Will I miss my flight to Italy due to Spain isolation rules?
Q I arrived in Spain on Saturday for a week and have learnt that I will have to be in quarantine for two weeks from when I return on 1 August. But I have an easyJet flight from the UK to Italy on 10 August, which I guess I will have to change to after 15 August. What do you think?
Mary E
A In your position, suddenly finding that you are obliged to self-isolate for 14 days upon your return from Spain, I might move the Italian flight – but earlier, not later. That’s because the only way to reduce the 14day quarantine obligation is to leave the UK again before it is over.
This is perfectly legal if you go directly from your place of self-isolation to the airport, sea port or international railway station.
The law says when you arrive in the UK, you must “travel directly to the place at which [you] are to self
isolate” and then quarantine until whichever is the earlier of the 14th day after the day on which you arrived, or the day of your departure abroad.
Unhelpfully, the Department of Health & Social Care online guidance misrepresents the law, saying: “When you arrive in the UK, you will not be allowed to leave the place where you’re staying for the first 14 days you’re in the UK unless you’re arriving from an exempt country.” I have asked the government to change this advice in order to align it with the quarantine rules.
In short, there is no reason why you should not catch your flight on 10 August or any earlier day.
Alternatively, you might want to buy a new flight so that you go direct from Spain to Italy on 1 August; there are plenty of Ryanair links between the two countries with some implausibly low prices, such as €23 one-way from Madrid to Rome.
Note, however, that when you then return from Italy to the UK, if it is before 16 August you will need to need to “complete your sentence” in quarantine for having been in Spain until 1 August.
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