Has Omicron derailed international travel to and from Ireland this Christmas?
No, but it has definitely made things more complicated, and many people are much more anxious about their plans than they were at the start of the month. About 850,000 people are set to come and go through Dublin Airport between now and early in the new year, with tomorrow and next Thursday likely to be the busiest days.
Where are they coming from?
There will be many people coming from the US who were unable to travel home to see family and friends last year, but as with every year, the largest volume of traffic will come from the UK and the EU.
Is all that coming and going wise? Omicron is rampant in Britain, right?
It's pretty rampant here too. According to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, almost a third of all cases here now are the Omicron variant and it will only become more prevalent, whether or not people come and go over Christmas. What probably matters more is what they do when they get here.
What do you mean?
Well, it would be cruel to say to people with plans in place to visit family that they must abandon them, but they will have to take precautions. People travelling from the UK will, for instance, be expected to conduct antigen tests on themselves for five days after getting here, and the wild partying of days gone by is probably off the table too. And of course there are all the testing requirements needed before getting here.
Can you remind me what they are again?
The key requirement is to be able to prove you are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, or to prove you have recovered from it, or to have a negative result from a PCR test taken in the previous 72 hours. You must also have completed a passenger locator form online before landing in Ireland.
Does the negative result have to be from a PCR test? What about antigen tests?
If you are not vaccinated you must provide that negative PCR result. You must also provide a negative PCR result if you are travelling from any "scheduled state" – currently seven African countries – regardless of your vaccination status. But if you are vaccinated against or have recovered from Covid you can provide either a negative result from a PCR test taken in the 72 hours before you arrive or the negative result of an antigen test administered by a professional – so not the kind you buy from a shop – in the 48 hours before you arrive in Ireland.
Before I arrive?
Yes, and that is important. The clock starts ticking the moment you have the test and stops the moment you arrive, not the moment you are scheduled to arrive or the moment you are scheduled to leave your country of departure. So if your flight is due to arrive in Dublin at 2pm this Christmas Eve, you must not have a PCR test before 2pm on Tuesday or an antigen test before 2pm this Wednesday. That doesn't leave much leeway for flight delays, changes or cancellations.
Okay. And what if my test is positive?
You will have to self-isolate wherever you happen to be and wait for an all-clear before getting another flight. That could mean waiting as long as two weeks.
Two weeks? That would be a nightmare.
It would, but the test and subsequent self-isolation would mean you were not on a flight unknowingly infecting those around you.
If I can't travel because I have Covid, will I be able to get my airfare back?
Almost certainly not. Don't expect to be able to change your flight either. If the flight takes off without you, you can pretty much say goodbye to your money. If you have travel insurance, you might be covered – read the small print.
