I can’t afford a Covid test. Can I get a refund for my flight?

Simon Calder answers your questions on compensation rules, self-isolation and post-Brexit visas

A reader had planned a December trip to Lanzarote (Getty)

Q We’re booked to fly from Birmingham to Lanzarote on 21 December for a week. We booked the flights early in January when Covid was barely known about. The problem is the PCR tests for a family of four: nearly £800, which we simply cannot afford. In addition, we would need to take time off work to get them done, which is also difficult. Ideally, we would like a refund but we wondered what our rights are: should the airline agree to a refund, or will our travel insurance (has extra Covid cover) pay out?

Name supplied

A From the ending of England’s second lockdown on 2 December, many people are booked to travel to the Canaries – the only part of Spain for which two weeks of self-isolation is not required on return to the UK.

But Spain’s sudden decision to require arriving travellers to present a negative PCR test taken within the 72 hours before arrival is causing major problems for tens of thousands of travellers. As you say, the cost of these tests is typically close to £200 each – often more than the air fare.

To answer your specific questions: there is no possibility that the airline will countenance providing a refund. It is a long-established principle that the passenger agrees to meet all the conditions for entry to the destination, from a valid passport to any medical requirements. Of course, at the time you booked the trip, you had no idea that you might need to spend a fortune on pre-travel tests.

Had you taken out insurance at the same time, there might be a small hope that you could argue the extra cost should be compensated – but because you refer to “extra Covid cover”, I fear that is not the case. It sounds as though you took the policy out after the coronavirus pandemic became a known threat, and I do not expect that it includes the cost of testing.

I hope, though, that in the next few days there will be some brighter news. The president of the Canary Islands, Angel Victor Torres, is seeking approval to allow the use of quicker, cheaper antigen tests. If this bid is successful, not only will the cost fall by half or more – I predict that testing stations will be set up at bigger airports, including Birmingham. So watch for developments. I am reminding all the airlines of the importance of telling passengers of rule changes.

Q We have a home in Brittany. We hope to travel there at the end of March and stay there all summer long to the end of September. I know that you have written about the “90/180” rule for stays. Are we allowed to stay for the full 180 days in one block, or do we need to stay for 90 days till the end of June, then spend 90 days in the UK until the end of September, then back to France for the remaining 90 days of the year?

Dominic R

A Shortly before the EU referendum in June 2016, Michael Gove said this: “I’ve got friends who live in France as well or who have homes in France. Many of them are voting for Britain leaving the European Union because they think it’s in Britain’s interests.”

Whether you were on the side of Leave or Remain, you might have inferred from Mr Gove’s comment that not much would change in terms of our freedom to spend time in properties abroad. Immediately after the vote, Boris Johnson reinforced that impression when he wrote: “British people will still be able to go and work in the EU; to live; to study; to buy homes and settle down.”

Well, they won and have decided otherwise. The deal (or no deal) that they have settled on leaves the UK as a “third country” from which visa-free travel to the European Union is possible, subject to some specific limits.

From 1 January 2021, British passport holders may stay only 90 days (about three months) in any 180 (almost six months) in the Schengen Area, which covers all EU countries except Ireland, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. In your case: if you arrive on, say, 25 March 2021, you must leave the zone no later than 22 June. For the next 90 days, you must not be in the Schengen Area because you will have used up your allowance. You can re-enter the zone on 20 September, and remain there up to and including 17 December.

Sorry I cannot be more optimistic. You might want to make the most of the rest of the transition period by heading for France (subject to all the coronavirus-related rules, of course). Any time spent in the EU up to the end of 2020 does not count towards these uncomfortable figures. So if decide you spend December in Brittany, the clock does not start ticking until New Year’s Day.

Q I have just been reading about the proposed test-to-release scheme which comes into effect on 15 December and states you should have a test five days after arriving. I need to have a test to leave my current country and fly to the UK. Wouldn’t that be acceptable?

Phil G

A Your question sums up the disarray across the travel industry and among nations about how to minimise the potential spread of the coronavirus. The virus was spread across the world by air travel. Understandably, many countries wish to protect their own populations from people flying in from abroad. In addition, some are seeking to ensure that Covid-19 is not spread by passengers on planes.

What has evolved from all this is an extraordinary matrix of testing protocols with different requirements on tests that are acceptable – whether PCR, Lamp or lateral flow – combined with a range of time specifications for when the test should take place. At present, the UK government is keeping to its long-held view that no test is a viable alternative to 14 days in quarantine, but as you say this will change from 15 December. From that date on, arrivals to the UK can take a test – either PCR or lamp – five days after arrival. If it is negative, they can end self-isolation.

The country you are in evidently wishes to minimise the risk to passengers on planes, which is why it requires a test before you leave the country. While you and I may regard this as useful from a medical point of view, the UK does not. Indeed, there is not a single test conducted abroad that the UK authorities regard as having merit in reducing the risk posed by arriving travellers.

From the new year, I predict that travellers arriving in the UK will be able to avoid quarantine altogether if they agree to take daily lateral flow tests for a week. But I’m afraid that until there is an official announcement, you have no option but to quarantine for two weeks – or, from 15 December, five days if you test negative.

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