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Flights Buying plane tickets before Brexit to use after Brexit?

Cameron

500+ Posts
I guess no one really knows for certain what will happen after 29 March 2019, the Brexit deadline.

I'm flying from the US to London in mid-summer, and wonder when to book my tickets. I will be flying in July, so I don't want to wait too long. Any insight into the situation?

This is the latest article that I can find on this subject. If there are updates to share, can we try to keep the links in this post?

Travel After Brexit: What we do and don't know (The Independent)
 
Latest news is that transition period is likely to extend, but to be honest we'll still be visiting Italy after Brexit and I can't see material problems except for questions over whether you'll need visa for UK AND the rest of Europe (if Brexit ever happens - I can still hope)
 
I have been thinking about this too. We will probably be traveling in late March - early April which would have us coming back to the UK after Brexit. I think there may be some chaos at the airports, but probably only in the few weeks after Brexit.

(if Brexit ever happens - I can still hope)

Yeah, we moved to the UK because it was part of Europe!
 
The French president (after a confusing struggle when trying to explain in English) has said "no visa required" for English visiting Europe, but not sure what that means for people visiting from outside Europe and planning to go to UK and the EU.

FWIW an Indian colleague said getting an EU visa at the French embassy yesterday was very easy indeed, with lots of staff, lots of desks, but not many people. Definitely a good time of year to do it!
 
The French president (after a confusing struggle when trying to explain in English) has said "no visa required" for English visiting Europe, but not sure what that means for people visiting from outside Europe and planning to go to UK and the EU.
I think confusion may have arisen because of the projet de loi released a couple of days back, which people thought described exactly what the government was going to do, whereas it's more a list of issues that need to be addressed in the event of a disorderly exit.

My hunch is that after Brexit, British citizens will be subject to the third-country visa waiver system. I can't think that conditions would change for citizens of other non-EU countries (eg the US). And I hope that the EU and UK can sort out an agreement to allow planes to fly between the two if the worst happens. Although I wouldn't put it past the current British government to screw that up too.

Soooo glad I have French citizenship and two passports.
 
Hi Veronica
I'm loathe to make this too political (and will try to avoid openly party politically biased opinions), but I will apologise for the 'populist' nationalism and bigotry from elements of the British political scene. I am embarrassed by what is said, from people who would aspire to lead the country.

This whole debacle started out as a battle for control within the Conservative party (David Cameron thinking a public vote lacking any detail, would be thrown out by the electorate in the same way the Scots rejected independence for that lack of detail). He gambled wrong, and missed both a normal protest vote against the ruling party, but also a tide of populism that was exploited by the unique situation that the campaigners weren't going to be responsible for implementation, so outlandish claims were made to win votes, with those claims never having to be backed up by policy in Parliament.

For the large part, that is still where we are today, locked in a battle for the leadership / direction of the Conservative party, with Davis, Johnson, Rees-Mogg etc. trying to unsettle the leadership by seeking to speak for the populist voice / voice of the 51%. In doing this they hope to either lean the final deal more to their liking, or position themselves for a leadership attempt later this year / early next year.

Labour are not in a much better position, with many of the poorer areas they represent, voting for Brexit. Thus they will be just as divided, and add to this their own fears of schism as the party moves back to the traditional left-wing, after the Blair/Brown years where they attempted to take the centre, even centre-right position from the Conservatives (hoping to drive the latter further right). Labour's problem is their grass-roots are exerting their will to return to genuine left wing / socialism, but their MPs from the Blair/Brown years are positioned as centre / centre-right / centre-left and are fighting the move.

It is not at all out of the question that we end up with a temporary grand alliance between enough Conservatives MPs, and enough Labour MPs for a compromise that keeps the hardline Brexiteers silenced, but that keeps Thersesa May in power until the deal is done. Indeed I suspect every politician recognises that it's an impossible situation for anyone to lead us through such self-interest and tribalism. Keeping her propped up until that moment, then dropping her like a rag doll, is I'm sure in the minds of many.

Personally I hold out a vain hope that we'll get a public vote on the terms of the deal, with 3 options:
- Deal
- No Deal
- Remain in the EU

However IMO we don't deserve this for voting for something so ill-defined and nebulous. The last 2 years, where we've still not got any clarity, despite taking up the vast majority of Government time, should have been expected. However as a populace, we chose to put ourselves in that situation and so we can only blame ourselves.

