What’s the best way to get to Turkey for a court case?

Q I have a court case in Turkey at the end of the month. First, how do I get there? My ideal airport is Stansted, flying to Dalaman. But while flights are often advertised they then seem not to happen. Do you have any recommendations as I cannot really have any cancellations? Coupled with this is the logistics of getting a PCR test which I believe has to be within 72 hours of arrival. So a direct flight would be less stressful.

Second. I want to avoid the expensive hotel quarantine on return to the UK. What do you recommend?

I have been fully jabbed.

Name supplied

A Lots of flights are being scheduled but then cancelled – on the reasonable grounds that they would be very empty, due to Turkey’s unfortunate status on the UK’s red list.

The only reliable option I would recommend is Turkish Airlines from Heathrow to Istanbul. While changing planes in Istanbul is more onerous than a nonstop flight, connections at the new airport are well organised. Though fares to Dalaman are currently around £220 one way – more than you would wish, but in the absence of budget airlines, that's really the only option. At least it is an excellent carrier with great service in economy.

You will need a PCR test taken within 72 hours of arrival in Istanbul. I recommend you use the new three-hour service available at Heathrow for £95 through Collinson, which should remove stress: just build it into your travel day.

Regarding “laundering” your quarantine status: as you have been fully jabbed, you can choose from any of the green or amber list countries between Turkey and the UK (only Montenegro is on the red list). My choice would be green-listed Bulgaria, for convenience, charm and economy. Check the prevailing admission rules with the consulate in Istanbul before you go there. And as it is an EU country, your new passport will turn out to be a blessing.

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Q My husband and I (both double-vaccinated) are on a cruise in October from Barcelona to Trieste. All of the countries we call at are green or amber except Montenegro – just added to the red list. The port of call is Kotor. We have been before and know that it's a tender port. So if we stay on the ship does this affect our status when we return to the UK? In other words, do we have to quarantine just because we have been in Montenegrin waters?

Sue Mill

A An intriguing and important question – thank you. Suppose you do stay on board. As you say, large cruise ships anchor in the deep bay and passengers are taken into town by tender.

Now, you might imagine that if you simply stay on board, as you have not set foot on Montenegrin soil that would mean you have not visited a red list nation. Therefore, you might conclude you escape hotel quarantine on return to the UK. But the transit rules set out by the UK government for stops made in red list nations indicate otherwise.

“Making a transit stop would not affect what you have to do on arrival in England if, during the stop: no new passengers, who are able to mix with you, get on; no-one on-board gets off and mixes with people outside; passengers get off but do not get back on.”

Sadly I think that the second criterion means you are scuppered. Undoubtedly other nationalities of passengers – as well as some of the crew – will go ashore and mix with the friendly locals.

But don’t at this stage feel obliged to book that 11-night stay in a quarantine hotel at the end of your trip, at a cost of £4,000.

There are three things that could happen.

1. Montenegro’s status might change, though evidence suggests once you are on the red list you tend to stay there for a good while.

2. More likely, the whole 62-country red list will be reappraised and shrink to a few really risky locations (not including Montenegro).

3. If neither of these things happen, then the cruise operator is likely to alter the itinerary if a significant number of passengers are British – which would be a great shame because Kotor is a spectacular, beautiful and fascinating port of call.

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Q Any chance of the red zone restrictions being lifted? I am especially interested in Costa Rica.

Elizabeth M

A Ostensibly, not much chance at all. The red list is where no one wants to be – arrivals must go into 11 nights of hotel quarantine at their expense on return to the UK. Unwilling members besides Costa Rica include Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and every country in South America.

Costa Rica has a high coronavirus case rate of 483 new infections in a week per one million inhabitants. Although the UK’s rate is one-sixth higher, there may well be concerns about the scale and effectiveness of testing in the Central American republic – as well as concern about Covid variants in the region.

But I am still optimistic about this entrancing nation, with spectacular volcanic terrain, glorious rainforest and gorgeous beaches, being accessible without the need to quarantine on return.

Next week we’re expecting another “traffic light” review, with some shuffling around – for example with Poland and Hungary possibly being placed on the green list at last, and the Maldives and Turkey potentially taken off the red list and moved to amber.

What is more significant is the “checkpoint” date of 1 October when the government has long said it will evaluate the system. Leaks to the media suggest that from October, the red list will continue but green and amber categories will be combined.

For vaccinated travellers that would make no difference at all: both categories require two tests but no quarantine. For the relatively small minority of unvaccinated adults, there could be a more significant change – perhaps removing self-isolation but retaining testing.

The travel industry isn’t especially unimpressed. But I also see some possibility of shrinking the red category, from the 63 currently on the mandatory hotel quarantine list to a relatively small number of nations with very high infection rates, unreliable data and/or fears about variants.

Certainly, some other Latin American nations are strong candidates for exiting the red list, and there is a chance that Costa Rica could be among them.

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Q When do you think vaccines administered in other countries will be approved by the UK? Right now it’s only the double jabbed from the European Union and United States who can travel without quarantine.

Lana

A As regular readers of these questions and answers will know, the UK is an extreme outlier in many aspects of travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

This latest divergence from international norms began in July, when for the first time vaccinated travellers travelling to the United Kingdom from “amber list” countries could avoid self-isolation – but only if their jabs had been administered by the NHS.

While the established practice in almost all countries is for the vaccine type to be recognised, regardless of where the traveller actually got the jab, the UK initially allowed only people who had British vaccinations to serve quarantine.

At the time a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care told me: “We recognise there are a large variety of Covid-19 vaccines being administered worldwide and work is ongoing to determine which non-UK vaccines and certification solutions we might be confident to recognise.”

After a couple of weeks, jabs given in the EU (plus hangers-on such as Switzerland and Norway) and the US were added to the “approved” list. But those administered in locations such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada are still not recognised. As those three countries are now all on the green list, it does not affect travellers unless they are stopping en route in an amber country. But arrivals from the UAE, India and more than a hundred other nations who have been happily vaccinated to the satisfaction of their own health authorities must continue to self-isolate when they get here.

Besides the emotional harm caused, the damage to inbound tourism is incalculable. The next formal opportunity to change this unsustainable state of affairs will be the government’s next official “checkpoint” to assess and amend travel restrictions on 1 October. It is difficult to see how they can continue this discriminatory policy any longer.

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