Australian state border restrictions

[jrfsp]

Who wants to speculate on my chances of going from Melbourne to Hamilton Island on 31 August?

16 August is the last day to cancel and get a full refund on the 20% deposit (and I have to get a credit from VA for the airfares).

Between 7-14 days before travel, loss of deposit.

Balance of payment due 7 days before travel...

Hamilton Island has a strange cancellation policy and distinguishes between whether the borders are open or closed at the time when final payment is made.

The balance due 7 days prior would worry me - 7 days is a lifetime in this environment.

Im only booking accomm that is cancellable / fully refundable up to 24hrs prior to stay.

 

[SydneySwan]

Im only booking accomm that is cancellable / fully refundable up to 24hrs prior to stay.

So am I. Anything else is playing with fire.

 

[Port Power]

I did think of that briefly.I don't personally pay for my flights so thought of the extra points haul.But then probably my agent would baulk at the price.

Your agent might be rethinking the route now that SA is also closed and there is so little choice. Or you might just have to stay in Tassie because there are no other current options except via PER!

 

[jakeseven7]

Queensland declares South Australia a COVID-19 hotspot​

From 1:00am on Thursday people who have been in South Australia cannot come to Queensland unless they are a resident.

Metropolitan Adelaide to be declared Commonwealth COVID hotspot — as it happened

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham says metro Adelaide, as well as Gawler and Adelaide Hills, will be declared a Commonwealth hotspot.

www.abc.net.au

 

[MARTINE]

Who wants to speculate on my chances of going from Melbourne to Hamilton Island on 31 August?

16 August is the last day to cancel and get a full refund on the 20% deposit (and I have to get a credit from VA for the airfares).

Between 7-14 days before travel, loss of deposit.

Balance of payment due 7 days before travel...

Hamilton Island has a strange cancellation policy and distinguishes between whether the borders are open or closed at the time when final payment is made.

I am also in Vic and agree with others to cancel for a range of reasons.
1/ you can be guaranteed no losses if you do so within the timeline you quote
2/you made reference to the different policy for covid conditions. Do you get 100% back from Hamilton if your trip was ceased due to lockdown/hotspot etc. I was lucky that when I cancelled Lizard Island last Friday 16/7 due to lockdown 15/7 ie day before - they refunded everything. Do Hamilton have the kind of policy? Such a policy is clearly stated on travel docs I got from Lizard (but nowhere on their actual website). That way you can leave to the last minute and no losses will be incurred. Can you get them to address these questions in writing whilst you have time?
3/ Qld can retroactively take you from your accomodation as happened this week to a family on Hamilton - even if you safely enter the QLD colony and there have since been cases found in Vic in the infectious period. You cannot forecast this.

Our family’s new approach is we have asked for refunds for all our trips and will travel at 24 hours notice if at least 2 weeks no Covid aus wide or the Colonies legally allow the fully vaccinated to travel without penalty - whichever is sooner.

I think Vic will get out of lockdown quicker than NSW- and I may try to get away in late Aug but only if no penalty by going at 24 hours notice. Good luck …

 

[kpc]

I think all states and territories should close their borders to each other...so it will make it easier for us to remember where we can and can't travel...I see Rex has stopped all intercity flights...Qf and Va must also be on their knees....

 

[I love to travel]

I think all states and territories should close their borders to each other...so it will make it easier for us to remember where we can and can't travel...I see Rex has stopped all intercity flights...Qf and Va must also be on their knees....

Well I don't think we are too far off that. Back to April 2020 settings.

 

[jrfsp]

Parts of regional NSW will go into 7 day lockdown....expect QLD and others to shut the border now

 

[MARTINE]

Well I don't think we are too far off that. Back to April 2020 settings.

 

[eastwest101]

I finally lost the lottery today and had work flights booked tomorrow with QF TSV-BNE-ADL then a same day ADL-BHQ (via MQL) to get to Broken Hill, but Rex kindly canceled the evening ADL-BHQ flights and rebooked me on the early morning flight without notification at all. That would have been annoying finding out that one when I arrived in ADL tomorrow afternoon and got stuck doing an overnight in ADL which is now in lockdown. Been through 3 different SA border pass applications to get one to stick, as the SA one isn't set up very well to handle a transit in ADL airport.

Story of two cancellations as I was able to rebook all the QF flights online to a future date, but had to ring Rex and wait in a phone queue to try to fix and then discovered the involuntary flight time change and went the full refund option.


