Rescuing standed Brits

well ,, we are a judgmental lot , aren`t we? human beings I mean, yes, I have had these thoughts,, why, why should the taxpayer etc.

but the thought I am stuck with is, all these Brits coming back, what about the visitors (not allowed to say foreigners else I will be judged racist) what other word, what about the non Brits here, are they demanding for their countries to take them back? just wondering... where a lot of these returning Brits will be accomodated? just asking, trying not to judge.

Have airlines and tour companies not already been paid for these flights

In a lot of cases yes!
And people who purchased sooner flights that were cancelled have not yet been refunded.

Some people have already paid 3/4 times over to get home!
The airlines should not be charging them OR the government anything to get them home at this point. They have taken enough money for non honoured flights

As soon as they announced that a Chinese student had developed the virus in this country, I knew what the out come would be. I have not mixed with anyone outside of family since the beginning of February and not seen family members since 23rd February.
Unbelievable that people would worry about losing the cost of a holiday, health and safety is more important.

Tui has apparently flown all of their customers home. Themselves.

A bit of good news

What about the air crew. Front line or what?

As I said before, if people chose to travel it was a bad decision which cannot be changed and they should be brought home, put in isolation and then pay at a later date.

As for not knowing how things bad things would become - if that were the case why was there so much panic buying, before the restrictions were brought in.

As long as they all go into isolation somewhere I don't care, as it's this steady trickle of those who are stranded and brought back that doesn't help matters.
There are still Brits on cruise ships dotted around.

As long as they all go into isolation somewhere I don't care

Well GPs do!
They are overstretched covering their normal registered patients and cant cope right now with temporary registrations!

China was in lock down in February. The WHO announced a pandemic at the beginning of March anyone who set out after that date was a bit stupid. But they will have to be brought home. In the past if you were repatriated by the government for any reason they confiscated your passport until you repaid the cost. I hope that rule will apply now.

2 weeks ago there were still lists published by the NHS of the risky countries. Other countries were still officially considered safe to travel to/from

I had a flight booked to Australia, for the end of April, for the birth of my GC. When I told people, several weeks ago, that it was beginning to look like flights would be cancelled a lot of them told me to bring my flight forward and get over their as fast as I could!
Although I have several family members over there to accommodate me I didn’t follow their advice, luckily. What if I was told to pack myself off back home? Also, they have enough to worry about, without an elderly mother cluttering up the place. I just hope that I manage to get there before the baby grows out of the clothes I bought for him!

Surely once they are back they will be billed for the journey home. They would have had to pay for a commercial flight if they were still available. How many will grumble they have had their trip cut short,!

Ok. We saw what was happening in January in China. Then in other countries. My husband said that it was pretty clear to anybody that it would spread around the world. We cancelled our holiday then. As he said, a holiday is non essential, the money will be gone but we can at least be in our home when everything goes pear shaped.

My SiLs parents are stuck in Australia and it looks like they will be staying there for the duration. They had gone to stay with their youngest son and his new wife. I'm not sure why they didn't come back when they could. Maybe this whole thing took them by surprise. Anyway they will be staying with their son and DiL in their small flat. They are a strange pair and really not easy to get on. Added to that, he is the world's worst hypochondriac and always thinks he has some dreadful illness or other, despite umpteen tests proving he is fit and well. It will certainly test the relationship of their DS and his wife. As to them not coming home just yet? Well, as my DD says, every cloud has a silver lining!!

If they were silly enough not to come back sooner or, worse, go when there was trouble brewing, I don't think we should waste money getting them home.

Sorry Urmstongran March 10th was a Tuesday - when we locked down in Italy.

We can’t just abandon them though, can we, whatever the circumstances? Yes, some have been foolhardy, but many more are stuck through no fault of their own and their families must be worried sick. I’m sure they won’t object to paying a reasonable contribution towards the cost.

Can I just put this from another point of view. I agree about many people who were doing a gap year or visiting family in Australia or New Zealand. But this is different.
Portugal were more proactive in closing schools and starting a shut down than the UK. They kept certain flights coming in to allow Portuguese citizens to return home but people mainly in the UK had booked flights and thought it was their right to come for their holiday despite people on the forums telling them to stay at home because everything was closed so they wouldnt have a holiday as they would be self isolating instead. But some still came and it shows in the figures of people bring the virus with them. As at the 28th of March 41 people from the UK have brought the virus into Portugal.
Yet still we have people with flights booked for April which have not yet been cancelled asking the same thing.
Then you have the campervanners who drive south for the winter. Legally they should spend no more than 90 days here just like the people who own holiday homes here. Instead of heading back to the UK or other home country they are looking for places to park up because all camping parks have been closed by the government. They are allowed to drive back to their home country and only need to download a form to drive through France to get to Eurotunnel. But they dont want to do that. They feel they are entitled to stay although, in many cases, are here illegally. The government has told anyone who is not a citizen or resident to leave but they choose to ignore it. Portugal has the lowest number of ICU beds 4.9 per capita in Europe but they would expect to be treated if they fell ill.
Sorry but rant over .

My son was working abroad on a short job and due to return home last week. So yes, I naturally do think he should be repatriated - but that's personal.
I do think people who went on holiday after the virus was obviously going global should have known better, but so should their travel agent - but what do we do? leave them where they are and let them rely on the health service in that country?
Whatever the govt decides to do, its damned if it does and damed if it doesn't.

Rant accepted. Don't blame you for feeling angry Daisy.

can`t see that anyone is wondering about all the other foreign nationals not going to their home countries..??just me then?

Well this selfish person has been on two cruises over the years and we were about to book another with Tui in May for our 50th anniversary. That went out of the window within days. We will go away at a later date and probably in this country now.

Oldwoman I can see the appeal of a cruise, especially for older people who have food, entertainment, trips ashore, etc, laid on and have no worries about organising anything.

However, the huge and increasing number of floating towns - with onboard casinos, swimming pools, entertainment centres - one even with a helter skelter I think I read - traversing the globe now has serious implications for the oceanic environment and for the ports at which they dock, and the surrounding areas.

Some people maybe have not thought of this but for those who have but don't care, that's selfish.

Having said that, I think anybody who is stuck abroad and is having great difficulty getting home should be be given assistance to get home. As has been said, the travel agents were as aware as anybody that there were problems in China and the surrounding areas - and so was the government. My understanding is it was only on 23 March that the government advised against travelling abroad.

It is also my understanding that where there are commercial flights available, the government does not intend to step in. I may be wrong but I think the government only charters flights if there is no chance of people having access to a relatively affordable commercial flights.

I am starting to think that on Gransnet there are many people who positively enjoy sitting in judgment of others while they smugly polish their halos.

Passengers were allowed off a huge cruise ship, the Ruby Princess, in Sydney Harbour and allowed to go off on their interstate flights, onward journeys etc.

I think that was only on the 19th March.
This ship had been cruising between Sydney and New Zealand on several groups, despite several passengers falling ill.

Many have since been diagnosed with the CV19 virus.

Autocorrect changed 'trips' to groups
Sorry.