Covid Testing before and after Travel 4 May at 9:50AM in Coronavirus Travel Help & Info 32 replies 1.5K views

patch3985

Hello, apologies if this has been asked before but I'm due to go on honeymoon on 16th June ( moved from last year) 
My question is my wife and I cannot afford to pay for the Covid tests before we go and when we return, so therefore where do we stand?
In our original booking ( a long time ago in pre-covid 2019) there was obviously no mention of this extra expense.
I appreciate if we cancel we will lose out, but we just simply do not have the money to pay for 4 tests between us. 

sheramber

if you do not have a positive test before you travel  you will not get on the aircraft so you will not be going anywhere

Westin

patch3985 said:

Hello, apologies if this has been asked before but I'm due to go on honeymoon on 16th June ( moved from last year) 
My question is my wife and I cannot afford to pay for the Covid tests before we go and when we return, so therefore where do we stand?
In our original booking ( a long time ago in pre-covid 2019) there was obviously no mention of this extra expense.
I appreciate if we cancel we will lose out, but we just simply do not have the money to pay for 4 tests between us. 

Some tour operators are giving flexibility on changing holidays so it might be worth checking what is on offer and available to you.  If you have DIY'ed your trip options may be limited.

Conditions and requirements are going to be different depending where you are going on holiday but even when returning from a "green" country it seems at the moment at least one PCR test will be required pre-return flight and one test a few days after arrival back in the UK.  

To your specific question however, unless your travel firm is offering an opportunity to amend your trip then bottom line is that you either bite to bullet and accept and pay for the necessary and required tests - or you don't go (or at least come back).  I doubt any travel firm will refund you based on a green country trip and just a disinclination or ability to pay for the mandated tests to re enter the UK. 

Tedber

Agree with previous comments. If the holiday is going ahead you won’t really have a choice.  

Where are you going?  Hotel? Self catering?   Maybe you should start to consider using some of the money you were taking for spends on tests?  Eat out a day less etc.  Or any relatives who might help out?  What Am getting at is be pro active in trying to get the funds now - just in case.  Otherwise you will lose everything you have paid up to now.  Harsh but it is what it is.  Have a great time if you get there.  

superbigal

Flog the wedding presents

patch3985

Tedber said:

Agree with previous comments. If the holiday is going ahead you won’t really have a choice.  

Where are you going?  Hotel? Self catering?   Maybe you should start to consider using some of the money you were taking for spends on tests?  Eat out a day less etc.  Or any relatives who might help out?  What Am getting at is be pro active in trying to get the funds now - just in case.  Otherwise you will lose everything you have paid up to now.  Harsh but it is what it is.  Have a great time if you get there.  

We are going to Aruba and it's all inclusive, so no costs involved as everything was pre-paid two years ago, we are flying in 5 weeks if we do go so getting the funds is a little difficult, hence my question. I'm hoping we may be able to move the date another year and go next year instead

patch3985

superbigal said:

Flog the wedding presents

Haha knowing my family and friends that would end up with us getting about £4.80

TBagpuss

It's frustrating but unless the package company is willing to allow you to push th dates back, which they probably won't want to do as from their perspective, they can still supply the holiday which was booked, you don't have much choice.

Save as much as you an over the next 6 weeks and if you have to use a credit card to cover the balance then do that, try to get a low introductory rate and tighten your belts a bit when you get back to pay it off as quickly as possible. 

Do your research to check what tests you require and how to get them most cheaply (booking via your airline's website may be cheaper than doing it privately, for instance) https://www.which.co.uk/news/2021/03/where-can-i-get-a-covid-19-pcr-or-antigen-private-test-to-go-on-holiday/ is quite a useful article but obviously you would need to do your own research as prices may change quite fast. 

Butts

Which Airline / Company are you going with to that little bit of Holland in the Caribbean ?
For the sake of a monkey I'd move heaven and earth to get there if the alternative was throwing the holiday of a lifetime away/

CKhalvashi

sheramber said:

if you do not have a positive test before you travel  you will not get on the aircraft so you will not be going anywhere

I hope you mean negative

You won't be getting on board an aircraft without tests under the current rules, and therefore you have the choice of either finding the money from somewhere (it'll be sub-£1000, likely closer to £700 all in), or not going (or deferring, which likely will entail further cost).

How I see it, you have a lot more than this amount to lose by not going, taking into account what you've already paid out.

Countries are free to set their own immigration requirements as they see fit, which at the moment means testing. This is the choice of the individual country concerned.

sheramber

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