Brits stay in Thailand as they ‘can’t make it’ before red list deadline – ‘impossible!’

Boris Johnson urges ‘patience’ over travel restrictions

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Travellers arriving from the new red list destinations face a hotel quarantine at a cost of £2,285. Many Britons are now desperately trying to book flights back home but fear they won’t make it in time.

The Government announced on Thursday that Canada, Denmark, Finland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Switzerland and The Azores were had now been moved to the green list.

Thailand and Montenegro were added to the red list while there were no countries added to the amber list.

Although the new changes will come into effect on August 30, many travellers have explained that due to the long haul flights, it is “impossible” to arrive before the deadline.

They are also facing huge costs due to the lack of return flights.

If holidaymakers don’t return from the new red list countries Montenegro or Thailand before Monday, August 30 at 4am, they will have to quarantine in a designated hotel for 10 days at a cost of £2,285.

Montenegro and Thailand weren’t expected to be added to the red list but the Government said the decision is due to “the increased case rates in these countries and the higher risk that travel from these countries poses to UK public health”.

A traveller currently in Montenegro said: “In Montenegro now, due to travel home Monday morning.

“There are no flights back to the UK before then so what does the Government expect us to do?” she told The Telegraph.

Flights to return to the UK from Montenegro are currently sold out.

For those who need to return from Thailand, there is only one direct flight from Phuket for £507 before the deadline.

“It’s cost us just short of £1,000 to book additional flights last night and we’re going to have to pay around £300 for a hotel as the stopover is 12 hour,” said another traveller who was forced to return with a connecting flight.

Another traveller currently stuck in Thailand said: “Although I could have tried to scrape together everything I needed to fly, it would have been almost impossible.

“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,” Fran Greene told i.

“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 explained.

Fran decided to stay in Thailand instead of returning to the UK and paying for hotel quarantine which she said would “bankrupt” her.

“Just in case a miracle happens and the UK removes [it from the red list],” she explained.

Another traveller complained: “@GOVUK you have put Thailand on the UK red list in effect from Monday Am?! Things like Covid tests need to be booked in advance.

“So you have given me less than two days to get everything sorted to fly home from a long haul destination..?! Where’s the logic in that!”

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