Brits stranded abroad

[Midlandslass]

What do you think the government should do, if anything, to repatriate tourists who find themselves unable to get home?
Maybe I'm a grumpy old woman, but if they managed to get themselves out there whilst all this was developing, they shouldn't expect others to pay the large costs involved in bringing them back.

[Onelife]

That's a bit harsh Midlandslass l would have though they should be able to tap into a low intrest government backed loan to get them back.

We have two friends who were on a three month tour of China/Vietnam but made the sensible decision to return early........no point whinging after the event.

[david63]

What do you think the government should do, if anything, to repatriate tourists who find themselves unable to get home?

If there is nobody else able or willing to arrange to get them home then there is nobody other than the Government who can step in and get them home. Who should pay is, however, another question to which I do not have the answer.

[Onelife]

What do you think the government should do, if anything, to repatriate tourists who find themselves unable to get home?

If there is nobody else able or willing to arrange to get them home then there is nobody other than the Government who can step in and get them home. Who should pay is, however, another question to which I do not have the answer.

I've just answer it David

[Manoverboard]

We have two friends who were on a three month tour of China/Vietnam but made the sensible decision to return early........no point whinging after the event.

Fine but there are many others who were on extensive coaching tours throughout the World and they cannot simply bugger off to suit their individual needs. Titan, for example, have just arranged an extremely long non stop direct flight for a number of their clients who were touring Australia.

[Onelife]

We have two friends who were on a three month tour of China/Vietnam but made the sensible decision to return early........no point whinging after the event.

Fine but there are many others who were on extensive coaching tours throughout the World and they cannot simply bug*er off to suit their individual needs. Titan, for example, have just arranged an extremely long non stop direct flight for a number of their clients who were touring Australia.

The OP was about who should pay for their return not whether they should be returned.....This l would suggest is a matter for the individual's , their TA's and the respective countries to sort out....what do you want me to say?

[Jan Rosser]

Just spoken to a close friend who has just returned from the Philippines via Doha and then on to Heathrow - he has accumulated nearly £10,000 worth of debt on his credit card from 7 cancelled flights (wonder how long before he is reimbursed). He was airlifted from a remote island by the army before a lockdown and spent four days in Manila airport waiting for a flight that would actually get him home. He is now in isolation after being on a packed plane - he is shattered as you can imagine but just glad to be home.

[Mervyn and Trish]

These people all have my greatest sympathy as I know how badly we felt when we feared we might be stranded in Madeira, a comparatively safe place very familiar to us. Like us I suspect most of them went when the government said it was safe to travel and there would have been no way of getting a refund or insurance payout had they opted not to go. We need to get them home and let's argue who pays when they're safe.

[Jan Rosser]

These people all have my greatest sympathy as I know how badly we felt when we feared we might be stranded in Madeira, a comparatively safe place very familiar to us. Like us I suspect most of them went when the government said it was safe to travel and there would have been no way of getting a refund or insurance payout had they opted not to go. We need to get them home and let's argue who pays when they're safe.

My friend went just after New Year’s Eve Merv before the escalation of the virus - he travelled to Myanmar first via China before the crackdown. My other friends returned from South Africa last Tuesday - she has underlying health problems and was frightened to death on the flight - it was so full and a 12 hour journey with people coughing etc. is a worry. A third friend is on her way home from Australia and has long stop overs between flights - don’t envy her either.

[Gill W]

Everything happened so quickly. Just two weeks ago, I was having afternoon tea in a hotel, celebrating my 60th birthday. It seems like a different lifetime.

Events overtook everybody, particularly those in far flung corners of the world.

I think we should get our citizens home, and have the inquests about costs later

[Stephen]

Everything happened so quickly. Just two weeks ago, I was having afternoon tea in a hotel, celebrating my 60th birthday. It seems like a different lifetime.

Events overtook everybody, particularly those in far flung corners of the world.

I think we should get our citizens home, and have the inquests about costs later

I'll go with that Gill

[Onelife]

Everything happened so quickly. Just two weeks ago, I was having afternoon tea in a hotel, celebrating my 60th birthday. It seems like a different lifetime.

Events overtook everybody, particularly those in far flung corners of the world.

I think we should get our citizens home, and have the inquests about costs later

I agree Gill…. but with regard to who pays, this wouldn’t be an issue if foreign holiday travel was required to have compulsory travel insurance. (I do however appreciate this situation is not of their making)
I was just reading an ABTA article where it said 38% of UK holiday makers don’t bother with foreign holiday travel insurance.

