Explanation of Christmas and Level 4 travel rules

Almost 18 million people in London, the South East and the East of England have been placed on a new Level 4, with extremely strict travel regulations. In addition, the Christmas relaxation that allows the mix of three households has been reduced to a single day: December 25.

“This is not the time for unnecessary travel,” says government medical director Chris Whitty.

Here are the key questions and answers, starting with the level 4 rules.

The new ground rule is: “You must not go out or be outside your home, except for a specific purpose or ‘reasonable excuse.’

Unless there is an essential reason for your travel (for work, education, medical treatment, care responsibilities, and urgent compassionate reasons), you will be expected to stay home. No leisure travel is allowed within your tier, anywhere else in the UK or abroad.

Hundreds of thousands of people living in the affected areas of England have travel plans for Christmas, New Years and until 2021 they have been told to stay home.

Key destinations include the Canary Islands, Madeira and Gibraltar, almost the only parts of Europe that are not on the Foreign Ministry’s ban list, as well as long-haul destinations such as Dubai, Maldives and the Caribbean.

If you have booked a vacation package with a company like Tui or Jet2 and you are going to travel imminently, you can probably postpone the trip. But a lot of holidays are likely to run smoothly because most of England is at levels 1, 2 or 3.

Talk to your travel company if possible and see what options are available.

Since there is no end date, I recommend that anyone with a trip starting in early January pause to see what happens.

If the flight is canceled, you can get a full refund. If you go ahead, you may be able to postpone the trip or get a credit note.

British Airways has a “book with confidence” policy that allows cancellations for a coupon, not a refund.

The independent has asked the other leading airlines for their policies.

The presumption of the Competition and Markets Authority is that if a passenger is unable to travel due to government restrictions, then they should be entitled to a full cash refund, but that has not been proven by law.

The independent You understand that the main Level 4 airports (Heathrow, Luton and London City) will remain open and that people from other levels will be able to access them whether they fly in or out

The government says: “If you live outside of a level 4 area, you can still transit to or through a level 4 area to travel abroad if you need to, but you should carefully consider whether you should.”

Gatwick and Stansted airports are on Level 2 and are therefore not affected, although many of their passengers are.

In this case, two sets of rules appear to be in conflict with each other. The government’s guidelines on self-isolation for arriving travelers say: “Use public transportation only if you have no other option.”

The implication: Ideally, a member of the household where the traveler will be quarantined will be able to pick them up at the airport. But this would violate the stipulation not to leave the house.

It is unclear whether picking up someone counts as a “reasonable excuse”. In general, if you can make the trip to the airport and back without stopping along the way, that can lower your chances of contracting (or spreading) the coronavirus.

Yes. The government says, “We encourage you to walk or bike whenever possible.” But there is no blanket warning against using buses, trains, trams, or, in London, the tube.

The presumption, based on past practice, is that almost normal service will operate. The government advises: “Plan ahead and avoid rush hours and public transportation routes. This will allow you to practice social distancing while traveling. ” But with so few passengers, keeping distance is unlikely to be a problem.

You can modify it but, if it is an advance ticket, you cannot get a refund. On Friday, perhaps to prepare people for this development, Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps announced that fees for changing advance tickets will not apply.

Many thousands of people will have booked flights to travel to or from what are now level 4 addresses. Such travel cannot happen now. Once again, individual airlines will decide their own policies.

As a guide, it is unlikely that many domestic flights will be canceled.

No. “People should not enter or leave Level 4 areas, and Level 4 residents should not spend the night away from home,” says the government.