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    They are banned at most/all major US airports for noise reasons.

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      I guess there aren't such regulations here.

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        Thanks Erdogan

        It also necessitates a lot of people working really unpleasant hours

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          Izmir airport is also more or less in the city. Or at least on the edge of it.

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            Bit of confusion with the young, obviously new to the job, woman checking me in. Looked a bit confused and worried at my passport and exchanged words with her colleague on the next desk, the bits of which I understood were "English passport" and "Dubai". I resisted the urge to correct her on the nationality of my passport and instead wondered why she was talking about Dubai. Then the penny dropped (hey, it is 3am)and I pointed out that I wasn't flying to Dubai but Dublin.

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              When I went to Mexico my flight landed at about 1:40am, and Benito Juárez International is really not very far away from the middle of Mexico City. Well, actually I've just looked it up on Google Maps to make sure I wasn't misremembering and it turns out it's actually right on the border between Mexico City and Mexico State, but it's walking distance – perhaps not walking distance with a suitcase, but walking distance if you for some reason fancied a stroll in that direction – from the Zócalo, which is Mexico City's central square, and very much central to the urban sprawl. I seem to remember my return flight taking off either just before or just after midnight, as well.

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                Oh, and further to ad hoc's airport confusion: the first time we went to the UK as a couple (edit to add: me and my girlfriend, not me and ad hoc), when we went to Bristol Airport for our flight to Berlin we were held up at check in for about twenty minutes because the woman behind the counter had never seen an Argentine passport before and called her manager so they could have a chat about whether or not it was fake (not because it looked fake, but because she didn't know what a real one was meant to look like). It was only the knowledge that we all have to be well behaved at airport check-in desks that kept us from pointing out that the idea of someone travelling around the EU (as we then were ...) on a fake passport from an EU member state might be something that would happen, but doing so on a fake Argentine passport really sounded pretty fucking unlikely.

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                  Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                  If any European residents (and as far as I can tell that means European not just EU) are interested, interrail tickets are half price this weekend. For adults over 27 that means €335 for a month's travel - starting any time in the next 11 months. I reckon it's an absolute bargain and me and mine are going to take advantage

                  https://www.interrail.eu/en/50th-ann...adventure-sale
                  Just spotted this. Maybe for the best I missed the closing date as I might have forgotten financial discipline and blown £300 on a ticket

                  Maybe a more modest week in Benelux instead...

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                    I'm in the longest airport security queue I've seen since October 2001. It's moving mercifully fast but it's practically occupying practically half of the entire check in desk area of Dublin Airport

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                      Stag and hen parties?

                      School holidays?

                      Industrial action?

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                        I dunno. If it's industrial action then there are a lot of scabs as it doesn't seem to be short staffed. I don't think it's school holidays (is it? Calling Irish posters). The majority (in my estimation) are not native English or Irish speakers.

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                          That's what I would have guessed on a late Sunday afternoon

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                            Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                            I dunno. If it's industrial action then there are a lot of scabs as it doesn't seem to be short staffed. I don't think it's school holidays (is it? Calling Irish posters). The majority (in my estimation) are not native English or Irish speakers.
                            Security queues have been horrific since travel began again in serious numbers. The airport authorities promised to increase staffing. I think everyone just wants to travel after two years of lockdown.

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                              I flew out of Manchester friday late morning. Easyjet sent me an email asking to turn up 3 hours early and there have been horror stories daily in the MEN...I duly did and it was the shortest queue i remember in a long time. I was done in 15 minutes...

                              I did found an ace spot by a gate to wait in peace for your flight mind rather than do so in the overcrowded main waiting area of T1

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                                The kids and I are off to the UK in a couple of weeks, while there we will be staying with my parents. Does anyone have any thoughts on how we should approach this, given that they are both in their 80s and everyone's been jabbed and boosted as much as has been recommended in their respective countries? I'm particularly thinking of the first few days when we'll have been mingling with a bunch of people in airports, plus coming from an area that has a reasonably high level of covid. Nobody involved has ever tested positive for covid.
                                The options would be:
                                Not really worry about it, stay at the house and basically behave as we would pre-covid.
                                Stay next door (empty house) for some initial length of time (how long?) or until we get a -ve test (when, what sort?).

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                                  I think you should behave around your parents as they expect anyone else to behave around them. If they've been hyper-cautious, you should be. If they've been down the pub and in the shops and off on the buses, you should assume that your behaviour isn't going to add much additional risk. That's the approach I took to my parents in January - I'd been told by my sister to basically stay elsewhere and hide in the garden and have windows open all the time. When I got there I discovered that my mum had been on the bus most days in the previous month, so my presence wasn't really adding much additional risk to the equation, particularly as I was tested fairly regularly in the lead up to the trip.

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                                    This is just me, but separate houses seems like overkill and could even be an unnecessary strain on everyone.

                                    I would keep masks on in the airports and on the flight and consider masking inside for 24-48 hours after arrival.

                                    The Brits will have a better idea of what kind of tests are available, but you could always bring some from home..

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                                      Thanks, sounds fairly reasonable. I was going to bring some tests with me - the Brits (my sister, anyway) are all put out from having to pay for them now.

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                                        I was going to mention the cost.

                                        I have also had friends say that interpreting "foreign" tests can be stressful.

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                                          The two tests I had in the UK - one PCR taken at Heathrow on landing (in the Sofitel at T5) and one LFT departure test from some clinic in a shopping center in Oxford) both has very clear online sign ups and the apps and emails and texts reported the results fast and clearly. I think the LFT was super-unreliable as a test and you can do that yourself just fine - I needed it for bureaucratic reasons. But the PCR I basically trusted and gave me a result within a few hours.

                                          That said, I’d just try and test every day or two with an LFT home test, these days.

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                                            Flew back to San Francisco yesterday, and good lord Heathrow's a disaster.
                                            Waited in line for an hour and a half to drop the bags off, then another hour and a half wait in line for security until they pulled us out as our gate was closing - I'd estimate we had another 30-45 minutes before we'd have got to the front otherwise. Then everyone sat in the plane at the gate for almost another hour and a half until they'd loaded all the bags on.
                                            In contrast we got through immigration and customs in San Francisco in record time.

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                                              Originally posted by S. aureus View Post
                                              Flew back to San Francisco yesterday, and good lord Heathrow's a disaster.
                                              Waited in line for an hour and a half to drop the bags off, then another hour and a half wait in line for security until they pulled us out as our gate was closing - I'd estimate we had another 30-45 minutes before we'd have got to the front otherwise. Then everyone sat in the plane at the gate for almost another hour and a half until they'd loaded all the bags on.
                                              In contrast we got through immigration and customs in San Francisco in record time.
                                              What Heathrow Terminal is that. I have flown through terminal 5 mainly and it has been a breeze.

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                                                Terminal 3.
                                                It was fine when we flew in 3 weeks ago.

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                                                  Frankly, if the flight actually took off and you were able to retrieve all of your luggage at your destination, you're doing a lot better than many others!

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                                                    That's true.

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