British tourists have said they face huge costs and a desperate scramble to get home from Thailand before red list rules kick in on Monday – or risk becoming stuck in the country.
The Government moved the destination to its toughest level of restrictions under the traffic light system on Thursday.
It means arrivals will have to quarantine in a designated hotel for 10 days if they return after 4am on 30 August – at a cost of £2,285 for a single adult, plus extra charges for more adults or children in a room.
The Government said the move reflected “increased case rates” as well as “the higher risk” that travel from Thailand poses to UK public health.
The decision has left thousands of unlucky travellers with little time to get home.
Fran Greene, 23, from Nottingham, is currently in Phuket with her partner Conor Lyons after travelling to visit her parents and younger brother for the first time in nearly two years. She told i she would not be able to get home in time to beat the restrictions.
“Although I could have tried to scrape together everything I needed to fly, it would have been almost impossible,” she said. “I would have had to fly [on Saturday] in order to make it back in time, and didn’t have any time to book a PCR test today to allow me to fly.
“Even if I had booked one, there was no guarantee the results would be back in time for my flight.”
Ms Greene added that while she had seen flights advertised for £300, they were either very long-haul journeys or required stopovers in several countries, meaning her Covid-19 test result could expire, or that she would have to also meet entry requirements for the other countries she travelled to.
Shorter flights, she said, ranged from £500 to more than £1,000.
“Even if I managed to fly tomorrow and gather everything I needed, I would have arrived in the UK within hours of the rules being enforced. All it would have taken was one flight to be slightly delayed and it all would have fallen through,” she added.
Instead of catching her original 15 September homebound flight and paying for hotel quarantine, which would “bankrupt” her, Ms Greene will instead wait it out in Thailand until the next travel review “just in case a miracle happens and the UK removes [it from the red list]”.
In doing so, she said she risks losing a graduate position which begins in late September. “If I can’t make it home, I’m not really sure what will come of it,” she added. Mr Lyons is also supposed to start a new role in the coming months.
Other Britons took to social media to complain about the logistics of getting home from Thailand before the rule changes come into place.
Jeff Webster wrote in a post to the UK Government’s official Twitter account: “Things like Covid tests need to be booked in advance. So you have given me less than 2 days to get everything sorted to fly home from a long haul destination..?! Where’s the logic in that!”
Meanwhile, others were desperate to get back from Montenegro, arrivals from which will also face red-list restrictions from Monday morning.
Twitter user Rebecca Woodard said she was currently on holiday and due to travel home on Monday morning. “There are no flights back to the UK before then so what does the Government expect us to do?” she said.
