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Australian diplomats sent to Heathrow airport to help citizens stranded due to travel caps
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/13/australian-diplomats-sent-to-heathrow-airport-to-help-stranded-citizens-due-to-travel-capsTeams of Australian diplomats are being deployed to Heathrow airport to help stranded Australians who have been forced to camp at the airport. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, there are now more than 25,000 Australians overseas who have registered an intention to return home, but who cannot access flights due to the government’s strict international arrival caps.The caps, introduced in July then tightened shortly after to ease pressure on Australia’s mandatory hotel quarantine system, mean only 4,000 passengers can enter Australia each week, with some flights limited to carrying as few as 30 passengers.
Airlines frustrated at the caps have begun to publicly acknowledge they are cancelling the tickets of economy, and increasingly business class passengers, so they can use their limits for more expensive tickets and remain profitable under the caps. While the caps apply to arrivals from all countries, the Australian high commission in the UK has been forced to take extra steps to deal with the impacts of the caps due to the higher number of Australians stuck in the country.
/snip/
The teams presence at the airport follows previous government advice for Australians to start crowdfunding campaigns to cover living expenses and pay for higher class flights home. Last week, a Perth mother of three posted photos online showing her children, including a one-year-old, sleeping on their coats on the airport floor. She said they had slept there for three days, because their flights home – which she claimed were booked before the caps were introduced – had been cancelled. The story follows scores of stranded Australians contacting Guardian Australia , including many who had travelled overseas in recent weeks with a valid exemption to visit a sick relative, who have had their return tickets cancelled, and now face an indefinite period away from their families, jobs and secure accommodation.
/snip/
This week the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, which represents airlines including Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Etihad, revealed that the 140 flights into Australia in the first week of September landed with 26,000 empty seats. However, Barry Abrams, executive director of Bara, told Guardian Australia the figure of 25,000 stranded Australians who have registered overseas downplays the significance of the problem. He said airline booking data of cancelled tickets indicates there are closer to 100,000 Australians stranded overseas.“There’s a pressing need to understand how big this problem is right now,” Abrams said.
Airlines frustrated at the caps have begun to publicly acknowledge they are cancelling the tickets of economy, and increasingly business class passengers, so they can use their limits for more expensive tickets and remain profitable under the caps. While the caps apply to arrivals from all countries, the Australian high commission in the UK has been forced to take extra steps to deal with the impacts of the caps due to the higher number of Australians stuck in the country.
/snip/
The teams presence at the airport follows previous government advice for Australians to start crowdfunding campaigns to cover living expenses and pay for higher class flights home. Last week, a Perth mother of three posted photos online showing her children, including a one-year-old, sleeping on their coats on the airport floor. She said they had slept there for three days, because their flights home – which she claimed were booked before the caps were introduced – had been cancelled. The story follows scores of stranded Australians contacting Guardian Australia , including many who had travelled overseas in recent weeks with a valid exemption to visit a sick relative, who have had their return tickets cancelled, and now face an indefinite period away from their families, jobs and secure accommodation.
/snip/
This week the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, which represents airlines including Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Etihad, revealed that the 140 flights into Australia in the first week of September landed with 26,000 empty seats. However, Barry Abrams, executive director of Bara, told Guardian Australia the figure of 25,000 stranded Australians who have registered overseas downplays the significance of the problem. He said airline booking data of cancelled tickets indicates there are closer to 100,000 Australians stranded overseas.“There’s a pressing need to understand how big this problem is right now,” Abrams said.
Bold emphasis mine.
As an Australian citizen currently abroad I find this totally absurd and unnecessary. Australia has mostly handled this pandemic well but limiting flights and the way quarantine has been implemented is a shocker. ScoMo is a prick at the best of times so undoubtedbly him and his populist cult take are taking joy in cutting other Australians down, after all I guess we had our chance to come back sooner.
Go fund me? For the love of dog what is he on about, the measures he has implemented are amongst other things financially life changing. People are losing their jobs and possibly falling behind on mortgages and dick slap here want you to start a go fund me.
I´m pissed. Sorry.
And now airlines are only validating first class bookings, jeez I thought the 50 grand AUD for a family of 4, one way and with business class tickets was steep. Something has got to give and give soon, a lot of people are going to be bankrupted or even worse by this and as I have wondered for a while there is likely going to be legal repurcussions because of it.