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Germany reopens to UK tourists
Germany is now allowing British visitors back into the country after banning Brits before Christmas with the UK being labeled an area of COVID concern. The UK is now just a “high risk” area which means if fully vaccinated you do not need to quarantine either.
The official FCDO website (UPDATED) says :
From 23:00 on 3 January 2022, the UK is designated as a high risk area by Germany. This means that travellers arriving from the UK, who are not fully vaccinated, are subject to 10-day quarantine, and test and release is available after 5 days. Fully vaccinated and recovered individuals are exempt from this requirement, once they have uploaded their proof of status on the pre-departure digital registration portal .
If, in the 10 days before you travel to Germany, you have been in an area designated at the time of entry as presenting an increased risk of infection, you must register online in advance of travelling to Germany. On arrival, you must travel to your accommodation and quarantine there for up to 14 days. If you are travelling from a high risk area, you can be released from quarantine immediately if you provide one of the following with the pre-departure digital registration:
- A negative C-19 test (only available after 5 days for travel from high risk areas such as the UK)
- Proof that you are fully vaccinated (this means that you have taken the last of the recommended doses of a C-19 vaccine authorised in the EU more than 14 days ago)
- Proof that you have recently recovered from a C-19 infection. Proof of recovery is a positive PCR test no older than six months, but older than 28 days
If you are travelling from a virus variant area, you must quarantine for the full 14 days, and do not have access to early test to release.
Shangri La Golden Circle upcoming changes & amazing new status
Despite the fact that there is only one Shangri-la only has one hotel in the UK (The Shard), it is still worth joining the Golden Circle if you stay at any other Shangri-La hotels. that’s because you can redeem points on food, drinks, and spa treatments at any hotel so you could use a reasonably small amount of points to treat yourself in London. Sadly you no longer get Jade status with Amex Platinum.
Shangri-La announced on Linked In that they will also be announcing details of the new Shangri-La Circle this month, a new contemporary Asian travel lifestyle platform, replacing our 25-year award-winning Golden Circle loyalty programme. There will be Polaris, a new invitation-only membership tier, offering the highest level of personalised privileges.
There are no qualifications published to attain Polaris but let’s face it, you would need to be consistently spending a ton of money with them to qualify!
Here are some of the benefits:
- You can use any Shangri-La club lounge, gym, pools, or meeting rooms, even if you’re not staying there!
- Flexible check-in time from midnight and flexible check-out time as late as 6PM
- A personal concierge in conjunction with a stay
- 10 room upgrades per year to the next best room category
- Complimentary airport meet & greet and one-way airport transfer at select airports, up to 12x per year
- Four free hours of car service per stay
- Give a family member to Diamond status for a year
- Exclusive events
There are not likely to be very many people that qualify for this level, but what a great set of perks if you do!
HT: Loyalty Lobby
British Airways cans Bilbao for now
It’s hard to believe that not long ago I remember debating how to fly with BA to stay in San Sebastian, arguably the gastronomic centre of Spain. At the time there was a choice of two airports in Spain with BA, San Sebastian itself or Bilbao. For most of 2022, there will be no options anywhere nearby in Spain. BA plans to fly to San Sebastian twice a week from London City in July and August but will suspend Bilbao from 27 March 2022. This is when BA’s short haul service is due to resume from Gatwick.
If you are already booked on BA you will be offered the choice to be rebooked onto Vueling from Gatwick but of course, this is a low-cost airline with no business class.
7 comments
Hi, I missed the memo that Amex Plat had dropped Jade tier membership in Golden Circle. When did this happen? I appear to still have it ????
Hi Gordon,
It was announced last year, although existing members kept the status for the whole year.
Then Shangri-la decided to renew status for everyone, so we now have it for another year.
Thanks Deb. Good to know ????????♂️
Hi Michelle – this statement isn’t correct: “All permitted travellers aged six or over from the UK arriving in Germany need either a negative PCR test result that is no more than 48 hours old at the point of departure, if travelling to Germany via plane, train, bus or ferry.”
The statement on gov.uk currently is: “All permitted unvaccinated or unrecovered travellers aged six or over from the UK arriving in Germany need a negative COVID-19 test result. It can be either a PCR test that is no more than 48 hours old at the time of departure, or a rapid antigen or other test sample that is no more than 48 hours old at the time of entry.”
Not sure if they changed it since you wrote the article, but the bottom line is you don’t need to quarantine nor present a test if vaccinated and coming from the UK.
Thanks, things change very quickly!
Latest Germany advice here:
https://uk.diplo.de/uk-en/02/coronavirus#:~:text=Minor%20children%20of%20third%2Dcountry%20nationals%20are%20allowed%20to%20enter,presenting%20a%20vaccination%2Frecovery%20certificate.
Unvaccinated kids under 12 will still have to quarantine, effectively ruling out family holidays from the UK, even if the adults are fully vaccinated.
It’s a wholly stupid policy, which we’ve been lumbered with since last summer. Hopefully somebody in the German government will see sense.
Thanks for the full update. Yes I think given the difference in how countries are vaccinating children, there are some very unfair policies around.
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