To have no sympathy?

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www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-cornwall-52089487

Do you feel sorry for these people trapped abroad due to the Coronavirus? I keep reading articles about people trapped who say they are running out of money and that the Uk government should be paying for them to get home.

I don't think they should, depending on when they left that is. These people left for a month at the beginning of March, another young man left for Morocco on March 15th! Surely it was stupidity to fly at that time? It was obvious we would go into lockdown imminently, lots of other European countries were going into lockdown by then. Now they are moaning that they are stranded and want to be bailed out. Surely it's totally there own fault. They must have been told not to fly especially by March 15th.

I feel more sorry for those trapped because they were away for business or travelling around the world. But not those who decided to go on holiday in the middle of a pandemic.

Hmmm. And yet, people were NOT stopped from travelling/flying. We, the public, called for closure of airports and the Govt. kept reassuring us with “wash your hands/2metres apart. Remember the flights who were “allowed” to take off for Spain and were turned around mid flight, to bring them back to the UK? We had a friend who was told their flight was a “go”. They arrived in their ski resort and the following day, were brought home.

Travel and the dithering and lack of guidance by BJ, has caused this.

@TheFutureMrsHardy So you think people should always just assume the government is lying to them?

@SerendipityJane But if companies cancel flights surely they have a responsibility to get those booked on those flights back home on another flight?

I guess a flight should be found if they can and safe accommodation if they aren't safe. But it should 100% be paid for by the individual.

And what if they can't pay? Again, we're not talking about the average commercial flight ticket price, we're talking about especially chartered planes - but ones which you concede need to be available for people who had to travel on business, or who originally travelled way before C19 was a risk. Do we tell the ones who can't pay that they don't get places on those flights?

I don't have much sympathy for anyone who travelled from mid-Feb onwards on holiday. Bit different if your workplace was insisting you travel for work but then those employers should be paying to get them home again. DPs work cancelled ALL overseas travel from mid January... and by the end of Jan any future meetings in the UK of more that 100 miles were cancelled. Then totally cancelled by mid Feb.

And as for the ones who went weeks before lock down - they should have come home early as things began to escalate, not decide to keep their original flights.

Not much sympathy here .

But if companies cancel flights surely they have a responsibility to get those booked on those flights back home on another flight?

Only if the contract says so. It's consumer law at that point.

They key is the absence of government direction. If the government had directed that travel to/from certain destinations was not advised, then the airlines and/or insurers would be responsible.

'I was in India until March 17th. I was supposed to fly home on 29th. After days and days of trying to get through to my travel company unsuccessfully I had to pay for a brand new flight, and just got out in time. My airlines said all was fine but even as I was at the airport flights were being cancelled cancelled cancelled. Some people just couldnt get out. But the UK government advice mid-March was that India was fine '

Anyone waiting to see what happens in mid-March had no sense as far as I can see... it was escalating everywhere with pubs and restaurants forced to close, countries in lock down, and India might have been 'fine' but what about the home countries of the tourists? Can't believe that it didn't occur to tourists that they might have an issue getting back when flights were being cancelled left right and centre...

Agree out government dithered, which is probably why they have to foot the bill now. Though I'm sure there are still plenty of people who would have gone on holiday even with advice not to in place.

@welldonejean Mid february MNHQ were deleting threads on here where a few posters were talking about what was going to happen, because they were supposedly scaremongering.

I remember seeing an elderly French man interviewed about the second world war who said if the number of people who after the war claimed to be in the resistance had been, the Nazis could never have held onto power in France.

Agree out government dithered, which is probably why we have to foot the bill now.

fixed that for you.

@SerendipityJane oh thanks, in the case then yes the government should help them get home.
Personally I never trust what a government is saying. But I do feel sorry for those whose natural inclination is to trust the government and the FCO advice.

I thinik anyone who went two bloody weeks ago because flights were still going should have to pay to comeback its ridiculous

my dh was due to fly out the 26th even f flights were going he wouldn t have still gone

Judy- if they can't pay then yes, they are stuck. Why should a flight be made available and paid for by the government? They should have thought about that before going. Sure, the advise when flying out was it's fine to go but they should have thought about what the advice would be in one/two/three weeks time! The government couldn't predict what would happen, no-one could, so they didn't know what the advice was going to be in the future. Therefore don't go.

Surely even in normal circumstances if someone said yes it's fine to go on holiday now but I can't guarantee you will be able to get back in on your return flight because of x,y and z people wouldn't go? You wouldn't risk it?

You only needed to look at China, Italy and Spain who were two weeks plus ahead of us to see where we were heading. It's not complicated.

YANBU when it comes to those who holidayed after a certain date knowing the situation/risks.

Even as late as March 7th, FIL (84 triple heart bypass) who loves a cruise, was pawing over the bargain breaks to be found.
He wanted to book but MIL sais no fortunately.
He knew the risks , we'd been speaking to him about them. He said "You can't let this rule your life".

The expense of getting people home, putting others at risk to rescue them, all because somebody wanted a bargain break.

For anyone who holidayed prior to the European outbreak then that is a different matter.

OP - people do need to take personal responsibility, regardless of what the Govt told them.

I know someone who was travelling to see family and left late Feb. They were in constant contact with the government/embassy to check that it was still ok to travel/that they'd be repatriated. They were given every assurance that they shouldn't worry and everything was ok.... But the day they were due to fly home, all the flights were cancelled and she can't contact the embassy or travel insurance for love nor money.

I think she was silly to fly in the first place but she tried everything to make sure she'd be ok so I do feel for her

I remember seeing an elderly French man interviewed about the second world war who said if the number of people who after the war claimed to be in the resistance had been, the Nazis could never have held onto power in France.

The awful truth being those that could have called the lie out were dead.

Do they still put flowers in the bullet holes in Paris where the resistance were executed against a wall. No English equivalent, which speaks volumes.

Oops ... digressing there ...

Of course the government could bloody predict what was going to happen in a few weeks time. They knew.

So you would all really just leave thousands of British people stranded abroad? They will run out of money and if they get no help some will die. Is that really okay?
And remember these will be people who are more trusting of our government, not people who can manage to survive in a hostile environment.

@middleager So yes you do think the British population should assume their government is lying to them and not make any decisions based purely on what the government says?

@SerendipityJane I know, it is bloody awful. I didn't know they used to put flowers in the bullet holes.
People rewrite history all the time to make themselves look and feel better.
There were plenty of people on MN just before school trips were officially cancelled, saying they were still going to send their kids abroad.

My teammate flew to Australia 12 days ago. Erm...What??

I think anyone who decides to travel in the midst of a global pandemic is a bit of a moron. If you need the government to ban travel before you'll consider whether you should go, and how things may develop if you do then you are literally incapable of assessing risk and are a danger to people.

My DS has a school trip booked for July to south east Asia. The company are still hanging in.Theyvalso want a the fihal1k off us heat week.

We can cancel but lose 1.5k.
We can hope they cancel and get it mostly all back.
They could go.

Love all the people who can tell the future let me know what would happen if they did decide to go.

No one has a crystal ball but in this situation you could certainly see what was going to happen in two plus weeks, all you needed to do was look at other countries.

I meant the government couldn't predict how quick it was going to take off. Some countries curves of cases have been steep some not so steep.

*No one has a crystal ball but in this situation you could certainly see what was going to happen in two plus weeks, all you needed to do was look at other countries.

I meant the government couldn't predict how quick it was going to take off. Some countries curves of cases have been steep some not so steep*

So everyone could see what was going to happen except the government? If that’s the case it’s high time we got another one that can see what’s apparently abundantly obvious to the rest of the population.