Will travel restrictions be relaxed before Christmas?

Q Any hope the quarantine restrictions could lift for countries with lower rates than the UK for the five-day relaxation period over Christmas, allowing those of us with family in Europe to see them? No more risk than everyone moving around the UK at will.

Sarah G

A For families who have been separated for many months, I can see both the attraction and the arithmetic of your proposition. Given the very high rates of coronavirus infections in some parts of the UK, the numbers suggest it would be less of a threat to invite in visitors from rural Belgium or France than from, say, Chatham or Stoke.

Both countries now have significantly lower levels of Covid-19 cases than the UK. And if your prospective visitors were driving from their homes and taking the Eurotunnel, the chances of any contagion along the way would be slim to non-existent. But I can see a whole series of reasons why this is most unlikely to happen.

Officials would say that it is impractical to prescribe “acceptable” forms of transport, and caution that during almost any international journey there are multiple opportunities for encounters that could, in theory, spread the disease.

Even if I could persuade any of the four UK nations’ governments to accept the basic principle that the risks are, on balance, lower from incoming visitors than from the local population, I don’t think it would get me far in lobbying for the temporary easing of quarantine rules.  

The so-called “Christmas ease” from 23 to 27 December has been agreed with some reluctance between the leaders of the four UK nations – in tacit recognition of the likelihood that some people would travel around the country to see friends and family even if lockdown rules were still in force.

I cannot see that any of the four governments would wish to add to the number and complexity of journeys around the UK over Christmas, so I fear you and millions in your position will have to summon up extra reserves of patience. Let us hope that reducing infection rates, improving testing and the vaccination of the most vulnerable in society will hasten liberation early in 2021.

Q We are due to cruise with MSC from Dubai in February 2021. With the Gulf states now opening up, what chance do you think there is that this may go ahead?

Steve H

A When researching the answer I was surprised – actually, astonished – to find that MSC has a Gulf cruise scheduled for later this month. Fantasia is due to depart from Abu Dhabi on 27 December for a week’s meander via Bahrain, Qatar and Dubai.

Given the multiplicity of problems that the cruise industry faces, it looks to me most unlikely that the ship will sail as planned.

All three countries – the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain – were added to the UK’s “travel corridor” list last month, meaning that quarantine is no longer obligatory for people travelling to Britain from any of these countries.

But travelling in the opposite direction is much tougher. The Foreign Office says: “Tourists and visitors cannot travel to Abu Dhabi by air.” This rather scuppers things from the off.  

Even if travellers were allowed to fly in to Abu Dhabi, they would require a PCR test taken no more than 96 hours before arrival – an onerous obligation that is likely to cost £150-£200 per person as well as considerable hassle.

“Depending on your port of entry, you may also need to undertake a second test on arrival,” says the Foreign Office. The travel warning adds that you may also be asked to wear a government-provided wristband and to complete a period of self-isolation or quarantine.

That does not look like a dream holiday to me. Furthermore, British tourists are not yet admitted to Qatar (though they can transit through the airport in Doha). This could change any moment if Qatar decides to open up to tourism, but the state is less tourism-dependent than the UAE. Bahrain is another nation that requires a Covid-19 test from international arrivals, with the caveat that they must self-isolate until the test result is received.

These stipulations are for passengers. I can imagine they are going to be even tougher for ships’ crews. And while I am confident that Gulf cruises will go ahead at scale in the autumn of 2021 and the subsequent winter, I estimate the chances of yours sailing at less than 50:50 – and for that December 2020 departure, close to zero.

Q Which country do you reckon will crack first and allow tourists in with no catches?

Name supplied

A The exact answer to your question is: the UK, at least retrospectively. In mid-March, just as the rest of the world was putting up barriers, the British government decided to pursue exactly the opposite strategy. It removed the targeted quarantine requirements that had been imposed on arrivals from specific locations including China, Iran and northern Italy.

For the next 12 weeks, there were no controls whatsoever on people arriving in the UK. Then the government made a 180-degree turn and imposed mandatory self-isolation for two weeks for everyone coming in from any foreign country apart from Ireland. The UK quarantine policy has been eased, then tightened, then eased many times over the past few months.

Globally, as the world looks forward to 2021 and the opportunities that improved testing and, in time, a vaccine might bring, I predict a kind of “arms race” between tourism-dependent destinations for visitors.

Locations that have a large proportion of inhabitants normally employed in tourism are strong candidates to open up quickly. A good example is Barbados, where the government is seeking to strike the right balance between economic need and risk to the local population. While visitors are required to be tested both before departure to the Caribbean and on arrival on the island, only a modicum of quarantine is required.

Another dimension is: how effective has the destination been at controlling coronavirus? For example, the countries of southeast Asia that are highly dependent on tourism, notably Thailand, are very keen to preserve their remarkable virus-free status.

But other nations – notably southern European countries – may well drop any restrictions on the basis that the average visitor is more of a potential target than a threat. The US, too, may take this view, though I imagine it would impose some kind of pre-testing regime rather than accepting all-comers.

Like you, I am watching with interest to see who makes the first move.

Q In your article on easyJet halving its cabin baggage allowance, I believe there’s a mistake – or at least an omission. You said that it will cost £21 on a typical flight to take an extra cabin bag on board. But easyJet provides a service called “hands-free”. It allows you to check in your large cabin bag for £7 and allows you to take an additional bag on board. Surely that is a decent alternative?

Chris R

A Britain’s biggest budget airline is emulating its even bigger Irish rival, Ryanair, in drastically reducing the size of its free cabin baggage allowance unless you pay extra. To take anything bigger than a bag that slips under the seat in front of you, easyJet demands that you pay more for an “upfront” or extra legroom seat. If you agree to pay typically £21, you will be able to bring a larger bag in addition to the smaller one – and get the seat of your choice, if that is important to you.

Passengers holding easyJet Plus cards, or who pay higher “flexi” fares, will also be allowed to bring two bags into the cabin.

The airline says the new policy will cut queue times during boarding and should eliminate the need for some passengers’ hand luggage to be placed in the hold.

You are right that, at present, easyJet has a £7 “hands-free” product – which I believe is aimed at dealing with the problem of too many cabin bags. “We know that dragging a cabin bag through the airport, unpacking it at security and then rushing for locker space can take all the fun out of travelling,” says the airline. Instead, it suggests: “Simply drop your cabin bag off at easyJet Plus bag drop, walk past all those unpacking at security, board the aircraft early or at your leisure and we’ll have your bag delivered amongst the first.”

But I contend this is not an acceptable substitute on two grounds. First, many travellers (me included) highly value the chance to take cabin baggage on board, for reasons of speed and security. Second, I can see no guarantee that the hands-free arrangement will survive in its present form for long, if the problem of too many cabin bags is solved as easyJet hopes.

While passengers who have an existing booking for travel from 10 February will be offered the chance to use the “hands-free” service for free (in recognition that they booked on the basis of the larger allowance), in the long term I think “hands free” represents extra complexity in an airline that prides itself on simplicity.

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