Australian state border restrictions

[N860CR]

Good luck getting onto Amex... I spent 2 hours on hold and gave up. Live chatted with their generally useless staff and eventually managed to get them to email the travel dept. They cancelled and reissued the travel credit. Wasn’t an easy process though.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

All states and territories declare travel restrictions from Victoria​

We've now heard from all of the states and territories in response to the news that Melbourne is going into lockdown. Here are the travel restrictions each state has imposed:

ACT: From midnight, Victorians will have to apply for an exemption to enter the territory, and must quarantine on arrival. Returning residents will be permitted entry but must self-quarantine.

NSW: Anyone who has arrived from Victoria since January 29 will have to follow the same 'stay-at-home' rules Victorians are under from midnight tonight for five days.

NT: All arrivals from Greater Melbourne will be directed into mandatory quarantine for 14 days. Anyone who has arrived from Greater Melbourne from February 7 is also required to self-isolate, get tested and stay in isolation until receiving a negative result.

Qld: Queensland will close its border for 14 days from 1:00am Saturday to anyone who has been in Greater Melbourne.

SA: South Australia will extend its hard border to cover the whole state of Victoria from midnight. From today, anyone transiting through Tullamarine Airport must go into quarantine for 14 days.

Tas: Tasmania has declared the entire state of Victoria as high-risk as of midnight tonight. All travellers from Victoria to Tasmania will have to self-isolate for 14 days, at their home or in hotel quarantine.

WA: There will be a 72-hour hard border with Victoria put in place at 6pm tonight. This means that only exempt travellers from Victoria will be allowed into WA after that time.

 

[desafinado74]

Good luck getting onto Amex... I spent 2 hours on hold and gave up. Live chatted with their generally useless staff and eventually managed to get them to email the travel dept. They cancelled and reissued the travel credit. Wasn’t an easy process though.

Thank you for your reply. Hopefully the damn restrictions will be lifted by next Thursday. That will save me the trouble of contacting AMEX Travel.

 

[Pushka]

The pineapples dodge another bullet. Just aborted travel to MEL tomorrow for Mrs P, who was off with DIL to see the Australian open. Consolation prize is SYD, nice hotel but no tennis.

Hopefully the MEL lockdown will prize a refund out of ticketek for the AO tickers.

Cheers skip

Lots of people likely to get stuck having been to the tennis from other states.

 

[VPS]

Thank you for your reply. Hopefully the damn restrictions will be lifted by next Thursday. That will save me the trouble of contacting AMEX Travel.

I would contact the hotel first and see what they say because you'll probably have to pay Amex a fee

 

[desafinado74]

I would contact the hotel first and see what they say because you'll probably have to pay Amex a fee

Thank you VPS. Lots to think about for me.

 

[cove]

I think WA is now accepting folks from NSW but most say they won’t come due to the risk of copping a 14 day isolation treat if our border closes.
Tough times for Victorians again but this time they included areas that have never had any cases. i just cannot imagine what people think out in the country.

 

[kpc]

I think WA is now accepting folks from NSW but most say they won’t come due to the risk of copping a 14 day isolation treat if our border closes.

Yup...I won't risk visiting any state that practises retrospective hotel quarantine at your expense, esp WA! Imagine visiting the Margaret River and then being forced into hotel quarantine if there was 1 community case in Sydney. MM may win his upcoming election with this policy but he's gonna klill WA tourism....maybe he doesn't care as the stuff they dig up in WA more than compensates for all the tourist $$ lost.

 

[jakeseven7]

Yup...I won't risk visiting any state that practises retrospective hotel quarantine at your expense, esp WA! Imagine visiting the Margaret River and then being forced into hotel quarantine if there was 1 community case in Sydney. MM may win his upcoming election with this policy but he's gonna klill WA tourism....maybe he doesn't care as the stuff they dig up in WA more than compensates for all the tourist $$ lost.

Lets just say WA’s ability to enforce retrospective isolation/HQ is about as bronze standard as their ability to run HQ in the first place... cough optional masks for HQ staff.....

That’s from almost personal experience

 

[jb747]

Tough times for Victorians again but this time they included areas that have never had any cases. i just cannot imagine what people think out in the country.

Sadly Victorian politicians can’t differentiate between Melbourne and anywhere else in the state.

But I guess Dan discovered that some businesses had survived the unnecessary rural lockdowns and border closures, so this is an opportunity to deliver the coup de grace.

 

[SydneySwan]

Yup...I won't risk visiting any state that practises retrospective hotel quarantine at your expense, esp WA! Imagine visiting the Margaret River and then being forced into hotel quarantine if there was 1 community case in Sydney. MM may win his upcoming election with this policy but he's gonna klill WA tourism

Absolutely agree. WA has been removed from my list of potential destinations for the foreseeable future, maybe years.

