Travelling to Australia During COVID-19 (Discussion)

[Ric]

Into SYD ... What happens if you have alcohol (wine) with you when you check into HQ? Confiscated or will they keep it for you until you check out?

Edited for clarification ....for HQ

 

[DC3]

...What happens if you have alcohol (wine) with you? Confiscated or will they keep it for you until you check out?

Is there a reason for confiscation?

 

[Ric]

Is there a reason for confiscation?

I read somewhere that alcohol are not allowed at HQ.

 

[DC3]

I read somewhere that alcohol are not allowed at HQ.

What now? Run by teetotallers (‘tea totallers’)?

 

[dajop]

I read somewhere that alcohol are not allowed at HQ.

In Sydney deliveries are inspected and rationed. I had a litre of DF (gin) in my luggage and it was not checked or removed (didn’t matter as that was for later not for HQ) but when ordering in the alcohol was segregated from the rest of the delivery and brought up later.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Fair crack of the whip! There is a statement in blurb that Hotel follows RSA. Had a half bottle of Prosecco tonight ordered from Hotel. Bottle shops specifically mentioned as a delivery service I can buy from. I'll buy a few at once to keep me going the whole 2 weeks. If they want to drip feed them no worries.

 

[DC3]

In Sydney deliveries are inspected and rationed ... but when ordering in the alcohol was segregated from the rest of the delivery and brought up later.

And I thought that I had heard it all. Apparently not.

 

[Ric]

Found it! It's the Howard Springs quarantine centre.

• No alcohol to be brought onsite or purchased during stay, bags may be checked on arrival.

 

[DC3]

Found it! It's the Howard Springs quarantine centre.

• No alcohol to be brought onsite or purchased during stay, bags may be checked on arrival.

I would have thought that some alcohol may help to numb the quarantine ‘experience’. Apparently not.

 

[dajop]

And I thought that I had heard it all. Apparently not.

From memory it was 6 stubbies or 1 bottle a day, not sure if that was per room or per adult. I managed to get 6 x 330 ml(?) of cider delivered in one go.

The logic is probably quite sound in restricting consumption, as in a facility housing people who potentially have a infectious disease you're trying to prevent spreading, you want to a) minimise the need for medical treatment should someone over indulge and b) as we all know sometimes judgement can be impaired, so avoid drunken people moving out of their rooms into corridors or to other rooms, creating risk for the (in all likelihood unmasked) security staff. Although nothing stopping anyone accumulating their daily dose and consuming it all at once!

 

[DC3]

From memory it was 6 stubbies or 1 bottle a day, not sure if that was per room or per adult. I managed to get 6 x 330 ml(?) of cider delivered in one go.

The logic is probably quite sound in restricting consumption, as in a facility housing people who potentially have a infectious disease you're trying to prevent spreading, you want to a) minimise the need for medical treatment should someone over indulge and b) as we all know sometimes judgement can be impaired, so avoid drunken people moving out of their rooms into corridors or to other rooms, creating risk for the (in all likelihood unmasked) security staff. Although nothing stopping anyone accumulating their daily dose and consuming it all at once!

Yes. I understand that we cannot be trusted with this. Our leaders know us better than we know ourselves.

Some would say paternalistic.

 

[dajop]

Yes. I understand that we cannot be trusted with this. Our leaders know us better than we know ourselves.

Some would say paternalistic.

Maybe upon entry they should make people fill in a "what sort of drunk are you?" survey to determine if they need to ration to that person

 

[PineappleSkip]

I now have a fridge full of QF miniatures here in quaro. Delivered by Mrs to the ADF guy outside; she didn't get into reception either.

I get the idea that Qld is leaving RSA up to the hotel concerned. The food is being prepared and supplied by the Hotel.

Cheers skip

 

[Blinky]

Back flying finally, and am just finishing three days in Sydney. In Melbourne, where I live, people take mask wearing seriously, but I have walked into many shops, restaurants and pubs where checking in was barely or not enforced. Not so in Sydney, where every place I went to not only insisted on me checking in, but have asked to see my phone to prove it. I have never had that happen in Melbourne, not even at the Virgin Lounge.

I also noticed more hand sanitising here than I do in Melbourne.

Both cities have done a remarkable job, but I wish Melbourne was a little more vigilant about checking in.

 

[jakeseven7]

Back flying finally, and am just finishing three days in Sydney. In Melbourne, where I live, people take mask wearing seriously, but I have walked into many shops, restaurants and pubs where checking in was barely or not enforced. Not so in Sydney, where every place I went to not only insisted on me checking in, but have asked to see my phone to prove it. I have never had that happen in Melbourne, not even at the Virgin Lounge.

