Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Government chartering planes

63 replies

percheron67 · 31/03/2020 18:51

Surely I am not being unreasonable to deplore the Government spending 75 million on charter planes to bring back (a) people who are travelling and had plenty of time to return home and (b) foolish people who left the country after the Covid warnings.? The money would have better spent in defences for our NHS staff. I think that anyone who travelled regardless of the warnings we ALL had should shift for themselves.

OP posts:
LoveFameTragedy · 31/03/2020 18:53

Lots of people had flights back cancelled. Lots of people didn’t get much notice.
Lots of people were not somewhere with WiFi or news connections.

mayandjuniper · 31/03/2020 18:56

My sibling is abroad and stuck, but they chose not to come home when things started and I think they should suck it up and stay put. They have accommodation and food and are as safe as they would be here. Certainly don't need to be flown home by the government. Some situations might actually requite government help though.

mothertruck3r · 31/03/2020 18:57

It's just a way to give money to the airlines imo without doing a bailout, that is yet to come...

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 31/03/2020 18:57

The government have already said that there will be a charge to those who use the service.

willowpatterns · 31/03/2020 18:57

£75m? Is that all?

A drop in the ocean compared with what they are spending on HS2.

Grasspigeons · 31/03/2020 18:59

Yes i think its a bailout basically.

NailsNeedDoing · 31/03/2020 19:00

People can’t get normal flights home though, the flights don’t exist for them to be able to do it themselves.

I’m thankful to hold a passport that will help me out if I get stuck in circumstances beyond my control in other countries, even if I did make a slight error in judgement.

TipseyTorvey · 31/03/2020 19:04

Given all the press about the Diamond Princess I have zero sympathy for people currently crying on cruises that they went on 10 days ago. This had been serious for weeks now. People who are abroad but can't get themselves home because all the flights stopped suddenly I feel more for.

FountainGate · 31/03/2020 19:23

Unfortunately, those British travellers who can't get back are the first ones on Sky news demanding the government take action... regardless of reading between the lines and being sensible in the first place - I agree with you OP.

The places this £75m is going towards are flights in those countries with shut airports/airspace's. Do not underestimate the significant political goodwill at play here to get people out.

Shitsgettingcrazy · 31/03/2020 19:25

I said this dp, earlier.

I am confused my non item came home sooner. Or in some cases left after it was clear there was going to a huge issue.

notimagain · 31/03/2020 19:29

Yes i think its a bailout basically.

Nope, it's not even remotely close to one . Consider that just one a modern Long Haul airliner costs well over £100 million and you'll maybe appreciate that to a large airline £75 million is almost small change.

OTOH it does sound like sort of figure that would cover the operating costs involved in getting several thousand Brits back from half way around the world but it probably won't cover much else

As for those castigating people for not getting home sooner - There simply wasn't the capacity available on return flights two/three weeks ago to get for example all the Brits on holiday or on visits to Australia or New Zealand back to the UK pronto at the first hint of trouble... some people have become stranded despite genuinely making best efforts to get back to the UK ASAP.

avrilpoissons · 31/03/2020 19:40

I think the amount of money the government are spending on things at the moment suggests that they have a whole forest of magic money trees out the back of Chequers. Either that or they are massively increasing the national debt.

heartsonacake · 31/03/2020 20:09

YANBU. It’s such a waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere than on these selfish people.

They deliberately went abroad in times like this and/or didn’t come home weeks ago when the situation became suddenly very clear.

I think since they chose to stay/go on holiday/not come home, they should have to face the consequences of that decision and not be bailed out.

mbosnz · 31/03/2020 20:21

Talking to Mum in NZ, she hopes they get out. Then if they get it, they're clogging up the NHS, not the NZ hospitals. . . very pragmatic people, the Kiwis. . .

notimagain · 31/03/2020 21:11

or didn’t come home weeks ago when the situation became suddenly very clear.

