Why are we being advised against travel to Jamaica?

Q There is currently a disconnect between the government’s green and amber lists and the Foreign Office guidance. For example, Jamaica is on the amber list, meaning it’s OK to visit, but the Foreign Office “advises against all but essential travel to the whole of Jamaica based on the current assessment of Covid-19 risks”. Why the discrepancy?

Miss Bee, via the latest Ask Me Anything at independent.co.uk/travel

A I agree it is strange that the Foreign Office (FCDO) should issue such a warning. Certainly, there have been concerns over the past couple of months about high coronavirus infection rates in Jamaica, but the island’s situation appears to be improving. The Department for Transport (DfT) – which organises inbound travel restrictions to the UK – has kept it on the medium-risk amber list, and I am confident it will avoid the “red list” requiring hotel quarantine.

The FCDO clearly has a different assessment. Its no-go warning has two adverse effects.

The first is that standard travel insurance policies are invalidated if you travel to a location against FCDO advice. That is little more than an expensive irritation, since there is now a wide range of travel insurance policies that offer cover for travel even if the government insists it is too dangerous: Staysure and Battleface are two established providers.

The second, more serious concern is that the vast majority of tour operators do not operate package holidays to locations on the Foreign Office “no-go” list. If the warning remains in place for another week or two, expect companies to start cancelling half-term trips soon.

So what is the thinking? Well, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Foreign Office and the DfT coming up with different views on a single location. The FCDO is looking at the overall risk to the traveller, while the DfT is concerned with the threat to UK public health from arriving passengers. Divergence is fine on non-coronavirus issues. The Foreign Office has a much wider risk remit, and typically warns against non-essential travel when there is a concern about terrorism. However, the all-too-frequent occasions in which the two government departments differ on Covid-19 hazards are difficult to comprehend.

If (as the FCDO states) there is a high risk of a British traveller contracting coronavirus in Jamaica, then surely there is a significant danger that UK visitors will bring back infections? This conflict simply adds to a general air of complete incoherence on travel restrictions. I hope that your question will add to the pressure to align the advice.

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Q Travelling to Belfast from England, do I need to complete a passenger locator form or take a Covid test?

Kathleen P

A Legally there are no restrictions on travelling to Northern Ireland from England or any of the other nations of the UK; nor from the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. These are the constituents of the Common Travel Area (CTA). If you have Covid-19 symptoms and/or have just received a positive test result, you should not travel anywhere – seek medical advice instead.

Assuming you are well, the Northern Ireland Executive says: “You do not need to fill in a passenger locator form if you’re travelling from within the CTA and you have not been outside the CTA in the last 10 days.” But the authorities in Belfast have strong recommendations with which you should comply if you will be there for more than a day.

“If you’re travelling from within the Common Travel Area (CTA) and staying overnight in Northern Ireland, you should take a rapid lateral flow device test (LFD) before you begin your journey,” the advice reads. “You should only travel if the test is negative. You should also take an LFD test on days two and eight of your stay.”

This is one of the very rare occasions when you can use a free NHS test for the purposes of travel. The only similar context of which I am aware is when travelling between the Scottish mainland and the islands.

The government in Edinburgh says: “To reduce the risk of coronavirus being brought into island communities, we are encouraging anyone planning to travel to a Scottish island to test before they do so. You should test three days before you plan to travel and then again on the day of departure. If you test positive, you should complete your period of self-isolation before you begin your journey.”

For any international travel, passengers must pay for private testing – NHS devices cannot be used.

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Q My nine-year-old son was refused boarding a flight to Portugal in July 2021 because he had only five months left on his passport. It meant that we all had to cancel our travel. Was that an incorrect decision by the airline? And, if so, can I claim compensation?

Sandra C

A Many families suffered great anguish this summer. After months of lockdown and the prospect of an escape at last, they fell at the last hurdle – the outbound airport – as a result of post-Brexit passport changes. Sometimes the airline was correct in denying boarding; often they were not.

As a reminder: while the UK was in the European Union, a British passport was valid up to and including its expiry date. Since the start of 2021, the long-standing EU regulations for “third-country” citizens have applied. Two tests apply for a British passport to be valid: was it issued no more than 10 years ago, and will it have at least three months before the expiry date on the intended day of leaving the European Union (usually to return home)?

A nine-year-old will have a child’s passport, which will have been issued for a maximum of five years, nine months. So the first test is met. And as long as there was a booking for him to return from Portugal while three months remained on his passport, the second test was also satisfied.

The airlines, and specifically the check-in staff at British airports, had a tough time this summer, not least because the UK government provided false information on what Europe’s rules are. But they cannot plead that they were following official advice, because the only rules that matter when you are going to an EU country are those applied by the European Union.

So long as you are sure that all the conditions were met by your family party (including Portugal’s awkward testing rules), I suggest you invite the airline to make a reasonable financial settlement. Under European air passengers’ rights rules, your son is due £350 for being wrongly denied boarding, plus a full refund of the flight. But I think you have a good case under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to say that the carrier has not used “due care and skill”, and therefore owes you the cost of the entire trip, plus denied boarding compensation for everyone.

Write to the airline and invite them to meet your reasonable demands – and make it clear you will not hesitate to take legal action if they do not provide a suitable settlement.

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Q I believe airlines are wrongly applying obsolete rules with regard to insisting on pre-departure tests for fully vaccinated visitors to mainland Portugal from the UK. I had checked the information at www.visitportugal.com and it appeared to me that fully vaccinated British visitors did not need tests. I turned up at Stansted for my 6.30am flight to Lisbon and was informed that I needed a test. The testing centre was not open until 7.30am and so I missed the flight. Who was correct?

A I can understand your feelings – but I am afraid the airline is correct. Indeed, airport staff have asked me to remind as many Portugal-bound travellers as possible that, right now, tests are required for arrivals from the UK. The reason that you and (I fear) hundreds of other people are being turned away from flights bound for Lisbon, Porto and Faro is that Portugal is the clear winner of the “most confusing Covid testing rules in Europe”.

Every day, dozens – perhaps hundreds – of people are turned away from their flights from the UK because they have read the nigh-impenetrable information provided by the Portugal authorities and drawn the wrong conclusions. The basic requirement for arrivals who do not have an EU digital Covid certificate is a rapid antigen (ie lateral flow) test taken in the 48 hours before boarding. Some travellers (not you) believe that NHS Covid vaccination certification is sufficient. It may indeed be so in the very near future, because finally there is some indication that the UK system may be linked to Europe’s. But right now it is not.

What I believe confused you is that, a few lines down, the Portugal authorities say in the context of getting into hotels you will need the EU Covid certificate, or a negative test result, or “in the case of tourists from the United Kingdom it is also acceptable to present a proof of complete vaccination recognised for the purpose of entering our country”. Those few words at the end – “recognised for the purpose of entering our country” – are unnecessary, confusing and extremely damaging. They suggest that UK residents are able to use UK proof of vaccination to enter Portugal, which is not the case.

I will continue to urge British travellers to get tested and the Portuguese authorities to change the wording. But I hope within weeks it will become unnecessary, with your NHS vaccination recognised by Portugal.

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