 

[Cessna 180]

So like a lot of people here COVID has changed my situation dramatically. Have not been flying at all.

I had a trip to CNS planned this Tuesday via MEL from country VIC. (holiday/leisure)
I have changed this trip both because of the latest out break but primarily for unrelated work reasons.

However, There may be a chance that I now can travel from my personal point of view and the reward seats I cancelled are still showing available.

Reading on the QLD government restrictions, it appears they will still let Vic's in if they are not from the hotspots and purely transiting through etc.

I am curious to hear any opinions or reports of people whom have done exactly this since Saturday. Or are intending too. Long bow to draw I know.... ( I presume the lounge will be locked)

Also depending on case numbers etc, I am not sure if I wish to travel through MEL at this time either.

Just interested in others thoughts.

Finally,Apologies for not many posts of late but my new work keeps me busy and away from the laptop. Still read a bit when I can.

Ta

 

[DenaJordan]

We took advantage of Qantas’ latest promotion to book return flights from Brisbane to Merimbula via Melbourne to visit family for 3 days in April, saving hundreds of dollars. We are now concerned that we may have to go into quarantine in NSW and Queensland if the recent border closures are still in place.
Should we a) try to rebook via Sydney if we can get the same deal, b) cancel or c) sit tight?

 

[jakeseven7]

We took advantage of Qantas’ latest promotion to book return flights from Brisbane to Merimbula via Melbourne to visit family for 3 days in April, saving hundreds of dollars. We are now concerned that we may have to go into quarantine in NSW and Queensland if the recent border closures are still in place.
Should we a) try to rebook via Sydney if we can get the same deal, b) cancel or c) sit tight?

I wouldn’t be cancelling who knows what will be in place by April! Could be an outbreak on the Sapphire Coast for all we know!

 

[PineappleSkip]

visit family for 3 days in April

Yes. For Coronavirus restrictions, April is a light year away. With a 3 day visit the chance of borders being shut is there, but chance of borders shutting while you are away is small. And rural areas less likely to be hotspotted than Sydney or Melbourne. C is the sensible option and you can cancel without penalty up to the day before travel IIRC.

 

[DenaJordan]

Yes. For Coronavirus restrictions, April is a light year away. With a 3 day visit the chance of borders being shut is there, but chance of borders shutting while you are away is small. And rural areas less likely to be hotspotted than Sydney or Melbourne. C is the sensible option and you can cancel without penalty up to the day before travel IIRC.

Thanks PineappleSkip and jakeseven7 for your advice, we will sit tight and reassess in April.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

So like a lot of people here COVID has changed my situation dramatically. Have not been flying at all.

I had a trip to CNS planned this Tuesday via MEL from country VIC. (holiday/leisure)
I have changed this trip both because of the latest out break but primarily for unrelated work reasons.

However, There may be a chance that I now can travel from my personal point of view and the reward seats I cancelled are still showing available.

Reading on the QLD government restrictions, it appears they will still let Vic's in if they are not from the hotspots and purely transiting through etc.

I am curious to hear any opinions or reports of people whom have done exactly this since Saturday. Or are intending too. Long bow to draw I know.... ( I presume the lounge will be locked)

Also depending on case numbers etc, I am not sure if I wish to travel through MEL at this time either.

Just interested in others thoughts.

Finally,Apologies for not many posts of late but my new work keeps me busy and away from the laptop. Still read a bit when I can.

Ta

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@drron , you indicated that you changed your transit from Melbourne to Sydney - being a flight into Qld. So would this situation be a problem??? I realise there are not many other transit options from country Vic.

 

[drron]

Well the QLD police were asking everyone that I heard if they had been to Victoria.However only greater Melbourne basically is a QLD declared hotspot.If you have been there only allowed in if you are a Queenslander.
"People who have been in a hotspot in the last 14 days or since the start date identified for the hotspot (whichever is shorter), will only be able to enter Queensland if they are a returning Queensland resident or required to enter for a limited range of essential reasons. Queensland residents returning to Queensland from a hotspot must quarantine for 14 days on entering Queensland in government arranged accommodation at their own expense. This will help reduce the chance that they might infect other people."

So presumably from Country victoria you could drive,catch a bus or train into NSW then fly into QLD though needing to have a QLD border pass.

 

[mviy]

At some point this has got to stop. We can't keep on closing borders to an entire state without warning because of a handful of cases in one part of a city. It's hurting businesses and jobs. When JobKeeper goes next month it'll be even harder for businesses to keep their workers employed if this continues.

It's clear the states are pursuing elimination not suppression. The only economically sensible path to elimination is through herd immunity achieved through vaccination and that's several months away.

 

[jakeseven7]

At some point this has got to stop. We can't keep on closing borders to an entire state without warning because of a handful of cases in one part of a city.

SA, QLD, TAS, NT, WA all closed to VIC not even because of a handful of cases.... it was even less....