I also noticed more hand sanitising here than I do in Melbourne.

Both cities have done a remarkable job, but I wish Melbourne was a little more vigilant about checking in.

Interesting I find the absolute opposite and I’ve never stopped travelling... but I guess it depends where you go!

 

[PineappleSkip]

Good article from Mattg here about issues with the requirement to get a COVID-19 test certificate before entering Australia.

I can add that the ANAO has recently announced an audit into the Feder Managing Travel across Australia's International Border during COVID-19.and called for submissions. As the Federal auditor, the ANAO audit is of a number of Federal Departments, but coordination with the states would obviously be relevant.

Australia's requirement for a RT-PCR test certificate is similar to that of many other countries, and 72 hours before departure from the first port is a generous timeframe compared with many other countries. For third world countries, meeting the certificate requirements hampers the ability of those countries to manage COVID-19 within their own borders. In Somaliland, the only testing facility is the Department of Health, and I got my test and certificate from them. Having to meet this requirement from a negligible testing capability totally distorts the whole testing regime, and its likely that a big proportion of tests are to meet international travel requirements, rather than find sick people.

The other oddity about the certificate was that the only scrutiny of it was that of the checkin agent who issued my boarding passes. Once I got to Australia, irrelevant. Noone looked. So the only people for whom the certificate requirement is relevant is the checkin clerk. In my case, he had a quick look and took a pic. As you can imagine, it isn't hard in Africa to secure a fake piece of paper and it would be a tempting option when a fake certificate can be obtained for a great deal less than actually getting a test and certificate - they always sell at a large discount to the genuine article.

Cheers skip

 

[madrooster]

Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in Papua New Guinea, Australia has placed additional caps on the number of passengers allowed to be flown in via Papua New Guinea.

As a result, from 18/03 to 27/03, Port Moresby to Cairns flights have been cancelled and there will be some bumping on the Port Moresby to Brisbane flights so that those flights are compliant with the new restricted cap.

Those booked on the Port Moresby to Cairns route between 18/03 and 27/03 will be rebooked however there is no availability until after 27/03 and on top of that it is quite limited.

 

[Myrna]

@madrooster - UK has added Qatar to the redlist - banning flights from Qatar from 19th March 2021. How do you see this will impact pax from UK to AU via Doha with QR? Apparently there is speculation that QR will fly to UK with no pax, only cargo, but able to take pax from UK to Doha - hence no impact on pax flying from UK to AU?
Also you mentioned that people from UK to AU are not able to fly via the US, as only US citizens are allowed to do this. Is this still true? Our tax accountant said he knew someone who was able to fly from Europe (he did not say from UK) to LAX and from LAX to SYD recently.

 

[madrooster]

@madrooster - UK has added Qatar to the redlist - banning flights from Qatar from 19th March 2021. How do you see this will impact pax from UK to AU via Doha with QR? Apparently there is speculation that QR will fly to UK with no pax, only cargo, but able to take pax from UK to Doha - hence no impact on pax flying from UK to AU?
Also you mentioned that people from UK to AU are not able to fly via the US, as only US citizens are allowed to do this. Is this still true? Our tax accountant said he knew someone who was able to fly from Europe (he did not say from UK) to LAX and from LAX to SYD recently.

There'll be no impact. QR will continue to fly into the UK with no passengers and out of the UK with passengers, with no reduction in frequency. They run a lot of cargo into/out of the UK.

UK/IE/Schengen area countries -> US is not allowed for non-US nationals still. You can go say LHR-LAX-SYD if you are a US national. You can also go LHR-some Caribbean country for 14 days then some Caribbean country to US to AU.

Other countries in Europe (the continent), eg. Turkey are fine, so IST-LAX-SYD would be OK.

 

[Myrna]

There'll be no impact. QR will continue to fly into the UK with no passengers and out of the UK with passengers, with no reduction in frequency. They run a lot of cargo into/out of the UK.

UK/IE/Schengen area countries -> US is not allowed for non-US nationals still. You can go say LHR-LAX-SYD if you are a US national. You can also go LHR-some Caribbean country for 14 days then some Caribbean country to US to AU.

Other countries in Europe (the continent), eg. Turkey are fine, so IST-LAX-SYD would be OK.

Thanks for clarifying that madrooster.
Just read a blog today which said the US (Biden) is considering lifting travel restrictions (inbound) from the UK and EU around mid-May. So, if this does happen, then we can fly from UK to US onto AU - opening up another route.