So lets look back and work out just exactly how any weeks ago it became "very clear" that countries like Australia, New Zealand Peru etc would start closing airports, deny the right for flights to transit, that major European countries such as France would suddenly go into a lockdown (answer to the last one is barely two weeks ago...).

I think most people if they were honest didn't have a scooby do as to how quickly this would go pear shaped. I know the penny started dropping for some in the airline industry about three weeks ago but for most people in the UK at that time the info from HMG seemed this will all blow over and it could all be solved with 20 seconds of hand washing. .

HMG has only taken anything approaching lockdown action in the last week so I really think it's a bit unfair to blame private citizens abroad, possibly looking to the UK FCO, the BBC or UK news sources for advice to be better prepared and faster in acting than HMG.

Yes, there might have been a few with 20/20 foresight who spotted the coming storm three plus weeks ago who might have been able to get ahead of the rush for seats back to the UK but many people simply got caught out despite making best efforts.

cocoaweebles · 31/03/2020 23:35

very pragmatic people, the Kiwis. . .

Extremely so Grin

safariboot · 31/03/2020 23:38

YABU.

Keep in mind the FCO advice for "all British travellers to return to the UK now" was only issue on the 23rd March. By that date there were already many travel closures and flight cancellations, and the FCO themselves acknowledged people were having problems.

Yet before that official government advice was issued, almost all travel insurance would not have paid for you to travel home early.

heartsonacake · 01/04/2020 01:49

Keep in mind the FCO advice for "all British travellers to return to the UK now" was only issue on the 23rd March.

safariboot Irrelevant. Countries had started to lock down borders in the week or two before that.

People should not need to be told to come home or face being stranded, that should have been clear when countries were banning travel.

Those who still went abroad the week or two before and/or didn’t come home before then took their chances and should face the consequences they were aware of rather than expect us to bail them out.

By that date there were already many travel closures and flight cancellations, and the FCO themselves acknowledged people were having problems.

Again, nobody should have been flying out in the weeks leading up and those abroad should have come home before it got into that state and before having to be told or face being stranded.

FunkyKingston · 01/04/2020 01:58

Consider that just one a modern Long Haul airliner costs well over £100 million and you'll maybe appreciate that to a large airline £75 million is almost small change.

Airlines generally lease their planes rather than owning them outright.

FunkyKingston · 01/04/2020 02:01

Or if they do but then do so for a lot less than the list price

SucculentCandle · 01/04/2020 04:39

My husband left to go overseas before this really hit. By the time this country (we're not in the UK) and the country he's in closed their borders he was in a remote area and wouldn't have been able to get back in time even if he wanted to.
We now have to wait a few weeks to see if repatriation flights will be available. Oh, and he will have to pay around £2,000 for a one-way ticket home.
I wouldn't say he's selfish though.

Graymare · 01/04/2020 04:57

Agree OP. It wasn't hard to see what the potential outcome would be at least six weeks ago.

Thesnacklady · 01/04/2020 05:00

My sister is currently stuck in Cambodia with very little chance of getting back without any assistance. She started her travels in January.

When all of this started all of the internal travel and public transport there got restricted so much so that that is where she ended up despite her trying to get to Bangkok where she is more likely to get a flight. It all escalated quite quickly and within a week or two flights out have been cancelled.

If the government charters a plane she will still have to pay to get back, a sum that quite a
Lot of people can’t afford to pay (she has since met many people there who are in the same position). £75 million is not a lot and we are talking destinations that are far and remote.

If it was you or someone you cared about stuck out there, think if you would pose this same question - ?

eaglejulesk · 01/04/2020 05:42

very pragmatic people, the Kiwis

Yep Smile

mochajoes · 01/04/2020 05:55

Whilst some people were undoubtedly feckless you can't just leave them there but I disagree with the below

It wasn't hard to see what the potential outcome would be at least six weeks ago.

I heard someone on the radio had to pay 6k for a ticket.

Swipe left for the next trending thread