UK’s new quarantine rules could impact people travelling from Thailand

[webfact]

FILE PHOTO for reference only

The UK’s ever changing rules regarding travel and quarantine could now impact anyone travelling to the country from Thailand via Qatar.

On Monday, the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) announced that Qatar, as well as Ethiopia, Oman and Somalia, would be added to the red list and would need to quarantine for 10 days in a dedicated quarantine hotel on arrival in the UK.

For travellers from Thailand, this means that even those who merely change planes at Doha will now be required to quarantine once they arrive in the UK. The cost of quarantine in the UK is £1,750 for a solo passenger.

Travellers who fail to quarantine in a hotel despite travelling from a red list country could be fined up to £10,000.

The DFT said the new rules come into effect at 4am on Friday 19 March.

The DfT said the move came following “new data showing an increased risk of importation of variants of concern”.

The addition of Doha could have a major impact on travellers from Thailand or elsewhere in Southeast Asia or Australia.

 

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[Surelynot]

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

this means that even those who merely change planes at Doha will now be required to quarantine once they arrive in the UK.

Wow......did not know that.......

[blackcab]

Just to add, only British citizens, Irish citizens or people with the right to reside in the UK are allowed to enter the UK if they have spent any time in a red list country in the past 10 days.

Anyone else will be denied entry.

[Surelynot]

14 minutes ago, blackcab said:

Just to add, only British citizens, Irish citizens or people with the right to reside in the UK are allowed to enter the UK if they have spent any time in a red list country in the past 10 days.

Anyone else will be denied entry.

....but must quarantine even as a transit passenger???

What if you don't need to disembark?

[Neeranam]

Isn't the fix just to avoid Qatar and Oman? 

Never heard of flights from Thailand to UK going through Ethiopia or Somalia. 

[Neeranam]

28 minutes ago, webfact said:

Travellers who fail to quarantine in a hotel despite travelling from a red list country could be fined up to £10,000.

So it is optional? 

[blackcab]

5 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

....but must quarantine even as a transit passenger???

 

Yes.

6 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

What if don't need to disembark?

 

If the plane lands in Qatar you need to quarantine. If you stay in the plane and then lots of other people get on the plane you are mixing with people who have been in Doha. That being said, I have always had to change planes at Doha.

If the plane landed at Doha and the doors stayed shut, and nobody got on or off and there was no contact with anyone outside the plane (no food or drinks loaded, etc) then you could argue your case to UK immigration. Chances are you are still going to have to quarantine though as you will not be able to conclusively prove it.

Also don't forget that you have to book and pay for the quarantine hotel before you board the plane, so if you go through Doha you would already expect to be quarantined in the UK before you board.

[blackcab]

5 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

So it is optional? 

 

Fine up to £10,000 and a prison term up to 10 years.

People have already been fined £10,000 for falsifying their travel history, gaining a criminal record in the process.

[blackcab]

16 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Isn't the fix just to avoid Qatar and Oman? 

 

I think so. If you have a ticket that takes you through Doha it would be much cheaper to not fly Qatar and to instead buy another ticket that does not touch a red list country.

The hotel quarantine cost is £1,750. Plenty of available routes back to the UK that do not cost that much and which do not touch a red list country.

[Thaiophil]

Best to get a direct flight if possible, though I am not sure how often THAI is flying these days

SQ via Singapore would be another option

[Neeranam]

This news is confusing. I don't really see what this has got to do with my flight to the UK from Thailand. 

If I fly direct, do I need to quarantine? 

[blackcab]

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

If I fly direct, do I need to quarantine? 

 

You do not need to pay for quarantine at a hotel, but you will still need to quarantine at home.

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, blackcab said:

 

You do not need to pay for quarantine at a hotel, but you will still need to quarantine at home.

I guess that means my mother's home. 

Do I need a reason for travel or is being British enough? 

[Surelynot]

1 minute ago, blackcab said:

 

You do not need to pay for quarantine at a hotel, but you will still need to quarantine at home.

...."at home"........farce, no checks...zip......and rules may have changed, but you could still go shopping and exercise daily.

[Surelynot]

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

I guess that means my mother's home. 

Do I need a reason for travel or is being British enough? 

Being British is enough.......I don't think they can refuse entry under any circumstances

[blackcab]

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

Do I need a reason for travel or is being British enough? 

 

British citizens do not need any reason or permission to travel to the UK.

You do need to complete a passenger locator form before you fly, you do need a covid negative test before you fly.

Very comprehensive guidance can be found here.

