Predictions of when international flights may resume/bans lifted

[PineappleSkip]

I take it that WA doesnt have any issues with passengers flying into Perth on transit?

Looks like it might be an academic point here, but I haven’t found any State that didn’t exempt transits to other states, although the rules around these hugely vary, particularly around overnight transits, so always potential issues. Here’s the (pdf) WA direction permitting transits, albeit with a lot of ancillary requirements.

cheers skip

 

[drron]

Well Tasmania no longer allows transit through MEL.
And even early April when I flew to LST I wasn't allowed to overnight in MEL.

 

[Himeno]

I did some maths on my leave balance.
It looks like I have until late January before my annual leave becomes what work deems "excessive", at which point they'll try to force me to take it.
I refuse to use annual leave to sit at home and do nothing (that's what my 7 weeks of personal leave is for).

What do people think the chances are of any borders reopening for general travel by Feb?

 

[p--and--t]

I did some maths on my leave balance.
It looks like I have until late January before my annual leave becomes what work deems "excessive", at which point they'll try to force me to take it.
I refuse to use annual leave to sit at home and do nothing (that's what my 7 weeks of personal leave is for).

What do people think the chances are of any borders reopening for general travel by Feb?

Qld border?

 

[Hvr]

What do people think the chances are of any borders reopening for general travel by Feb?

Feb 2022 or Feb 2023?

 

[OATEK]

Feb 2022 or Feb 2023?

Naughty, but 2021 does not seem likely unless there is a method to isolate returning pax in a scalable way, which Hotel quarantine is not. As long as we rely on a finite quantity of hotel rooms, then the opportunity for international travel will be similarly limited.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

unless we look at other options... home quarantine with electronic tagging. Probably cost about the same as hotel quarantine per person to set it up.

 

[jase05]

unless we look at other options... home quarantine with electronic tagging. Probably cost about the same as hotel quarantine per person to set it up.

Only trouble I see with that is that it doesn’t stop people visiting your residence. You just know that some people will break the rules

 

[MEL_Traveller]

good point. and yes, that is true.

 

[RAM]

I did some maths on my leave balance.
It looks like I have until late January before my annual leave becomes what work deems "excessive", at which point they'll try to force me to take it.
I refuse to use annual leave to sit at home and do nothing (that's what my 7 weeks of personal leave is for).

What do people think the chances are of any borders reopening for general travel by Feb?

One chance in 30 for international borders. Qantas internally have it as ZERO chance according to ASX releases, and limited expansion at 5% for June supposedly. Makes you wonder what all the universities are thinking vs what they're saying.

What about the cost of medical travel insurance though?
Are you willing to risk travelling without being covered if something goes wrong - not just CV but say a car accident etc?

How well have you explored your home state? By foot.....

Due to mandatory leave requirements etc - we're looking at a road & foot trip. Preparing for hard time as our overseas (self sourced AND declared on entry) food supplies are nearly exhausted.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

One chance in 30 for international borders. Qantas internally have it as ZERO chance according to ASX releases, and limited expansion at 5% for June supposedly. Makes you wonder what all the universities are thinking vs what they're saying.

What about the cost of medical travel insurance though?
Are you willing to risk travelling without being covered if something goes wrong - not just CV but say a car accident etc?

How well have you explored your home state? By foot.....

Due to mandatory leave requirements etc - we're looking at a road & foot trip. Preparing for hard time as our overseas (self sourced AND declared on entry) food supplies are nearly exhausted.

In terms of insurance, Emirates is offering free insurance if you catch CV while overseas on a trip ticketed by them. This includes medical care, repatriation, and even quarantine as a result of a positive test (does not cover mandatory quarantine for imposed by countries for all returning travellers).

I can't see why insurance would not cover you for a car accident, or any other issue not related to covid. The policy should stand. You may not be covered if there is a 'do not travel' warning.

I know Qantas is telling everyone 'no travel' - but i wonder their motives? They want to set themselves a realistic date to work towards... they don't want to employ staff to be sitting around when they have little demand. They don't want to have expensive contracts with suppliers. They want government assistance. And i guess they don't really want people thinking they can make plans to travel, and book with other carriers.

But not all airlines are in the same boat. Some are flying. And would be ready to fly with large number of people very quickly. Not exactly something that Qantas would want to see.

 

[RAM]

In terms of insurance, Emirates is offering free insurance if you catch CV while overseas on a trip ticketed by them. This includes medical care, repatriation, and even quarantine as a result of a positive test (does not cover mandatory quarantine for imposed by countries for all returning travellers).

I can't see why insurance would not cover you for a car accident, or any other issue not related to covid. The policy should stand. You may not be covered if there is a 'do not travel' warning.

I know Qantas is telling everyone 'no travel' - but i wonder their motives? They want to set themselves a realistic date to work towards... they don't want to employ staff to be sitting around when they have little demand. They don't want to have expensive contracts with suppliers. They want government assistance. And i guess they don't really want people thinking they can make plans to travel, and book with other carriers.

