Thousands Of Brit Holidaymakers Face Travel Misery As Portugal Removed From UK Green List

Thousands Of Brit Holidaymakers Face Travel Misery As Portugal Removed From UK Green List.

Thousands of British Holidaymakers face travel misery as they try to arrange flights back to the UK to avoid going into quarantine on their return after Monday.

Airlines have added extra capacity on flights from Portugal to help British holidaymakers return home after the European country was removed from the green list by the UK government, according to a report from The Sun.

Low-cost carrier easyJet has introduced larger aircraft on flights from Faro to four UK airports – Gatwick, Luton, Bristol, and Manchester – from today, Saturday, June 5, to Monday, creating over 1,000 extra seats.

British Airways also confirmed it would run more flights on larger aircraft ahead of 4am on Tuesday, when Portugal and it islands will switch from green to amber, but did not confirm how much extra capacity.

EasyJet said it has contacted all its airline and package holiday customers in Portugal to see if they want to change their travel plans, and to advise them on testing options.

Customers can transfer to eayJet’s UK-bound flights with extra capacity via the airline’s website or app. EasyJet’s testing partner Collinson is contacting customers who need to arrange new tests in the wake of the latest changes to the government’s traffic light list, with a 20% discount available.

EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren said: “We know first-hand from our customers what a blow this sudden decision to put Portugal on the amber list is.

“With many British tourists currently in Portugal our priority is to help the customers who need to return ahead of the Tuesday deadline. We are providing over a thousand additional seats from Portugal to the UK by flying larger aircraft on flights and adding some additional flights where there is demand.”

The airline stressed that the safety and wellbeing of customers and crew remained its “highest priority”.

EasyJet said in a statement: “The airline continues to have a number of biological safety measures in place onboard in line with guidance from the relevant authorities. This includes daily enhanced cabin disinfection effective in protecting against coronavirus for at least 24 hours and mandatory mask wearing for customers and crew.”

One slim ray of hope came from France, which announced that, from 9 June, fully vaccinated British holidaymakers will be allowed to enter the country, with no requirement to quarantine. However, France remains on Britain’s amber list, necessitating a 10-day quarantine and two PCR tests for all inbound travellers to the UK.

The Euro Weekly News is running a campaign to help reunite Brits in Spain with their family and friends by capping the costs of PCR tests for travel. Please help us urge the government to cap costs at https://euroweeklynews.com/2021/04/16/ewn-champions-the-rights-of-brits-in-spain-to-see-loved-ones-again/

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