Is there a way to get back from India now it’s on the Covid red list?

Simon Calder answers your questions on the latest international travel restrictions and short stays in the UK

The south Asian nation has seen a surge in virus cases in the past month (EPA)

Q India has been put on the red list. I have a friend who stayed in Goa through the pandemic but now needs to get home for her daughter’s wedding. Have you got a route she can travel back to the UK please?

Collette F

A Yesterday afternoon saw two big coronavirus developments involving India: the country reported almost 275,000 new cases of Covid-19, the highest since the coronavirus pandemic began; and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said it will be added to the government’s red list at 4am on Friday.

Mr Hancock said the decision had been made “after studying the data, and on a precautionary basis” as a new Covid-19 variant is causing infections in India to rise.

Anyone hoping to travel imminently from India to the UK must get here by Thursday night to avoid the prospect of 11 nights in hotel quarantine at a cost starting at £1,750 (which includes two post-arrival PCR tests). That presents a real problem for people such as your friend, who has been hopefully enjoying winter in Goa, as well as the many British citizens who have been on long-stay visits to family in India.

Compounding that, travellers have been given only 86 hours’ notice to get home – barely half the one week’s warning when Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Kenya were added to the red list at the start of April. Within an hour of the health secretary’s announcement, I could find no availability on any of the British Airways flights from India to London Heathrow that are due to operate before the deadline.

It would be easy but mistaken to look on a flight-comparison website and book one of the many itineraries that involve one of the two obvious Gulf hubs, Doha and Dubai. Both Qatar and the UAE are on the red list, so your friend would immediately be subject to hotel quarantine. So she should either fly via a different hub (Bahrain might work). Travelling up to Mumbai by rail or even to Delhi by air will open up a range of other options.

When Pakistan joined the red list, some extra charter flights were added – and I imagine much the same will happen from India. But the scale of the airlift required to bring British citizens home from India is likely to be much bigger and the timeframe much shorter. So I urge your friend to grab what she can now.

What are the rules for short stays when visiting the UK? (Simon Calder)

Q I read your article about the likelihood that most European countries will be on the “amber” list when international travel resumes on 17 May.

I am a British citizen and live in continental Europe. Do you know what the rules will be for short stays for visiting the UK? I have some medical appointments, but I can’t stay 10 days due to work.

Last year it was possible to break quarantine to leave the country again. Are the rules still the same?

Name supplied

A A reminder of the background: once international leisure travel resumes on 17 May, every foreign country will be assigned a colour in a “traffic-light” scheme for the purposes of travelling to the UK. All passengers must provide a negative Covid test result before departure to the UK. The post-arrival rules will depend on the perceived risk prevailing in the country they travel from. “Amber” status – which I anticipate will initially apply to most European countries – requires 10 days self-isolation at home plus two PCR tests. (In England, paying for a third post-arrival test day five can trigger early release.)

For practical purposes for people coming into the UK it will mean no change to the rules that currently apply to all European nations (except Ireland). And as a resident of a foreign country who also has a British passport, you are permitted to visiting the UK for a medical appointment. As you are “only in the United Kingdom on a temporary basis” and “not resident in the United Kingdom” you can also leave when you like.

Coming in, you will need to arrange all the necessary bureaucracy, including that pre-departure Covid test and booking two post-arrival PCR tests in advance. You will need to complete the passenger locator form and specify where you will self-isolate. You must travel there direct and remain there except when going to a medical appointment – or, crucially, when going direct to an airport, ferry port or international rail terminal in order to leave the UK. This can happen at any time after your arrival. I agree it is odd that someone who is planning to be here for only 24 hours must pre-book two tests, at a cost of around £200, knowing they will not be used. But I merely report the rules.

Now, the UK inbound tourism industry is keen to rescue something from the summer. The current rules are completely at odds with short-term leisure visits, so I expect them to be eased quite soon – probably around the start of July. If the medical appointments can wait a while, you can probably look forward to a smoother and less expensive visit.

Why is our travel company acting so unreasonably? (Visit Palma)

Q Last year we had a package holiday booked for summer 2020 in Mallorca for which we had already paid £1,205 as a deposit. In early summer when plans were still uncertain we called to discuss our options. We were then told we had to make a quick decision about whether to accept a credit note or to roll over the holiday until this year. We chose the latter and had to pay over £50 on more insurance.

Three days later the company stopped all flights to Mallorca. I rang back to ask for a full refund but I was told due to us rolling it over we weren’t entitled to a refund.

One person then became unable to join us and we had to pay a cancellation fee of £744. Due to Covid-19 hitting us very hard, we are now financially unable to pay the balance. But we have been told we cannot get a refund. What options do we have?

Angie D

A I am sorry that you are in this very difficult position, which is shared by many thousands of other travellers. You had presumably booked the holiday well before the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March 2020. When the scale of the crisis became apparent, you were understandably concerned about going on holiday. The travel company offered the chance to postpone; as you took that option, effectively you renegotiated the contract. Your entitlement to a refund in the event that the original holiday was cancelled immediately vanished; the holiday firm is quite within its rights to hang on to your money.

But what happened after that is very concerning. You have booked a proper package holiday. So if someone is unable to go on the trip you have the right under the Package Travel Regulations for another person to take their place by paying a small amount – typically £50. It is most concerning that you were not informed of this possibility, and I suggest you ask the holiday company why not.

Going forward, you can use the same option to transfer the trip to another party: family, friends or colleagues. You can, I hope, negotiate an amicable agreement whereby they take over the booking and pay a proportion of your original deposit, plus the change-of-name fees.

Again, that is an option that I would have expected the travel firm to suggest.

In your discussions with the holiday company, mention the Consumer Rights Act 2015 – which requires a service such as a holiday booking “to be performed with reasonable care and skill”. Failing to give you a full range of options indicates to me a possible breach.

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