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Coronavirus (COVID-19)


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1 hour ago, Snafu said:

We have digital borders now?

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No, not the last couple of times that I've travelled post brexit.

Having said that, Prestwick has never had these machines and the Spanish Airports were directing all NON EU travelleres to the manual passport control to have your passport checked and stamped as presumably the EU system is no longer set up to scan the UK passports ??

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19 minutes ago, budmiester1 said:

When the “new” passports were first issued back in the late eighties I went to the Passport office in Glasgow to get one, did exactly as you did and the passport arrived two days later. It must have been one of the first ones issued as the number was around 0000004000.  I flew a couple of weeks later to France with it , at Passport Control it was given a good look at by the staff as they had never seen the new style.

It's still the same or at least was 2 years ago.

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I fair released the outrage last night by suggesting it might be wise to keep a paper copy of important stuff when you're travelling in case your phone fails or you lose it. You get similar reactions if you argue that cash can be useful or that it's pleasant to read a physical newspaper sometimes instead of on your phone. Digital fundamentalism gone mad imo.


I think some people here would be shocked to learn that a significant number of people at Manchester Airport were using paper documents - boarding passes, vaccination certificates and Passenger Locator Forms.

I usually have everything in paper form given previous issues trying to use mobile devices, for example, poor signal, or my own senior moments of going in the pool with my phone in my trunks (as I did in Mexico).

There's also the reality that with the app launch being a complete joke I didn't have much faith in it. I've also found in Kos that going into bars and restaurants, when they do check, it's usually easier with paper than using the app.
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The reason people get frustrated at things you post is because they have absolutely no relevance to anything people actually post about. Years ago you managed to get home from abroad once after losing your passport because you had a photocopy of it. Fine. You contacted airlines/whoever explaining the situation and an allowance was made for what would have been an isolated occurrence. Your planning saved you. Fine.
From what I remember this started after a story yesterday about the vaccine passport app not working. This isn't a couple of people going abroad, this is literally tens of thousands of people in the country at a time, every day, having to use this. Something they have no say in, it's just government mandated for them to be able to carry on with their lives as normal. Do you really think it's reasonable to expect all of those people to forgo the main advertised means of using this passport and carry a backup with them at all times? Do you see everyone going to a football match with this? What about pished folk in a nightclub queue? 
The reason people get so fucking irritated with what you post isn't what you seem to think it is, that being a childish tantrum borne of misplaced intelligence and recklessness. People are frustrated because their lives are still subject to restrictions which don't really do much to case numbers or death numbers, they have a government extending and expanding those restrictions with no stated end date, and they have condescending p***ks like you playing a role of simpleton to try and score points over them on the internet. Grow the f**k up. 
Not carrying backup for the vaccine passport is fucking stupidity though given it was an unmitigated disaster at launch.
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Can I also confirm +1 for paper copies of everything when travelling abroad. Suits my OCD nature.

However, for Covid passportery I've a photo of my QR code saved on my phone. If i dont get in somehwere with it, meh, I'll go home. Can't see the resulting ballache being anywhere the same level as being abroad with everything saved to a dud phone.

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9 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:


 

 


I think some people here would be shocked to learn that a significant number of people at Manchester Airport were using paper documents - boarding passes, vaccination certificates and Passenger Locator Forms.

I usually have everything in paper form given previous issues trying to use mobile devices, for example, poor signal, or my own senior moments of going in the pool with my phone in my trunks (as I did in Mexico).

There's also the reality that with the app launch being a complete joke I didn't have much faith in it. I've also found in Kos that going into bars and restaurants, when they do check, it's usually easier with paper than using the app.

 

Yip, same here.

I find it much easier to have all my required documents printed off and kept in a pocket in my laptop bag which can just be flashed / handed over when required as opposed to buggering about with a phone trying to locate different documents / apps and then enlarge them for the punter to check.

I suppose some of the younger ones might have been brought up knowing nothing else but technology on their phones and maybe don't have access to a printer either ? but irrespective it's just what works best for you, the individual, and we really shouldn't be getting angry or mocking others who feel it's easier to do it another way as ultimately it's their own choice whether paper / app or both and doesn't affect anyone else.

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While we're on this subject, what about all the pensioners who rarely have a smart phone between them ?

It's paper or nothing for those people and given that they represent the vast majority of winter travellers, then I think paper documents are here to stay for a long time yet !!!

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38 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

I think some people here would be shocked to learn that a significant number of people at Manchester Airport were using paper documents - boarding passes, vaccination certificates and Passenger Locator Forms.

Nobody would be shocked by any of that. Paper copies of their passport, however, would be a different story.

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3 minutes ago, Todd_is_God said:

Nobody would be shocked by any of that. Paper copies of their passport, however, would be a different story.

Quote

In 2014, 20,612 UK passports were reported as lost or stolen around the world last year and 39,053 emergency travel documents (ETDs) were also issued overseas.

The FCO’s five top tips for looking after your passport are:

Value your passport and look after it carefully. A damaged passport cannot be used for travel
Your passport is not always safer on you (e.g. lock your passport in a safe if you have access to one), unless the local law requires you to keep it with you.
Make two photocopies of your passport – leave one with friends or family and take the second with you, or store it online using a secure data storage site
Use this photocopy as alternative ID, for example when going out at night
Make sure your passport is valid. For certain countries your passport must be valid for 6 months after the date you travel – check the entry requirements before you go

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/passports-where-do-you-keep-yours

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38 minutes ago, WATTOO said:

While we're on this subject, what about all the pensioners who rarely have a smart phone between them ?

It's paper or nothing for those people and given that they represent the vast majority of winter travellers, then I think paper documents are here to stay for a long time yet !!!

Government should be supplying a driving license size effort with the QR code on it IMO, for anyone who doesn’t want to / can’t use the app or wants a contingency that’s not a scrunched up A4 sheet of paper.

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It's also terrible advice to use a paper passport copy as a means of ID on a night out. No place is accepting photocopies of ID to let you in. It's literally only useful for knowing your passport number after it's lost/stolen and even that isn't required for getting a new one. 

 

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Going to London for the NFL tomorrow armed with not only my mobile phone, which has the match tickets and vaccine bullshit on it in digital form, but printed match tickets, printed vaccine bullshit proof, printed Heathrow Express tickets, and a printed note of the Glasgow Airport car park reference, the hotel details and reference, and have chosen to collect proper printed boarding passes from BA at the airport.

As others have said, digital has its place, but I’ve been burned with the feckin’ things not working properly for whatever reason too many times.

Printed for me all the way baby.

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3 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

My memory might be playing tricks on me but I'm pretty sure they handed it to me that day and that was around the mid 80s too - a year or two before you.

Mine was a 1 year passport at the time so maybe that's why I got it that day. Was it called a Visitor Passport or something? Can't recall. Seem to remember it only costing £10 or so too.

That was the one you used to be able to get at the post office.  they stopped doing them years ago.  could only get to Europe and maybe a few other countries using those.

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