[blackcab]

5 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Being British is enough.......I don't think they can refuse entry under any circumstances

 

You will be denied boarding if you have not completed a passenger locator form and if you don't have a covid negative test (and if you are travelling through a red list country if you haven't booked and paid for your hotel quarantine).

[mtls2005]

19 minutes ago, Thaiophil said:

though I am not sure how often THAI is flying these days

Looks like 1X weekly, Su.

 

 

[blackcab]

16 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

...."at home"........farce, no checks...zip......and rules may have changed, but you could still go shopping and exercise daily.

 

Legally, you are not allowed to leave your quarantine premises to go shopping or exercise.

If you are quarantining at home you can exercise in the garden.

Lots of information is available here.

[stretch5163]

38 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

...."at home"........farce, no checks...zip......and rules may have changed, but you could still go shopping and exercise daily.

I think you will actually find that its not s farce as you now have to pay for 2 day and 8 day testing before you can submit you Locator form on the government website. If you dont fill these forms in then you also are subject to fines and forcibly paying fir these tests at the Airport (currently around £200 to have the tests delivered to your home to self administer).

 

These rules are compulsory even for people travelling from none red zone countries as our guys going on vacation fly through istanbul.

 

Checks are being carried out at UK customs and some flights wont let you board unless you have the above paperwork printed out to show before boarding allowed.

[Petey11]

2 hours ago, Surelynot said:

...."at home"........farce, no checks...zip......and rules may have changed, but you could still go shopping and exercise daily.

Quarantine at home, no daily exercise outside of property, no shopping trips either. You do not leave your place of quarantine.

[blackcab]

A troll post has been removed.

[hobobo]

6 hours ago, Surelynot said:

....but must quarantine even as a transit passenger???

What if you don't need to disembark?

Doesn't matter, other passengers will come on board, there could be a crew change, cleaners will come up to do a quick clean (or spread some...) and millions of tiny viruses will board for free

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Isn't the fix just to avoid Qatar and Oman? 

Never heard of flights from Thailand to UK going through Ethiopia or Somalia. 

Only in a worst case scenario.

[kimamey]

6 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

Yes.

 

If the plane lands in Qatar you need to quarantine. If you stay in the plane and then lots of other people get on the plane you are mixing with people who have been in Doha. That being said, I have always had to change planes at Doha.

If the plane landed at Doha and the doors stayed shut, and nobody got on or off and there was no contact with anyone outside the plane (no food or drinks loaded, etc) then you could argue your case to UK immigration. Chances are you are still going to have to quarantine though as you will not be able to conclusively prove it.

Also don't forget that you have to book and pay for the quarantine hotel before you board the plane, so if you go through Doha you would already expect to be quarantined in the UK before you board.

I think that has always been the case if you haven't disembarked and no other passengers have boarded but I doubt that often happens and particularly with an airport like Doha. I would think that's so unlikely to happen that the UK authorities could easily check. So what you say is correct but what's less sure is how this affects the airport where you board.

I've flown Qatar on many occasions but recently I've been using Gulf Air. When I returned to the UK at the end of September last year there were very few passengers going to Bahrain (around 10 I think) so it was easy to seat them far apart but with more passengers it would be more difficult and there's no accounting of where those passengers have been before Bangkok. As I'd transited through Bahrain rather than coming direct from Thailand I had to quarantine at home. I wouldn't have had to if I'd flown direct even though I might have been in contact with someone from a more risky country at the airport.

It's all very complicated to be sure.

[topt]

4 hours ago, Petey11 said:

Quarantine at home, no daily exercise outside of property, no shopping trips either. You do not leave your place of quarantine.

So if you are a single person are you only supposed to order food online........?

if so I can see you starving for first couple of days.....

[from the home of CC]

months late but look how many pensioners were taken off the books..

[Petey11]

2 hours ago, topt said:

So if you are a single person are you only supposed to order food online........?

if so I can see you starving for first couple of days.....

Correct, order online delivery from supermarket, takeaways, or there are community organisations that will help you out with getting shopping for you or ask friends to get for you.

[blackcab]

3 hours ago, topt said:

So if you are a single person are you only supposed to order food online........?

if so I can see you starving for first couple of days.....

 

If you have a look at the links I provided earlier you will see that there are community volunteers who will collect your food shopping or your medicines from a pharmacy and deliver them to you free of charge.

[gavlar]

10 hours ago, Neeranam said:

This news is confusing. I don't really see what this has got to do with my flight to the UK from Thailand. 

If I fly direct, do I need to quarantine? 

No you dont....at least not yet.....I'm flying Thai Airways direct (cancelled Qatar flight).

If you go on Gov.uk  it has the "RedList" countries that if you have been to in last 10 days before your flight or transit through you have to quarantine in a hotel