Mooney_Driver wrote:
Just to complete the saga, I got the plane to Sofia, Frankfurt was much easier.
And as the 2nd completion, we are back home in ZRH after a “funny” return. Booked was SOF-FRA-ZRH with 3 hours in between. As for Covid, the Sofia procedures were picture perfect and very expeditious, check at Check In and that was it. Vac certificates were scanned, staff briefed and ready, so no problem whatsoever.
As the post scriptum, the flight was late coming in thanks to weather in FRA. On the way, we ended up in a hold and stayed there for a long enough time that the PIC decided to switch off the seatbelts to let people go pee…. (thought I’d mention in as it is a recurring Euroga favorite).
At some stage, the PIC came on again and said, they have given up on Frankfurt due to heavy TS activity (Low pressure area “Manfred” was active) and divert….
drumroll……
To Zurich! Groans from all the pax save 3 (or maybe 5 as we found out later) who tried not to cheer to obviously 
Landed after a further 40 mins. Told the Nr 1 FA that our final destination was ZRH, that I work here and my family would love to get off. After some deliberation and a bit of laughter when they realized just WHO I work for, it was decided that all pax destination ZRH (and eventually 2 with handluggage only to Geneva) could indeed get off. Our bags would however make a return trip to FRA as they did not fancy taking out containers.
So we were quite happily home 4 hours early and I got the bags today.
As for Covid related issues, Bulgaria seems to be coping remarkably well in terms of travel. No issues, no queues to speak of, quite good. Figures in BG are low, but that may well be caused by a lot of people just sitting out at home and not testing, no idea. Friends of ours, which we did not get to see for the reason, had their teenage daugther testing positive (she is recovered by now), so the whole family was put into house quarantine (rigorosly checked by 2ce daily police calls/visits) for 10 days despite them being vaccinated. So they do take it seriously indeed.
Live in BG is pretty much normal, with the usual precautions (masks in shops and closed spaces) but nobody elsewhere. Most people who still catch it do so at parties and are unvaccinated.
Anyway, home again and in good spirits.
There appears to be duff info propagated by the UK Foreign Office, for Croatia
The official Croatian website states
I suspect the wording there has changed recently (despite the website stating the same date in July) to say only vaccines used in the EU are acceptable, but this is only from vague memory.
I emailed one airport down there asking if they can ask their police if there has been a very recent change.
Peter wrote:
I suspect the wording there has changed recently (despite the website stating the same date in July) to say only vaccines used in the EU are acceptable, but this is only from vague memory.
I’m not sure it’s recent – I believe from the beginning this was limited to Pfizer, AZ and Moderna. However, there’s no differentiation between batches of AZ (produced in India and elsewhere) like Malta tried to enforce few months ago.
Croatia has changed. Not sure when but it may have been last night. This is their new text
Someone has just been “hit” at Dubrovnik airport, after an airline flight from the UK. Was rapid-tested, told to isolate and “it might be a few days”. The result comes right away, but you are asked to email it to some office and have to isolate until you get their confirmation by email and SMS. Fortunately those arrived after 4 hours.
Greece has also gone crazy. This is Sitia LGST which has Customs and Immigration (unlike Kithira LGKC which claimed to have them but actually didn’t) but after a couple of days (!!) came back with this
This kind of crap makes going to Greece difficult, not least because an airport could accept you in the usual way (the handler issues a slot, or whatever) and then you could be stuck there after landing/
EDIT: I asked them to give me the Greek govt rule which supports this policy (there isn’t one; Brits can travel to Greece without issues) and the reply was it is a CAA rule.
The above Sitia LGST position appears to be unique in Greece and the work of some “important person”
Ioanina LGIO didn’t do that, even after I drew the manager’s attention to Sitia’s procedure. Debatable whether drawing his attention was a good idea but I didn’t want to take any risk of somebody else there coming out with it, given the lack of alternates and narrow opening slots, and this was checked while sitting at Dubrovnik which functions 100% and we could have just flown back home from there.
So far, in Croatia and Greece, a printout of the UK vaccination certificate was absolutely fine, and the policeman just scanned it with a scanner. At Le Touquet a few weeks ago, they asked to see the NHS app also but I could not get a data connection on my phone there (a common problem with Vodafone UK not roaming on some French networks) and they accepted that.
So always bring a copy or two of the printed vacc certificate.
This is relevant to France and Ireland.
FYI, Switzerland has decided to require Covid certificates for many indoor and some outdoor events and facilities. The new rules are valid from September 13th.
For a list see below.
It is expected that Switzerland will reconsider travel quarantine out of some hotspot countries too, whether for everyone or just unvaccinated people remains to be seen. This as a late reaction to the fact that a) hospitals and ICU’s are overcrowding and b) for countries from where many cases currently hospitalized have been imported due to low vaccination rate and disregard for measures, mainly the Balkans and some tourist spots. It is expected that they will want to stop people from travelling there in the upcoming fall vaccations.
For a lot of UK PPL’s, crossing the channel is the highlight of the year, but with the advent of the Covid pandemic, this has become a distant dream.
So the question I ask is, are there any UK PPL’s out there who have crossed the channel (Calais, LeTouquet etc) in the last six months? If so, what Covid rules & Regs did you have to comply with. I get a regular update from Aopa on the regulations, but find it hard to grasp the practicalities. Any advice from personal experience would be most welcome.
I have flown 30 times in last 2 years, the last one being yesterday from Lille to Booker, flying GA had most of the utility these days (compared to my 10 other crossings in Eurotunnel or Eurostar), the rules are changing every 1month but it’s not difficult to cope with and it’s getting better and better, as it stands now for France at least if you are vaccinated NHS or EU, it’s pre-departure test and day 2 test on arrival, both required by UK nothing required in France (but you may get handed some no symptoms paper to sign), if you are going on short tip you can do both tests before you depart, the rest of details can be sorted with an iPad on the day or day before
Calais & LeTouquet are both operating as usual but less G-reg traffic and services tend to close very early afternoon, by far they are the most easiest and hassle free, other places need careful planning: customs, fuel, controllers…
Hi Propman,
yes, many times since the new rules came in on the French and UK side which allow you to avoid quarantine on both sides if you’re double vaccinated.
The iPhone app Tripset is great to find out the constraints, with links to the official sources.
If double vaccinated, going into France from the UK, you need nothing. As of today.
With your NHS app (not the NHS Covid app) you can get the QR code which allows you to have the “vaccine pass” from the Tous Anti Covid app, which you need to go to restaurants for example. Send a picture of the QR code to your computer and scan it from the Tous Anti Covid app on your phone.
Coming back from France to the UK, given France is Amber, you need an antigen or PCR test before departure, book a Day 2 PCR test from an approved provider like Qured, fill in a Passenger Locator Form before departure. And you need to do that Day 2 PCR after your return, although apparently this will disappear too.
Carl Meek has put this together