But not all airlines are in the same boat. Some are flying. And would be ready to fly with large number of people very quickly. Not exactly something that Qantas would want to see.

With the insurance - I had forgotten about (not read but seen the headline) Emirates.

Has anyone looked into the full terms & conditions?

For the more addicted of us here's the busiest airport in Australia's flights page...

Flight Listing

www.sydneyairport.com.au

There is an article oin The Guardian about 'unethical' airlines cancelling Y seats booked a few months ago while still having J or F available. You'd almost think it was written by Q's PR dept... evil overseas airlines, bad, bad airline! Not that Q has done that even to paid J travellers from Dallas...

'Unethical': Australians trying to fly home say airlines cancelling economy tickets to sell more first class

Some customers being told their flight has been cancelled when the airline is still flying as scheduled and tickets for same flight available in business and first class

www.theguardian.com

Could do with a little more discussion on:

• Previously, some flights had been 100% full (early June into Melb for example)
• Airlines' existing bookings have been hit by the latest Federal Govt rules on no more than 30-60 pax a flight = changes breakeven for flying massively for B777 for example. Without around 80% in J & F then I'd expect the airline to be losing money. Mentions that Emirates is limiting Y to 19. Emirate's min B777 capacity with 3 classes is 364, and with 2 classes max at 442. So if forced to just 30 passengers...
• The per aircraft limit can change with only hours notice PRIOR to flight take-off - due to Federal Govt decision (allow an extra flight for another airline - so number per plane for all remaining arrivals decreases (so can be extreme cut if only 1 other flight for example).
• The rule change has seen previously sold seats now in breach (for some flights) where over 30-60 seats have been sold (although apparently not in the case mentioned which suggests they could have purchased a seat in F).
• Qantas nor VA are flying any international services (as each flight was losing money for them) since early June when the Fed Govt subsidy ended.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Has anyone looked into the full terms & conditions?

I've read them. They seem pretty generous. And seem to cover everything that's needed - medical care, repatriation if necessary, etc.

The only thing people seem to complain about is that you have to notify the underwriter before you commence treatment, so they can authorise the costs. I don't think that is unreasonable... you should in theory have a day or so before it got so bad you couldn't talk?

 

[jakeseven7]

There is an article oin The Guardian about 'unethical' airlines cancelling Y seats booked a few months ago while still having J or F available. You'd almost think it was written by Q's PR dept... evil overseas airlines, bad, bad airline! Not that Q has done that even to paid J travellers from Dallas...

Its exactly what happened to our friends trying to get back from Paris and what is worse, they leave the amount on your CC for weeks, effectively jamming it. I don't think all of it is intentional by the airlines to strand people but it certainly hasn't helped.

 

[Gremlin]

It sucks if you're a pax, but how do you make it work if you're an airline? What happens if you've already got 70 pax booked and you're told that inbound capacity is now 30? How do the economics of continuing to fly to Australia stack up if you can only run 30 pax per flight? It's not by having 19 Y pax.

 

[Gremlin]

unless we look at other options... home quarantine with electronic tagging. Probably cost about the same as hotel quarantine per person to set it up.

I can tell you that this is categorically off the table for Australia. The cost of another imported outbreak in Australia is huge. Even if quarantined remain at home, the risk of spread through visitors is unacceptable and the evidence is already overwhelming that there is a small, but significant enough, minority who will drive non-compliance to make this impossible to control

 

[dajop]

I can tell you that this is categorically off the table for Australia. The cost of another imported outbreak in Australia is huge. Even if quarantined remain at home, the risk of spread through visitors is unacceptable and the evidence is already overwhelming that there is a small, but significant enough, minority who will drive non-compliance to make this impossible to control

I still don't get that "the risk of spread through visitors" (who might have it) is unacceptable, but the "risk of spread of locals who have tested positive" is acceptable to let them go home. Double standards. And no doubt has put Victoria where it is right now.

 

[Gremlin]

I still don't get that "the risk of spread through visitors" (who might have it) is unacceptable, but the "risk of spread of locals who have tested positive" is acceptable to let them go home. Double standards. And no doubt has put Victoria where it is right now.

Whether you agree with it or not, I think governments are operating on the principle that you can determine the conditions upon which people may enter the country (citizens included), but not forcibly detain people simply because they get sick.

 

[dajop]

but not forcibly detain people simply because they get sick.

And hence we will have to live with varying degrees of stage 2, 3, 4 and possible even 5 restrictions for an extended period of time ....

 

[CityRail]

PM reveals what will happen if a COVID vaccine isn't found

One thing could make all the difference to Australia's ability to survive the pandemic, even if a vaccine is not found.

7news.com.au

So we can have international travel without a vaccine if we can find an effective treatment for COVID-19.

US launches advanced trials of antibody treatment for Covid-19 patients | CNN

Two new trials soon will be underway in the United States to investigate antibody treatment approaches for Covid-19 patients.

edition.cnn.com

If this trial is successful, packing our bags for Christmas maybe a reality.