Can I avoid quarantine with my Amsterdam airport transfer?

Simon Calder answers your questions on Covid travel and securing refunds for cancelled bookings

Rome: an alternative route home from Italy could do the trick (Reuters)

Q I am currently in Rome but booked to fly back to Edinburgh via Amsterdam. I will not be leaving the airport, just going straight from one gate to another. Does that mean I can avoid quarantine?

Name supplied

A No. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the UK government has been clear about changing planes at airports on the “no-go” list. The airport constitutes “a transit stop” and if you get off and mix with other people – as is natural at any aviation hub – then you must self-isolate for 14 days when you get back to Scotland.

The only way to avoid quarantine in your case would require an implausible sequence of events:

1. The plane from Rome to Amsterdam happens to be the one deployed for your onward flight to Edinburgh.

2. The airline allows you to remain onboard during the stop.

3. It just happens that no one new gets on at Amsterdam (it doesn’t matter if some passengers get off, so long as they don’t get back on after mixing with other people).

The prospect of these lining up is so low that I would not even entertain it for a moment.

Instead, I would devote your energy to finding an alternative way back to the UK. For example, next Saturday 22 August, Ryanair has a flight from Pisa to Edinburgh for just £37 – which looks to me a very good price for avoiding two weeks in self-isolation. There are inexpensive trains along the coast from Rome to Pisa, with the added benefit of spectacular scenery, and you can comfortably walk to the airport from Pisa Centrale station or take the €5 (£4.50) “Pisa Mover” automated shuttle.

The flight is early, though, so if you take up this opportunity you will probably want a hotel in Pisa – which, this summer, is blissfully empty.

Indeed, I suggest you invest a day at the end of your trip to enjoy the marvels of this Tuscan city, including the Leaning Tower. When I was there last month, you could simply by a ticket for an immediate tour, which is almost unheard of in August.

Venice: Italy is doing very well at keeping new infection rates down (Reuters)

Q If you were to book to go abroad this weekend where would you go? Greece? Everything in the UK is booked up. Should we risk it?

Rachel B

A I may indeed be going abroad this weekend, and I may end up in Greece. But that is only because I have already been to Italy since lockdown ended. And that blessed country looks right now the optimum choice for a late escape.

For a start, it isn’t too far – two to three hours away, so saving a good 90 minutes on the journey time to most Greek airports. So less time in the air with the faintly uncomfortable prospect of wearing a face covering, and no need to fill out a complicated form in advance online.

Next, air links are more widely available and lower cost than for Greece. Right now I am looking at a ridiculously priced easyJet fare from Bristol to Olbia on the fabulous island of Sardinia: £91 return, travelling out on Saturday 15 August, coming back a week later. (That does not include checked luggage, but easyJet offers a generous-sized case and no weight limit for cabin baggage.)

From Manchester a combination of easyJet and Ryanair is available to Venice and back for around £150 – another impressively low fare for a late booking in peak season.

Hotels and restaurants are open and welcoming visitors. Of course it feels odd having to wear a mask on any public transportation, and in public areas of hotels, etc, but you soon get used to it. And you also get the benefit of being able to explore Venice, Florence, Pisa and other highlights without the usual crowds.

Most persuasive of all: Italy is currently doing outstandingly well in terms of keeping down new infection rates. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control figures for the past two weeks show it to be the most successful country in southern Europe. So there is little chance of an unwelcome surprise in the shape of a demand for you to quarantine on your return home.

Our package trip to Portugal has been scuppered by the airline (iStock)

Q In February we booked what we thought was a package holiday to Portugal through an online travel agent. It comprised an outbound flight on British Airways, an inbound flight on TAP Portugal, airport transfers and a hotel. But the travel confirmation showed three separate items and corresponding transactions on our credit card: one for the BA flight, the second for TAP Portugal and the third for the rest.

Yesterday the agent told me British Airways had cancelled the flight and asked whether I wanted to continue with the cancellation or reschedule. Is a full refund within our rights?

Alison K

A Assuming you bought the trip with a single transaction, the fact that the online travel agent then decided to carve up the individual components is irrelevant. You will have bought a package holiday within the meaning of the Package Travel Regulations, and all the consumer protection that comes with it.

At the time you booked, you should have been given an Atol certificate (and charged £2.50 for the privilege). Although the Atol scheme is not directly relevant at this stage, because the company that organised the holiday is thankfully still in business, it does handily denote the existence of a package.

Let’s turn to the situation in Portugal. Since 17 March, the country has been on the government’s “no-go” list, with the Foreign Office warning against all but essential travel. In addition, since 10 June, the Department for Transport has said that all travellers returning from Portugal must self-isolate at home for two weeks. You didn’t sign up for either of these, and can argue that “unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances” have occurred that will significantly affect “the performance of the package”. If successful, that will entitle you to all your money back, theoretically within two weeks.

That is not quite foolproof, though, because the travel firm can say that the holiday can be provided as planned – ie the performance of the package will be unaffected. The fact that you might understandably no longer want to go, the company could claim, is irrelevant.

Fortunately you should not need to get embroiled in a complex legal argument. Now that British Airways has cancelled your flight, it will be difficult for the travel firm to deliver what you bought. In theory the company could find an alternative departure on a different airline at similar timings, but the fact that you have been asked whether or not you want to go ahead suggests to me that the travel firm will be ready to cancel the package.

You must, though, insist on a full refund rather than a drip-feed of the various components – and that you expect the travel firm to do the legwork for you. Some online agents have sent customers off to source their own refunds.

Italy currently has the lowest level of infection of any top Mediterranean destination (Getty)

Q Are there any travel insurance policies for a quick trip to Europe you’d recommend? I’m off to Italy tomorrow. I can’t seem to find one that will cover changes in Foreign Office advice, or getting caught up in a local lockdown, or needing to get out of a country quickly before the shutters come down.

Name supplied

A Italy is an excellent choice right now, with the lowest levels of coronavirus infection of any major Mediterranean destination.

Even as other countries are removed from the no-quarantine list, and Foreign Office warnings against travel are re-applied, I cannot see Italy becoming one of the candidates for closure over the next few weeks. So in your position I would not be actively seeking specific coronavirus cover.

If you are determined to procure some, the policies sold online or by phone by Trailfinders look fairly gold plated. The firm offers cancellation costs of up to £5,000 and the same again for “quarantine cover, before and during travel if insured is instructed to self-isolate“.

The policy also covers up to £10m in medical expenses and repatriation cover, including claims arising from Covid-19.

Such generous provisions for a known risk such as coronavirus come at a price: £28 for a week for a healthy 40-year-old.

Staysure has some more basic policies covering some Covid risks, including cancellation, for as little as £9 for a week. But this does not cover claims arising “from an outbreak of Covid-19 locking down, resulting in travel warnings, affecting or restricting freedom of movement in your home country, the country or specific area or event to which you were travelling to or through before after or during your trip”.

Abta, InsureFor and other firms offer varying degrees of cover for coronavirus-related costs. The more expensive the policy, generally the better the cover.

Because I have no wish to get caught up in quarantine, I am currently a late booker – and I am being wary of travelling to countries where the infection rate is high and rising. So next time I invest in insurance, I intend to pay £50-£75 for a fairly basic annual travel policy with no special coronavirus cover.

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