Regards
Ian
 
That seems like a pretty good summary Ian, but I think you're being a bit hard on the electorate. Both in and out campaigns made misleading claims, and the Leave campaign actually broke electoral law with impunity. However foolishly people voted I don't think they deserve the fallout from a disorderly exit. They had no idea what the potential hazards were when they voted.

PS to add to your summary I would mention the Irish border problem which now looms so large. Plenty of people, including me, foresaw that issue before the vote, yet instead of trying to address it the government has blithely ignored it for two years.
 
Very good summary!

I would add that second election where the Conservatives lost seats (but thought they would gain) and had to do a deal with the Northern Ireland right wing party to keep their majority, therefore complicating even more the Northern Ireland border issue. There was no need for them to even call that election!

I agree with @veronicafrance that the campaigns made misleading claims.

I really don't know what is going to happen here.
 
I don't see why Brexit would make any difference to visa requirements for US citizens. The UK is not part of the Schengen Agreement anyway; any changes consequent on Brexit concern the access of nationals of the 27 to the UK, and vice versa.

There is an anxiety about the rules governing flight operations between the UK and the 27, in the event of there being no deal. It should be clearer by mid-November whether that is on the cards or not, and more or less certain by 21 January, when the Government is required to give Parliament the definitive picture.
 
I don't see why Brexit would make any difference to visa requirements for US citizens. The UK is not part of the Schengen Agreement anyway; any changes consequent on Brexit concern the access of nationals of the 27 to the UK, and vice versa.

There is an anxiety about the rules governing flight operations between the UK and the 27, in the event of there being no deal. It should be clearer by mid-November whether that is on the cards or not, and more or less certain by 21 January, when the Government is required to give Parliament the definitive picture.
That was our concern--the operations, not the passport/visa part. We're arriving via QM2 and didn't plan on spending our whole 6 other weeks in England (not that we wouldn't love to do that...there's just so much to see everywhere!), so we considered the continent; however we kept tripping ourselves up with what-if's concerning disruptions (ferries could be backed up; flight gates might be unresolved; even Eurostar mentioned possible disruption).

In the end, though, we decided to split our time between England and Ireland, so we'll fly from Bristol to Cork for our trip, then fly home from Dublin (there were other factors as well; transport and Brexit weren't the major factor as we're still spending 3 weeks in England in June). We're figuring that there's too much money at stake for all parties involved not to have things worked out by June. Fingers crossed that however it all works out, it gets worked out smoothly.
 
There is now a completed draft deal on the table, but no certainty as to whether it will be approved, since the UK government and its nominal supporters are busy tearing each other apart. On the assumption that the EU27 approve it on 25 November (not totally certain), anything may still be possible on the UK side, but the direction of travel (metaphorically speaking) may be clearer well before Christmas.
 
There's an article here on the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland as it applies to EU citizens post brexit (assuming there's a deal). Failing a deal though, UK-Ireland flights are going to face the same issues as flights to/from other EU countries since Ireland will be in the EU and the UK won't. But as you say, even a government as incompetent as the UK's has to come up with some kind of deal for this very obvious problem, certainly by June.
 
I see the British pound is dropping, so again wondering when to purchase tickets. I looked at frequent flier usage yesterday for next July, and American Airlines is offering only British Airways tickets from the US to the UK, rather than their usual American flights to the UK.
 
BA awards are generally more widely available because they have high surcharges on their awards, but American awards on their own metal can be found from the U.S. to the U.K. for next July. I found one from New York to London for the first July date I searched. In a quirk of AA availability (or intentionally making awards more difficult), for July 15 there was Business/First SAAver availability from NYC to London only via Raleigh/Durham, but from RDU to London it was only available with connections.

Editing to add: it's on FlyerTalk that AA was showing little availability yesterday, but it's back today.
 
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For the MileSAAver for business, my options right now are to connect from Raleigh-Durham to Philly, JFK or other hubs, but then I see only BA for the transatlantic portion. RDU has a direct flight to London on AA, but that's being offered at 185k FF miles, instead of 57.5k for business right now. I'm okay with economy on the return, but due to a hip issue and traveling solo, I prefer business for the overnight flight so I can lie flat and sleep.
 
It would be interesting to see if, for your date of travel, AA shows Business SAAver awards from their hubs to London connecting at RDU. I had understood that you could book such an award but then call and drop the domestic segment at the start. Now I see that may not be the case, but you could drop the domestic segment at the end on the return (which you could do in any case by leaving with any bags you claim when you clear customs, unless there are irregular operations and they put you on another transatlantic flight).

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