Coronavirus: Can I fly to America if my flatmate is self-isolating?

Simon Calder answers questions on the Covid-19 outbreak and whether you should go-ahead with your holiday

Anyone who has symptoms that are associated with Covid-19 should not to fly (Getty/iStock)

Q I am booked to travel imminently from Heathrow to Pittsburgh on British Airways. But my flatmate had contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus, and is now self-isolating and waiting to be tested. Though the official guidance for me is that I do not need to self-isolate until and unless my flatmate tests positive, I feel international travel may be irresponsible.

I tried to postpone my trip, to ensure I fly only after my flatmate’s test results come back. BA won’t let me change date without paying £848. But the airline is happy for me to get on the plane, having possibly been in contact with coronavirus. In fact, the carrier is actively encouraging it with its policy. My alternative is to miss the flight and attempt to claim back on travel insurance. What do you think?

Name supplied

A Several airlines have been criticised for their attitudes during the coronavirus crisis. For example, easyJet stuck rigidly to its “no refunds” policy for flights to Milan and Venice even after the Foreign Office warned against travel to areas of northern Italy.

Airlines, as you realise, are suffering potentially catastrophic falls in revenue as a result of the public’s reluctance to fly as well as the enforced cancellation of a number of routes – notably to China and Italy. Therefore they are inclined to stick to the terms and conditions that govern tickets unless there is a very good reason to ease them.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “We are closely following government guidance and are taking their advice at every step of the way. We then base our policies on that advice.”

As you note, NHS guidelines advise that “contacts of contacts” do not need to self-isolate, and can therefore continue with normal activities – including international travel. Anyone who has symptoms that are associated with coronavirus: fever, cough or shortness of breath – should not to fly (or take any form of public transport). Assuming you are fit and healthy on the day you are due to leave, I cannot see grounds for making a claim on your travel insurance; the insurer may reject it as an overabundance of caution.

It is possible that you could become symptomatic while in the US, in which case you should self-isolate rather than fly back, of course. Were this to happen, you should be able to claim the associated costs from travel insurance. BA might allow you to postpone your return flight until you have recovered and are no longer contagious.

Should my daughter and I stay away from London? (Getty)

Q Do you think a four-day trip to London for a weekend away with my daughter is safe, with coronavirus in the news? We would fly from Jersey to Gatwick, take the Gatwick Express, stay at the Strand Palace, eat at various Soho locations and take in the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Tate. We will take care and use hand sanitiser, and avoid people sneezing. Am I being reckless by considering it?

Name supplied

A In just a couple of months, the coronavirus crisis has transformed travel – and, equally importantly, travellers’ attitudes. I imagine that early in January you would not have thought twice about such a fun and rewarding trip. But now many travellers are extremely wary – and conscious that air travel has assisted the spread of Covid-19.

Yet in some ways this is an excellent time to travel. The normal state of the big airports, being stretched to the limits, has been reversed. Prices are being pitched ever lower in a bid to attract at least some business. And great cultural attractions, such as the Warhol exhibition, are strangely empty.

So I urge you to enjoy the visit. The biggest hazard, according to the research I have done, is at the airports – particularly Gatwick, which has far more flights and passengers than Jersey. Travel with cabin baggage only, to minimise the transactions at the departure airport and eliminate waiting around in baggage reclaim.

Avoid the high-priced Gatwick Express to London Victoria. Instead take the much cheaper Thameslink service to Blackfriars – an excellent way to start any trip to London because it is an astonishing glass-sided station straddling the river. Since you will be unencumbered with lots of luggage, you can walk from here along Fleet Street to the Strand Palace in about 15 minutes. Walking is certainly the best way to get around the capital, coronavirus or not. Your hotel is very central, with the South Bank and Soho a short stroll away. The great museums of South Kensington are rather too far, so instead hire Santander Cycles and pedal through the parks. While millions of Londoners are still taking the Tube, you will have a more rewarding time if you stay above ground.

Due to coronavirus, should we delay our trip to Russia? (Getty/iStockphoto) (iStock)

Q We are due to go to Russia at the end of May. Due to the coronavirus outbreak we are obviously concerned and undecided whether or not to go ahead with our trip.

We are travelling with Viking River Cruises, who have altered their cancellation policy. This has been a positive move in helping us in our final decision on travelling.

My question is: the two of us paid a total of £480 to obtain our Russian visas. Can I reclaim the cost from travel insurance or another source if we delay or cancel the trip?

Iain M

A Russia has, so far, remained relatively unaffected by coronavirus, with far fewer cases than some western European countries despite its much larger population. Therefore on a land-based trip the risk of contracting the virus should be lower than at home. (Every traveller by air, of course, should strive to minimise your possible exposure while passing through airports, avoiding close contact with others as much as possible, and washing hands frequently and thoroughly – especially after the security check.)

Cruise ships, as the world has seen, are particularly effective at facilitating the transmission of viruses – with hundreds or thousands of passengers and crew in close proximity on board. So if you are in one of the risk groups, being an older person or with underlying health problems, then it might be wise to postpone the trip if this option is available.

If the cruise is still going ahead, though, and you decide not to sail on it, I cannot see any basis for a claim from the insurer. They would reject it on the grounds of your “disinclination to travel”.

There are two small possibilities that may ease your disappointment. The first is that the Kremlin might decide to extend the validity of tourist visas acquired for trips this year; in terms of Russian bureaucracy, stranger things have happened, such as President Putin decreeing in 2018 that football fans attending the summer World Cup would be free to enter the country up to the end of that year.

The second: that you might qualify for a European Union passport, from Ireland or another member state. If so, then from 2021 you should be able to obtain an online e-visa with far less effort and at much lower cost than the current version.

I hope, when you finally get to Russia, that you enjoy a vast, friendly and fascinating country.

Can my cousin still get a visa to travel to Vietnam? (Getty)

Q My cousin is about to go travelling in Asia and applied for a Vietnam visa last week through the Vietnam government website. She is yet to hear back but the Vietnam Embassy in London now saying no foreigners will be allowed in unless they already have a visa.

One of her friends – who went through a different channel, and after her – has just had his application rejected. Do you think there is anything she can do to ensure she gets hers? Or at this point (and as I suspect) is there little she can do?

Name supplied

A Your cousin is one of millions of travellers who have had their plans torn up by various governments’ responses to the coronavirus crisis. Visitors hoping to travel to Vietnam have been particularly cruelly affected.

This is a country that has gradually eased its once-draconian rules, to the point where British travellers can just turn up for short stays. Or at least that was the case until the past few days, when the Vietnamese government has simultaneously demanded that every visitor has a visa – yet also, as far as I can see, closed down the application process to get one.

I hope your cousin is flying neither in nor out of Vietnam, and that her travel plans allow her to swerve the country. If so, she is in a stronger position than thousands of others. Anyone who is booked to arrive in and/or leave from Vietnam, and who does not have a visa, is faced with the strong possibility of having to cancel – the airline will not let them on board.

Package holidaymakers are in a slightly stronger position. I understand some tour operators with a bit of clout have been able to process group visas. If this does not happen, then they can claim a refund on the grounds that the holiday company cannot deliver the trip as described. Independent travellers who have flights booked to and from Vietnam fall foul of the general airline requirement to be properly documented for the destination – even if that changes after buying the ticket.

It is possible that some carriers will offer flexibility in these most unfortunate circumstances, for example offering the right to change destination or postpone the trip by some months. In case your cousin is booked to fly out to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, the only other solution I can see is to buy an onward ticket to a nearby country, and hope that an “airside transit” is allowed – avoiding the need to go through Vietnamese immigration.

Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder