Will my daughter be able to fly after the lockdown in India ends?
Simon Calder answers your questions about getting home amid the global pandemic, claiming refunds from British Airways and seemingly contradictory travel advice
Q My daughter has been in Rishikesh in India for the past two weeks studying to be a yoga teacher. She is now in lockdown due to the coronavirus. She has been assured by the yoga centre that she can stay there until flights resume. When they do, will she be able to come straight home to us after arriving back in the UK? Will they test her at the airport to see if she is free from the virus?
Deborah A
A Sorry to hear about your daughter’s situation and I hope you are feeling reassured that she is being well looked after.
India’s three-week lockdown is due to finish on 15 April, at which point (assuming it is not extended) there will be a surge of people desperately trying to get home to family and friends. This will make travel challenging for, I predict, a week or so; if she and you can bear it, I suggest you plan on her staying an extra few days before making her way to Delhi for a flight home.
By then there should be plenty of flight options available, as I imagine a number of countries will have concluded that banning aviation is futile (as the World Health Organisation has long said).
The key issue that she will need to address: is she in good health and able to fly without putting herself or anyone else at risk? There are very likely to be checks at Indian airports which are designed to assess that, and anyone with a high temperature is likely to be denied travel. But she will also need to consider whether she may have been exposed to Covid-19, for example someone else at the yoga centre presenting with symptoms. If that happens, then she should self-isolate for a further 14 days.
Assuming she gets past those hurdles, then there should be no problem – beyond the risks that are associated with international airports. I hope one positive development from this awful crisis is that we become better at protecting against the multitude of health threats at airports. She should practice social distancing as much as she can (though that is tricky at any airport) and keep washing her hands.
After the flight back to the UK, she will be free to go home to you with no need to self-isolate because, by being a responsible person prior to boarding the flight, she will represent no threat.
I am fully aware that many people have called for mandatory isolation/quarantine for new arrivals to the UK, but that is not seen as medically sensible at present. I imagine so long as decisions are taken based on risk rather than political popularity that will continue.
Q Please explain why as late as 6 March 2020 you were advising people to carry on with travel arrangements to Lombardy/northern Italy, when it was blatantly obvious it was unsafe and totally irresponsible to travel? Please do not quote the Foreign & Commenwealth Office (FCO) or airline guidelines as they have been now proven to be totally incompetent (any man in the street could see it was wrong to carry on travelling overseas).
You appear to have forgotten what you where advising in early March and are now sympathising with stranded people overseas. They were probably influenced by your advice that they should carry on and travel.
If you do not answer my question or apologise I will serious question your independence and lose my respect for you.
David H
A I fear you may be mistaken about precise dates (on 6 March I was travelling to Saudi Arabia). But as a general principle, before that I was certainly keen to represent the view of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UK government that overseas travel was perfectly acceptable, subject to any prevailing warnings about specific locations; the Foreign Office warned against travel to northern Italy on 8 March.
Prior to that, the downturn in demand meant some excellent deals were available to a wide rage of destinations, including Italy. I stressed that travellers at higher risk should consider carefully the danger before travelling. I also explained that the biggest risks were posed at airports, and how passengers could protect themselves.
The Foreign Office advice against non-essential travel outside the UK was imposed not because of fears about the threat of coronavirus to British citizens, but because so many countries were imposing flight bans. International flights to and from the UK are continuing, as the government does not believe they represent a threat.
I believe I have scrupulously followed official advice. I note that you are dismissive of it. But as a responsible journalist I must provide readers and viewers with the official view and my interpretation of it.
I certainly regret failing to predict that so many countries would ignore the advice of the WHO, which has caused the present distress among people who are stranded. Meanwhile, if you are aware of anyone in a difficult position please let me know; I am trying to help as many people as I can.
Q I was due to fly to Austin, Texas, with British Airways on 14 April, having paid £758 for a long-anticipated trip. BA sent me an email a couple of days after the Foreign Office “no travel” announcement saying that my flight was “scheduled to fly” but they could offer me a voucher lasting 12 months. I knew I wouldn’t get through to them on the phone so I accepted the voucher.
A week later, I received an email saying my flight was cancelled and I could have a refund. I would prefer a refund as I am uncertain how long the outbreak will last and I might not wish to travel anywhere.
Once again, it is not possible to get in touch with BA either by email or phone. I am puzzled that I wasn’t offered a refund in the first place?
Carole M
A Your case is typical of many I have received about British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair: an invitation to claim a voucher or reschedule a trip, while the original flight is still scheduled to be going.
Unlike with tour operators who organise package holidays, the Foreign Office advice against non-essential travel anywhere abroad does not compel airlines to cancel flights or offer full refunds.
The airlines emphasise that they are keen to offer choice and certainty to passengers. But for flights that they anticipate they will cancel, it provides an opportunity for them to keep your money in the business; once you accept a voucher, your original booking has been cancelled at your request and you are stuck with a credit note. (It must be used for a booking you are travelling on, but can involve any route and other people so long as they are flying with you.)
My advice to travellers in the position of holding a future flight booking that is fairly imminent: don’t accept a voucher, just wait for the flight to be cancelled. If it is one of a small minority not selected for cancellation, then you will still be able to take the voucher option a day or two in advance.
Those of us waiting for a cancellation option are hardly in a great position, though. British Airways has removed its blissfully easy procedure to claim a full refund on a flight cancelled by the carrier. Instead, passengers who want actual money back rather than a voucher are told they have to phone – which, of course, is a spiral of despair with no chance of speaking to a human right now.
At least there is a year to claim.
Q My son is stuck in Cambodia and cannot find any information on flights out of Phnom Penh. The British embassy turned him away and are not answering the phones. Emirates has cancelled his flight home. Is he just stuck?
Carol H
A Yours is one of hundreds of messages I have received either from stranded British travellers dotted around the world or from their worried families and friends in the UK.
An almost total seizing-up of the global airline industry has been precipitated by individual countries imposing flight bans. The WHO has warned that, once local transmission of coronavirus begins, grounding international travel is futile and often damaging. But many nations (not, so far, including the UK) have ignored that expert advice and imposed them anyway.
That was why the Foreign Office urged British travellers to stay at home, and those who are away to come home. However, the latter advice was issued late – by which stage, for many travellers including your son, it was apparently too late. Emirates and many other airlines have grounded their flights on instructions from their national governments.
I have heard multiple reports from British citizens in Cambodia that Thai Airways was offering an escape route – but only for people with a certificate indicating they were free of Covid-19. Those have proved very difficult to get.
Your account of unanswered phones and unhelpful advice from British missions is, sadly, a familiar one. However, it became clear in the parliamentary debate yesterday that the support of your son’s MP can prove invaluable. I suggest you contact her or him and explain his situation. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, has promised MPs a fast-track to help out constituents’ travel problems.
Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder
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