[towny44]

Everything happened so quickly. Just two weeks ago, I was having afternoon tea in a hotel, celebrating my 60th birthday. It seems like a different lifetime.

Events overtook everybody, particularly those in far flung corners of the world.

I think we should get our citizens home, and have the inquests about costs later

I agree Gill…. but with regard to who pays, this wouldn’t be an issue if foreign holiday travel was required to have compulsory travel insurance. (I do however appreciate this situation is not of their making)
I was just reading an ABTA article where it said 38% of UK holiday makers don’t bother with foreign holiday travel insurance.

Keith, you have a somewhat naive view of the extent of the cover that travel insurance provides. I imagine that very many of these tourists have travel insurance which is great if you fall ill, but can be less beneficial for the sort of problems these people are facing.
I agree with others the FCO need to help these tourists now, just like other countries seem to be doing.

[Onelife]

In that case John perhaps future travel insurance should be compulsory to cover such events?

Deleted

Keep smiling

[Onelife]

I would think this applies to many holidays of a few weeks or more duration ?

"If you've booked your holiday before your destination was listed by the FCO you may be able to claim for cancellation, curtailment or rearrangement. If you are able to claim, you may not be able to claim for the entire cost, depending on the amount of cover you've taken out".

Source..Money Super Market.

[Onelife]

In that case John perhaps future travel insurance should be compulsory to cover such events?

Deleted

Keep smiling

Back-seat moderation David .....Yep'....l quite like that....but l'm hopping to make Captain before further promotion

[Mervyn and Trish]

Insurance isn't necessarity the issue. It's the availabiliy of flights. Any flights.

[Onelife]

I wonder what kind of screening will be put in place on their return/

[towny44]

I wonder what kind of screening will be put in place on their return/

You mean in case they have been turned and are now foreign agents??
They have to stay at home like the rest of us, and keep the social distancing rules as well, so they will hardly constitute any more of a threat than we do.

[Onelife]

Silly me!

And there was me thinking it makes perfect sense to trundle them off the planes into hotels for a couple of weeks quarantine…. just like Australia are doing with their returning citizens.
But hey we’re making a habit of shutting the gate after the virus has bolted.

[Frank Manning]

Everything happened so quickly. Just two weeks ago, I was having afternoon tea in a hotel, celebrating my 60th birthday. It seems like a different lifetime.

Events overtook everybody, particularly those in far flung corners of the world.

I think we should get our citizens home, and have the inquests about costs later

I agree with you. I spent a large part of my life in engineering exports and project management. When I was first flying ( Tridents, Boeing 707s, ) it seemed an exciting thing to be doing. In latter years, with strikes, terrorism, and longer journeys, it became a fag, and the sight of my front door was almost akin to heaven. (it still is). Bring them home, quarantine them, and argue the toss later.

[david63]

Apparently it is going to cost £75 million to bring them all home

[Quizzical Bob]

Apparently it is going to cost £75 million to bring them all home

“Passengers will be charged between £250 and £500 for tickets”

(The Times)

[jacksparrow]

Whilst it is a lot different I got stuck in the USA my flight home was two days after 9/11 the country was in lockdown and it took me three weeks to get home. I had to incur all the costs and insurance didn’t pay anything.

I had a friend who went to Spain just before the lockdown two weeks ago, managed to get home ok, had to incur cost of flights home, isolated after. With the folk getting stuck surely they knew what was happening so surely they should have to pay something

[Gill W]

There's still cruise ships out there, particularly those on the world cruises. When they started in January, no one could have foreseen where we are now. Arcadia appears to be fortunate at the moment, as they look to be virus free and are en route to their next 'technical stop' in Tenerife.

I was just looking at the Cruise Critic forum. Looks like QM2 are the latest ship to have problems. It's been reported that they now have a passenger who has tested positive for CV. Durban are letting them in to drop off 6 South Africans, but after that, I wonder who will take them. Passengers have been confined to their cabins, and all normal ship services suspended. AS QM2 is an iconic ship, I reckon we'll be hearing more about this soon.

Last time I looked, the were 20 ships still out there. The one in the worst situation is Holland America's Zaandam. They have CV onboard and 4 people have died. I heard that the healthy people have been transferred to another ship, but they are still looking for a port. Even when they find a port, the British people on board will still have to find a way home.