Can I avail of test to release if I travel back on Monday?

Q I am currently in Tenerife, booked to come back on Monday. I understand the new legislation allowing you to take a test and reduce your isolation to five days comes into effect on Tuesday. Are we better to extend our holiday by one day or can we use the scheme even though we are landing ahead of the start?

David S

A You have been most unfortunate to have been caught by the sudden and unexpected imposition of quarantine on people returning to the UK from the Canary Islands. After just seven weeks in which the archipelago appeared to offer an ideal winter getaway for sun-starved British holidaymakers, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, removed the Canaries’ “travel corridor”. As with travellers to the rest of Spain, anyone returning from Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and all islands to La Graciosa must now self-isolate at home.

Handily, unlike the mandatory two weeks of quarantine that has prevailed for returning holidaymakers from the vast majority of destinations for six months, two things are happening in very quick succession that make life easier.

First, the stipulated sentence has suddenly reduced from 14 days to 10. So if you do nothing more, you will be able to end self-isolation at one minute past midnight on the day immediately after 10 days since you left – in other words, the start of Christmas Day.

Second, the “test-to-release” scheme goes live on Tuesday 15 December for residents of England. You could be one of the first beneficiaries, if you register for a test on 19 December (five days after you left Tenerife). If it is negative, you end quarantine immediately. There is no benefit (except extra sunshine) for staying an extra day in Tenerife; arrivals on Tuesday will not be able to quit self-isolation until 20 December.

One more thought if quarantine is really inconvenient for you: fly back on Saturday afternoon. After the predictable Friday spike in fares (caused by a surge in people desperate to return before the 4am deadline) Saturday deadline. Ryanair wants only £19 for a Tenerife-Birmingham departure. That would allow you to take the test on 17 December and to cease self-isolate with a week to spare before Christmas.

Q Would you be happy to fly on the Boeing 737 Max?

Name supplied

A The plane whose built-in design flaw cost 346 lives in two tragedies is flying once again. The Boeing 737 Max is the latest variant of the world’s most successful aircraft. But in order to combine the original 1960s profile of the 737 with large, efficient 21st-century engines, the planemaker installed new anti-stall software designed to keep the aircraft safe in certain rare flight conditions.

The Boeing 737 Max entered service in May 2017 and made thousands of passenger flights on a wide range of airlines. I enjoyed my only Max flight so far, with SpiceJet of India in February 2019 – unaware of its fatal flaw.

In October 2018 a faulty sensor on board a Lion Air flight from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, had triggered the anti-stall system and forced the nose of the aircraft down despite the pilots’ efforts to rescue it.

In March 2019 an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max was lost near Addis Ababa in similar circumstances.

The Max was grounded for longer than any other aircraft type in the 21st century, while Boeing made changes to the aircraft systems and devised new training for pilots. It has now been certified for service, initially by the US and Brazil – where passenger flights resumed on 9 December 2020.

I would certainly be happy to fly on the aircraft. Even when the tragic and needless death toll from the two Boeing 737 Max crashes is taken into account, aviation remains extraordinarily safe. The European airline with the biggest order for the jet – and almost certainly the one I will fly with the most – is Ryanair.

This Irish carrier flies only Boeing 737s, and has 210 of the Max variant on offer. Ryanair happens to be the safest airline in the world by passenger numbers flown without a single fatal accident. My usual rule applies: defer to the captain. If she or he is prepared to fly the plane, then I am happy to step on board.

As soon as I finish this reply, I will be doing something far more dangerous: cycling for five miles across London.

Q I booked a holiday to the Dominican Republic in January through a tour operator, but using British Airways flights. The tour operator now says it may cancel my holiday, even if the flights are still going. Is it allowed to do that, and am I due any compensation?

Deborah P

A Not only is the tour operator entitled to cancel your holiday – as things stand, it is arguably obliged to do so.

The Dominican Republic has, relative to its population, less than 30 per cent of the new coronavirus cases of the UK. That is according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). But the Foreign Office “advises against all but essential travel to the whole of the Dominican Republic based on the current assessment of Covid-19 risks”.

However preposterous you might regard this warning, its effect – according to Abta, the travel association – is to compel tour operators to cancel departures.

The government’s attitude to travel is changing so fast and frequently that it may be that the Dominican Republic soon joins the many other popular Caribbean islands, from Barbados to Cuba, that are currently on the Foreign Office “good-to-go” list.

But at some point, the tour operator has to take a decision on whether to go ahead with your departure – and while legally it could even decide on the morning your flight is due to take off, in practice it will want to give a week or two’s notice.

At this point you are due a refund within two weeks, though no compensation. You are at liberty to see if (for example) another company that is not a member of Abta will put together a Dominican Republic holiday for you, or indeed whether British Airways Holidays is inclined to come up with a competitive deal.

But bear in mind that, with rules as they currently are, you will be liable to quarantine upon your return to the UK. Cuba might present a tempting alternative in the Spanish Caribbean.

Q We are booked on a British Airways flight to New York JFK on 21 December. We haven’t seen our son for a whole year. But we are hearing of others with BA flights (to Germany) who have had their flights cancelled. Is there any hope for us?

Name supplied

A Many airlines have cancelled all manner of flights for basically the same reason: the sales of tickets are so low that it would be commercially absurd to operate the trips. Besides British Airways, this applies to easyJet, Ryanair and many long-haul carriers.

Were this to happen, you would find the European passenger rights rules are on your side. When an airline cancels a departure, it is legally obliged to find you an acceptable alternative on another of its flights – or, if that is not possible, a different carrier. With BA's partner American Airlines, as well as rivals Delta, United and Virgin Atlantic all flying between Heathrow and New York, I think it most unlikely that you would be left stranded.

I am sure, though, that British Airways will be able to get you to New York on 21 December. At present, BA is showing two flights from London Heathrow to New York JFK on that Monday. It is a far cry from the dozen that operated pre-Covid; but if the 10.30am departure were to be cancelled because of a light load, the 4.20pm is very likely to go, and vice-versa.

I trust you have the legal right to enter the US; under the presidential proclamation that Donald Trump signed in mid-March, travellers are not allowed to travel there if they have been in the UK or much of the rest of Europe in the past two weeks. American citizens and people with right of residence in the US can continue to fly with few restrictions.

When you return, you will need to self-isolate for two weeks – unless you avail of the option to “test-to-release”. Under this scheme, you could fly back from New York on New Year’s Day, arriving in the morning of 2 January. By 6 January you would be able to take a government-approved test and, assuming it is negative, end quarantine.

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