I don’t understand why

We are in New Zealand and I'm not flying anywhere until we have a vaccine. Even with domestic airlines they are transporting covid isolation people between cities due to high numbers of New Zealandlanders returning home.

the air-con is circulated briefly from ceiling to floor - not along the length of the plane
Each seat has its own overhead air supply so that makes sense, unlike an office, classroom or shop.

From one airline's website:
Every aircraft in the Singapore Airlines Group fleet is equipped with HEPA* filters, which remove more than 99.9% of the microbes in the air. Cabin air is also refreshed every two to three minutes throughout the flight.

Furret what the scientist said is actually correct. There are many misconceptions about air conditioning on board an aircraft. I am air cabin crew and the pilots have explained to us quite clearly, that the air-con is circulated briefly from ceiling to floor - not along the length of the plane. The air is renewed every 3 to 4 minutes (pulled in through the engines I believe) as opposed to every 11 to 12 minutes in a static building with air conditioning. So germs are not circulating for hours on end. There are also Hepa Surgical grade air filters on board, the same as they use in hospital operating theatres.

Oh and I won’t be holidaying in the uk either, far too expensive.

I won’t be travelling this year but I’d like to see my son And family next year please, not seen for nearly two years.

I agree

I am hoping to go on holiday to Cyprus next week. I don’t consider myself as selfish, I work for the nhs and like many of my colleagues have had very little time off. I will be having a Covid-19 test before I fly.
The cost to holiday in the uk is double and the weather is unpredictable. I will maintain social distancing, sanitizer and wear a mask as normal.The risk in certain countries is actually less than the uk.

I don't mind if people decide to take the obvious risk by holidaying at the current time but I do despair of their pathetic bellyaching when a sudden quarantine/lockdown is put in place and they seek compensation or exclusion from whatever the new order is. The obvious potential consequences are not rocket science.

Hear hear BlueBelle

What is SO necessary about going abroad !

We had a holiday booked last year and I said that no way would I be going, and I didn't I can't think of anything worse at this moment in time, all the uncertainly , having to wear masks in the seering heat ( it's bad enough for the half hour in the supermarket!!) and then having to quarantine on return! where the heck is the joy in all THAT !

Even thinking about next year is a no no

We normally go on few holidays abroad every year but not this year. Haven't really missed it at all. Had a week away in Tenby for my birthday and off to Devon next and we're enjoying it just as much as our foreign holidays. Saved a lot of money too. Win win situation!

Some of our family live in Italy and we are in the process of buying a holiday home there so will have to go over at some point. It won't be for a holiday yet and we don't know when we will see the family again. It's all very difficult.

But @Rowsie, the whole point is that it isn't just about you but about all those you could spread the infection to simply because you want to do what you want to do.

Well, I have had to carry on working full time all the way through the spring and summer, and frankly I would dearly love to have a week or two off somewhere hot and sunny (it's been generally pretty wet and miserable since May in my neck of the woods - even the so called heat wave only lasted a day or two.) The Bloke and I both have kids living near the Med and we'd planned to visit them this year - but it's not looking likely to happen.

I suppose lockdown was unavoidable but it's time to move on now; we simply can't afford to shield everyone. Death will come to us all, so let's live the time we have left.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office currently advises British nationals against all but essential international travel. I agree that it doesn't make sense for people to travel abroad on holiday at the moment - holidays are not essential travel. The research is not yet sufficient into the transfer of the virus on planes.
Connected to this is that people/children will be arriving back from holidays and returning to schools this week. Some boarding schools have insisted that children from other countries returned to the UK 2 weeks ahead of the start of term to stay with UK guardians and yet holiday makers can return up to the day before term starts.
IMHO it is pure selfishness.

I agree Bluebelle. Probably what started it all in the first place. Stag and hen do’s abroad, shopping in New York, when you live in the U.K.! Holiday homes everywhere. Business travel, etc etc etc. Just stay at home for goodness sake. We live in a beautiful country, with, in the main, agreeable weather. It should have been stopped completely, but I’m not in charge!?

I paid a fortune into my NHS pension scheme. I even bought extra years to try to make up for having to work part time when my children were young. We went without fancy holidays and consumer must haves in order to do that. It was worth it to me so I'm certainly not being paid for 'by the beleaguered British taxpayer' of which, of course, I'm one.

Wrong, Lulubelle They're not young and thoughtless either, just have enormous government pensions that the poor beleaguered taxpaying UK is paying for!

Former government employees (I presume you mean teachers, nurses, police & other public servants?) paid for their own pensions via superannuation contributions, with employers’ contributions in just the same way that any workplace pension is funded.

When I retired. travelling became my main interest. I do not want to stop travelling and as I am 71 now I do not know how many more years I will be able to travel. I would rather take a risk and enjoy myself than stay home and get depressed because I am not doing what I want.

Pleased it's not just us!

My last holiday abroad was 4 years ago. I have had my breaks in the UK since and I agree with LinkyPinky air travel is helping to cause climate change. Not many people went abroad when I was young and I don't think we suffered mental health problems because we didn't get on a plane.

Today was the day we had to pay the £4K balance for our holiday to India or we would lose our deposit.
There is little chance of the holiday going ahead and I feel the holiday company Mercury, ethically should have cancelled it and refunded the deposit rather than insist on full payment. Instead we were told that in November if the tour is not going ahead we will be refunded all the money but we must pay by today or forfeit our sizeable deposit.

Fortunately a very savvy employee of Barrhead Travel suggested we could move our deposit to another holiday before today‘s deadline so we have chosen Malta next year.

I’m relating this in case any other Gransnetters find themselves in a similar situation.

I have never been abroad. It just doesn't interest me.
I think there's some beautiful places and scenery in the UK.

I am dumbfounded by these posts. We have a climate emergency brewing which will make Covid look like a Sunday school picnic, and people are discussing air travel as if it’s perfectly acceptable. It is not.

Lulubelle500

It's absolutely nuts that people can't stay put for a year, or even two! I know people who've been on at least two holidays abroad in the last eight months. As soon as anywhere becomes quarantine clear on return to the UK off they go. They're not young and thoughtless either, just have enormous government pensions that the poor beleaguered taxpaying UK is paying for!

Surely they deserve their pensions and can spend as they please?

Direne3 has bought a summerhouse with her holiday money, our son bought a hot tub, friends spent theirs on a lovely patio, others may have had a sitting room makeover, a conservatory or a garden pond. Things that can be enjoyed at home for many years. Sounds good to me.