To have no sympathy?

[1981m]

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.

My friend went travelling for s few months and has become trapped (he's a Brit living in Spain). He fell victim to return flights being cancelled he managed to fly to Mexico to catch a connecting flight to USA then Spain That flight then got cancelled. He only recieved a voucher he finally after two weeks of flying and then the second flight being cancelled and only having refunds via voucher. He finally got to London. He has maxed out credit cards, borrowed money off friends his is thousands out of pocket. And guess what his flight is cancelled again hopefully his next flight on Monday is going. He can't afford a hotel while he's there so us currently living rough.

No sympathy? What's wrong with people.

It all depends on when they left. Dd went skiing on the 29 feb and they cancelled outbound flights the following week (she got back fine) but if it had been another destination for a month she could have got stuck. I was away in feb when it was still a Chinese issue, some of the people in the local paper left for 6+ week trips so how could they have known?

Exactly, getting back has not been an easy process.
Back in February I could not get home to China. My flight was cancelled by Cathay, no alternative offered, could not get through on phone, no email replies, took me three days to get an alternative sorted
Within two days fights with Cathay to my hike went from 14 per week to zero.
This was when the virus was only affecting flights to and from China and parts of Asia.

My city, not hike!

I think the government were very slow to act & issue advice, this has certainly exacerbated the issue and the cost to the taxpayer.
Equally I find it incredibly irresponsible that they are not making any effort to quarantine / check & monitor people who are entering the UK. This must be affecting the sharpe rise in hospital deaths but with no real effort to record figures elsewhere how on earth do we know how many are really dying from coronavirus.
But perhaps that’s a truth we aren’t supposed to know?

I really wish people would read and understand what is being said in the post before commenting.

Yes, I totally have sympathy for people who went travelling a few weeks/months before this kicked off. Yes, rubbish for them.

I don't have sympathy for people who went on holiday in March when it was obvious the situation was escalating, the virus was here and we were going to go into lockdown. I don't have sympathy if they chose to put financial reasons before their own and others safety knowing they ran the risk of not being able to get back.

Even if the advice at the time was it's ok to fly it doesn't take a rock scientist to realise the situation was and would rapidly change. It doesn't take a rock scientist to look at the news which was reporting on global cases and what was happening over in Spain, China and Italy.

People do need to take responsibility for themselves and use basic common sense. They must have known there was a risk they wouldn't be able to get back but decided to take it anyway. Now they are stuck and want to be bailed out for taking a risk.

This is different to stockpiling, they left the country. They are now stuck, broke and expecting other tax payers to fork out for them.

When a situation is unprecedented and no one knows what will happen you would think that would be good enough to cancel a holiday.

Could they have deferred the flights and holiday so they didn't loose the money?

All out
So you base your decisions on what other people tell you.
You are saying that you are incapable of thinking and seeing the bleeding obvious for yourself.
Life must be very difficult for you.

Even if the advice at the time was it's ok to fly it doesn't take a rock scientist to realise the situation was and would rapidly change. It doesn't take a rock scientist to look at the news which was reporting on global cases and what was happening over in Spain, China and Italy

I'm sorry, but what a cracking malapropism

It's rocket scientist

To answer your point, people who travelled in March will almost certainly have fully paid for their trips well before the outbreak reached anything like this level seriousness.

Are you really suggesting that people should just have written off thousands and thousands of pounds when the FCO (a usually pretty sensible outfit) was adamant that it was perfectly safe to travel?

Give over

I don’t see how people didn’t see this coming. I was nervous of travelling mid feb. Didn’t really want to do it. But it was to see fil and I knew we probably wouldn’t see him for some time. It was obvious then coronavirus was coming. There were already isolated cases in France and the uk. We drove. No way would I have wanted to fly even back then!

I don’t see how people didn’t see this coming.

Fascinating what people can avoid seeing when they don't want too.

As my old DM would say: "There's none so blind as those that can see."

(See also: homelessness, inequality, racism, sexism ...)

No way would I have wanted to fly even back then

Nobody wanted to fly in March, the overwhelming majority of people wanted to postpone/rearrange their trips, but they were prevented from doing so by the FCO's refusal to update their advice.

Serendipity, The phrase is "there's none so blind as won't see." In other words, you can choose to ignore, or not see, something if it doesn't fit your agenda.

@CallmeAngelina - Tx Well I knew what I meant ...

Unless the flight / holiday company cancelled they would have lost their money and insurance wouldn't have covered it. And those restriction have only been in place a couple of weeks. A lot of people don't have the luxury of just 'not going'.

We're in this situation now with a £7K Florida holiday booked for the end of next month. We can't do a thing until BA cancels the flight otherwise we lose it all.
We could get a voucher if we decide to cancel, but that becomes worthless if the company goes bust subsequently.

My mum always used to use the phrase too. I had no idea what she was on about for years.

DC- I find that hard to believe. I think people would have had an opportunity to postpone flights no matter what the advice was at the time. You are able to do that at any time leading up your holiday.

@NettleTea I really hope your friend can get sorted soon. Awful situation for him to be stuck in

DC- I find that hard to believe. I think people would have had an opportunity to postpone flights no matter what the advice was at the time. You are able to do that at any time leading up your holiday.

I'd suggest a quick trawl of threads on MN discussing the topic will show most people were going to fly regardless.

OP, that's not the case.

Surely you must be able to see the flaw in your argument?

Imagine if there were an A380, fully sold out, but every passenger had the option to cancel and rebook at any time up until departure? How would that work?

In reality, airlines sell a very limited number of fully flexible tickets at truly epic costs (even most 1st class tickets have restrictions).

No insurance policy that I have ever come across covers 'disinclination to travel'

I'm afraid you're just wrong.

...and FWIW, I have a personal policy of only taking my news briefing from official sources (Government, ONS etc)

If I had been in that position, I would still have listened to the advice of the FCO over and above the news; given its hysterical and hugely misleading tone nowadays.

The FCO should be ashamed in this scenario; it has badly let down a significant number of people who should have been entitled to rely on its advice.

A quick look online says otherwise. Sure some tickets you can't but most flexible ones you can.

www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/post-booking-changes/changing-a-flight

www.emirates.com/english/help/faqs/how-do-i-change-details-of-my-trip-online-after-i-ve-completed-the-booking

I get your point but I think the country has a duty to get their own citizens home.

A relative went on holiday a few weeks ago things were getting a little panicky but nothing to suggest not to go. By the time the holiday finished things weren’t getting worse. Thankfully her flight was scheduled.

Younger relatives on my partner have been travelling. Currently in a country where the problem isn’t as big as the U.K. but they want to get home but struggling to do so . Flights we being booked and paid for then cancelled and refunds are taking a while so money is an issue! They’ve been away for 18 months. Obviously covid wasn’t around then.

Agree OP. One woman was on the BBC a few days ago with her child in Pakistan. She actually said - and they aired - her saying, "no one warned me about not being able to get back!!. What in God's name made her think she would have an easy ride back?! Look at what is happening in the world!! Now she wants the govt to pay for her to come back. Ridiculous.

Are you really suggesting that people should just have written off thousands and thousands of pounds when the FCO (a usually pretty sensible outfit) was adamant that it was perfectly safe to travel?

Give over *

What makes you think they were adamant? They weren't encouraging anyone to travel!!