Anyway - that's enough Tic-tac-toe with the Queen of QLD, the Prime Minister of NSW, the Mad Field Marshall McGowan of the WA, Dictator Dan of the Peoples Republic of VIC and the Premier of Surburban Adelaide....

This is the first time I've been unable to outwit/outplay the various border restrictions since Covid chaos commenced in March 2020....

 

[Seat0B]

Anyway - that's enough Tic-tac-toe with the Queen of QLD, the Prime Minister of NSW, the Major General of WA, the DIctator of VIC and the Premier of Surburban Adelaide....

I really, really miss the feeling of being Australian and not a Victorian, or Territorian, or whatever - just a plain and simple Australian. Our federation may never go back to what it was, given the taste of power the state premiers Colonial Governors have had, and their willingness to use that power to the max.

I cannot believe that residents of particular states are being locked out from their homes, jobs, families, lives, and that we actually have no citizen rights to free movement even within the country to go to your own home, let alone to travel internationally or return from overseas.

It is totally impossible to run a business. I have just had work in SA for August cancelled by the client because they can't see travel between the ACT, NSW, Vic and Adelaide being reliable enough to incur the costs of bringing staff from those locations together for training, even if lockdowns pass.

 

[MooTime]

Anyway - that's enough Tic-tac-toe with the Queen of QLD, the Prime Minister of NSW, the Mad Field Marshall McGowan of the WA, Dictator Dan of the Peoples Republic of VIC and the Premier of Surburban Adelaide....

Some clever 'Guess Who' name's there.
Nice work!

 

[VPS]

Someone said they other day they never knew the names of the other state premiers until COVID hit - now we know them all

 

[kyle]

I am also in Vic and agree with others to cancel for a range of reasons.
1/ you can be guaranteed no losses if you do so within the timeline you quote
2/you made reference to the different policy for covid conditions. Do you get 100% back from Hamilton if your trip was ceased due to lockdown/hotspot etc. I was lucky that when I cancelled Lizard Island last Friday 16/7 due to lockdown 15/7 ie day before - they refunded everything. Do Hamilton have the kind of policy? Such a policy is clearly stated on travel docs I got from Lizard (but nowhere on their actual website). That way you can leave to the last minute and no losses will be incurred. Can you get them to address these questions in writing whilst you have time?
3/ Qld can retroactively take you from your accomodation as happened this week to a family on Hamilton - even if you safely enter the QLD colony and there have since been cases found in Vic in the infectious period. You cannot forecast this.

Our family’s new approach is we have asked for refunds for all our trips and will travel at 24 hours notice if at least 2 weeks no Covid aus wide or the Colonies legally allow the fully vaccinated to travel without penalty - whichever is sooner.

I think Vic will get out of lockdown quicker than NSW- and I may try to get away in late Aug but only if no penalty by going at 24 hours notice. Good luck …

I do think luck is going to play a big part.
With Hamilton Island, if 14 days out, full refund. The only partial loss is the airfares if I end up getting a credit.
If at time of paying final payment 7 days prior to travel and the border is closed and remains closed, then you lose the lot. If at time of final payment the border is open and is closed at the time of travel, then you get a free date change. That’s my interpretation of their policy. Our Booking Conditions | Hamilton Island

I am currently leaning towards cancelling.

 

[MARTINE]

Yes - they are not as generous it appears re Covid policy. No real refunds of monies unless you cancel 14d out and get your deposit back. If you cancel ….and you did not need to ….you can always rebook day before …

 

[jakeseven7]

Someone said they other day they never knew the names of the other state premiers until COVID hit - now we know them all

Yea looking forward to forgetting them all, most of all my own (QLD).

 

[TheRealTMA]

Parts of regional NSW will go into 7 day lockdown....expect QLD and others to shut the border now

Footballers‘ WAGS are here now so we can at last!

 

[kyle]

Yes - they are not as generous it appears re Covid policy. No real refunds of monies unless you cancel 14d out and get your deposit back. If you cancel ….and you did not need to ….you can always rebook day before …

That's an idea. Or I'm thinking of jumping on the Spirit of Tasmania with the car at the last minute.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Footballers‘ WAGS are here now so we can at last!

I find that so distasteful. The players are one thing that I am fine with, they have a job and help distract many from the realities of the situation. But why their families? Why should they get special treatment when I can't be with my family?

Been a constant bug bear of mine. /rant

 

[SydneySwan]

I find that so distasteful. The players are one thing that I am fine with, they have a job and help distract many from the realities of the situation. But why their families? Why should they get special treatment when I can't be with my family?

Been a constant bug bear of mine. /rant

I think they are doing 2 weeks of quarantine, not sure how strict it is though.