul22 July 17:01

BA.com down?
- Rachel Robinson says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 17:13
  
  Seems so
  - Lady London says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 17:27
    
    Ooh goody another sale
- Tim says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 17:32
  
  Plus johnlewis.com, Waitrose.com, itv.com, and others. Looks to be a system wide fault.
  - Blair says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 17:38
    
    IT pros got Pimms? Sorry pinged I mean pinged. Pingdemic ain’t got nothing to do with garden weather.
- Sam says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 17:44
  
  Akamai has an outage currently which could explain it
Lord Doncaster says:

22 Jul22 July 17:19

Reading through the Econonist…I’d love to know what some of the writers smoke before engaging brain to tap out their piece…
- The Savage Squirrel says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 18:33
  
  I sometimes think the same with the Guardian. And the Telegraph. And the Times.
  It’s not a bad thing at all, though; if I agree with every opinion column within a publication then it must have a pretty narrow spectrum of opinions voiced.
- Degsy says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 23:53
  
  What in particular has irked/amused/intrigued you Lord Doncaster?
BJ says:

22 Jul22 July 17:21

BA.com seems to be in meltdown.
- VerdantBacon says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 17:32
  
  Air France and EasyJet also seem to be down
  - Rhys says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 17:51
    
    Websites hit by global outage – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57929544
    - BJ says:
      
      22 Jul22 July 18:02
      
      Thanks, missed that. Interestingly it also wipes the linked Nectar accounts; I wonder if those links will reestablish themselves automatically or if we will need to link them again using up one of our link quota.
      - BJ says:
        
        22 Jul22 July 18:19
        
        Now that the problem has been resolved, I can see the link has reestablished itself.
- VerdantBacon says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 17:34
  
  Oddly IHG logged me out and the Sign In button doesn’t work, though the rest of the site does.
  
  UK government’s way of stopping us from travelling, they’ve just blocked all travel operators 🙂
  - Mark says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 17:36
    
    Except HSBC is down too.
- VerdantBacon says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 17:36
  
  Okay HSBC is also down, thought I’d get some travel planning sorted after work but it looks like the internet has other ideas!
- sloth says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 17:40
  
  its an Akamai DNS outage
  - kitten says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 17:45
    
    Is that Russian, or Israeli?
    - BJ says:
      
      22 Jul22 July 18:07
      
      My first thought was it might be LL exacting her revenge… 😉
      - kitten says:
        
        22 Jul22 July 23:49
        
        purr …scratch
Alan S says:

22 Jul22 July 17:34

I have a friend who needs to return to Scotland immediately due to the death of a parent.

I can’t see any exemption in terms of the pre-departure test for such a thing.

Anyone know the quickest way to get a suitable test done in mainland Spain?
- Harry T says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 18:00
  
  Spain has a myriad of testing venues all over the major cities! You can also use Vueling discount codes to make them cheaper: https://www.vueling.com/en/passengers/test-pcr-covid
- Colin MacKinnon says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 19:22
  
  You don’t need the PCR – the one that takes many hours to process. A simple antigen suffices.
GaryE says:

22 Jul22 July 17:35

Advice please – My sister in law is planning on travelling to England from Canada. She will be entering the UK via Heathrow on an UK passport, but has been double vaccinated in Canada. Is she likely to be stopped and checked and does she need to isolate on arrival? All so confusing. Thanks
- Harry T says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 18:00
  
  She will need to isolate for ten days and take covid tests as she is coming from an Amber list country and has not been vaccinated by the NHS.
  - GaryE says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 18:22
    
    Thanks – would she be able to use the e-gates or does to PLF need to include your Covid vaccination details?
- ChrisC says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 18:01
  
  Yes she needs to isolate.
  
  The isolation exemption currently only applies to those vaccinated by the NHS.
  
  She’ll also need a pre booked day 0-2 and day 8 test, fill in the PLF and have a test before she departs Canada.
  
  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england#amber-list-rules-if-you-are-not-fully-uk-vaccinated
- AJA says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 18:01
  
  I think she will have to quarantine for 10 days as the ability to not quarantine only applies to fully vaccinated travellers with a vaccination certificate issued by the NHS under the UK vaccination program.
  
  I suggest she takes a look at https://apply.joinsherpa.com/travel-restrictions?affiliateid=ba for more information
AJA says:

22 Jul22 July 18:10

Further to my reply above I saw this on FT earlier today posted by FT BA Ambassador KARFA

BA has partnered with Sherpa to make available this new feature allowing you to check entry requirements by country. It’s like Timatic and gives a quick answer to travel restrictions and entry requirements, you just enter the departure and arrival airports and select whether you are fully vaccinated or not.

https://apply.joinsherpa.com/travel-…affiliateid=ba

Quote:
We’re pleased to inform you that we have launched a new feature on ba.com which allows passengers to quickly and easily check entry requirements by country. Sherpa returns requirements for both direct and indirect trips, making it a valuable tool for customers wishing to transfer via London as well as those whose journey is point-to-point. It will return COVID-19 test requirements, quarantine protocols and entry restrictions for anywhere in the world. Sherpa also helps passengers to understand and apply for certain eVisas.

Please feel free to direct customers to the Sherpa site and remind them requirements could change so to keep up to date right up to their date of departure. A link has also been added to the British Airways Trade Support site for your convenience.

We are committed to making travel as smooth and frictionless as possible and hope this will make understanding requirements for travel much simpler for you and your customers.