{"id":100064,"date":"2020-03-17T16:19:56","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T23:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=100064"},"modified":"2020-03-17T16:19:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T23:19:56","slug":"from-the-uk-to-sri-lanka-the-australians-stranded-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/03\/17\/from-the-uk-to-sri-lanka-the-australians-stranded-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"From the UK to Sri Lanka: the Australians stranded around the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Graham-Harrison Courtesy\u00a0 The Guardian<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Cancelled flights, airport shutdowns and soaring ticket prices all preventing people returning home<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cancellations<\/a>
 From Latin America to Los Angeles, people of all ages and professions are considering everything from abandoning holidays, to uprooting studies, and months-long separations from loved-ones. Photograph: Mateusz S\u0142odkowski\/SOPA Images\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A<\/strong>ustralians stranded around the world by cancelled flights, airport shutdowns or soaring ticket prices<\/a> say they want to heed their government\u2019s advice to return home during the pandemic<\/a> \u2013 but don\u2019t know how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the UK to Sri Lanka, Latin America to\u00a0Los Angeles<\/a>, people of all ages and professions are considering everything from abandoning holidays to uprooting studies, and months-long separations from loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some, unconvinced by the Australian government, say they are planning to stay put in places they believe are handling the pandemic better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaynor Monks is one of those who can\u2019t get home and has been trapped by airport closures. Two days ago, she flew into Sri Lanka<\/a> to celebrate her mother-in-law\u2019s 60th<\/sup> birthday; at the time, the country had fewer coronavirus cases than Australia and was on the government\u2019s safe travel trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, she and her partner want to head back to Australia \u2013 but with the airport closed there are no flights out, and no official help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She can\u2019t reach her booking agent or airline, and her insurers say that as Australia hasn\u2019t designated Sri Lanka as off limits, they wouldn\u2019t pay for a ticket home anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are just no planes to take us. Because no planes are coming in, we are sort of stranded,\u201d she told the Guardian. She is already worried about her husband losing two weeks of work when they get home and he has to self-quarantine; he doesn\u2019t get sick pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their message today was to contact your agent or contact the airline or insurance company, I can\u2019t get hold of the agent, and the airline can\u2019t help because we didn\u2019t book direct, and the insurance company have let us down as they are not going to cover.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Payton<\/a>
 Payton Rodman. Photograph: Payton Rodman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the UK, student Payton Rodman is in Cambridge doing a physics PhD on a prestigious Gates scholarship. She was lucky\u201d that her college had told students to pack up and go home before the the Australian government\u2019s announcement, so managed to book a flight home for $1,400 \u2013 far less than they are going for now, although she\u2019s worried about a transit through Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s possible I could get stuck in the UAE if anything goes wrong. I won\u2019t feel safe until my last flight lands in Australia. I\u2019m looking forward to 14 days isolation because it means I\u2019ll be on home soil,\u201d she said.Advertisement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Melbourne she will be trying to keep up with colleagues still doing their research through video conferencing and remote working, although the eight hour time gap will be a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helene Frayne, in her 60s, spent more than 10 hours on the phone to Qantas once she saw the announcement, trying to move up a return flight booked for more than ten days\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each time she thought she had got through, the line would disconnect. An email got an automatic response, saying she would hear from the company in 14 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Helen<\/a>
 \u2018You need to put systems in place to support them [Australians] getting home\u2019 Photograph: Helen Frayne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m in a very fortunate position in that I have family here,\u201d she said. My concern is my son works in hospitality, and if he brings it home, we could catch it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her age makes her vulnerable, and she also runs a small charity back in Australia; its fundraising efforts have already been hit by ban on social events, and she worries that it will struggle without her, particularly if a two week stay turns into something longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been talk of closing airports and Qantas has dramatically reduced flight numbers,\u201d she said. I could be here for months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think my message to the Australian government is that if you are going to put on your website all Australians need to get home straight away, you need to put systems in place to support them getting home. Not to do so is very irresponsible government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are all these practical things someone should have though of before they put out the message, and worked with Qantas to bring people home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emma Graham-Harrison Courtesy\u00a0 The Guardian Cancelled flights, airport shutdowns and soaring ticket prices all preventing people returning home Australians stranded around the world by cancelled flights, airport shutdowns or soaring ticket prices say they want to heed their government\u2019s advice to return home during the pandemic \u2013 but don\u2019t know how. From the UK to Sri Lanka, Latin America […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}