Traveller forced to spend £1,750 on quarantine after ‘incorrect advice’

[snoop1130]

Traveller forced to spend £1,750 on quarantine after ‘incorrect advice’

By The Newsroom

 

Simon Kenway

 

A traveller returning from Thailand has been forced to spend £1,750 on hotel quarantine after being given the wrong advice from his airline.

 

Simon Kenway, from Blackpool, flew into Heathrow on Sunday evening after spending two weeks, plus a quarantine period, in Thailand.

 

Thailand is not on the “red list” of banned countries, so all returning passengers should quarantine at home.

 

Full Story: https://www.newschainonline.com/news/traveller-forced-spend-ps1750-quarantine-after-incorrect-advice-105764

[ukrules]

He should have checked the list himself, even I know that Thailand is not on the 'redlist' and I haven't been back to the UK for about 10 years now.

 

[Phuketshrew]

Jesus. 16 days + 14 days in quarantine. That's a lot of time and expense for a 2 week root in Thailand.

[blackcab]

The problem is that he transited through Dubai, which is on the Red List. To be fair to the UK Government the restrictions and Red List countries are all listed online. We even have the @British Consular Team reaching out to UK citizens on this forum to keep us updated by posting links and information on the latest travel advice.

 

Was the airline wrong? Yes, they gave out the wrong information. Was he wrong for not fact checking the information he was told? He doesn't think so, which is why we are discussing this story.

 

Personally, I would double check information like that before I booked the ticket. I'm guessing a lot of you probably would as well.

[Chomper Higgot]

Well that’s one way to prop up the struggling hotel business, mandate quarantine and bilk the ‘customers’.

[fangless]

2 hours ago, blackcab said:

Was the airline wrong? Yes, they gave out the wrong information.

According to him!

[7by7]

5 hours ago, ukrules said:

He should have checked the list himself, even I know that Thailand is not on the 'redlist' and I haven't been back to the UK for about 10 years now.

 

 

He knew Thailand is not on the red list and thought he could quarantine at home. From the article

Quote

Thailand is not on the “red list” of banned countries, so all returning passengers should quarantine at home.

However, when Mr Kenway arrived in the UK he was pulled from the “green list” queue and told he had to pay for quarantine in a hotel, because he had taken a connecting flight in Dubai — contrary to what he said Emirates had told him.

 

He was in the green list queue because Emirates had told him he could quarantine at home. From the article

Quote

When rebooking his flight using the Emirates customer service online chat, Mr Kenway asked the representative to confirm he could quarantine at home.

He said: “After (I) arrive (in) Glasgow I go straight home for quarantine, yes?” – to which Emirates replied: “Yes”.

In a second chat, rebooking his flight, he asked again: “(I) arrive in London and go straight home for quarantine, same (as) before, correct?” – to which the online representative replied: “Yes, same rules.”

 

[richard_smith237]

29 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

He was in the green list queue because Emirates had told him he could quarantine at home. From the article

Quote

When rebooking his flight using the Emirates customer service online chat, Mr Kenway asked the representative to confirm he could quarantine at home.

He said: “After (I) arrive (in) Glasgow I go straight home for quarantine, yes?” – to which Emirates replied: “Yes”.

In a second chat, rebooking his flight, he asked again: “(I) arrive in London and go straight home for quarantine, same (as) before, correct?” – to which the online representative replied: “Yes, same rules.”

 

 

IMO - the airline should be responsible for the cost of his Quarantine as they provided incorrect information which ultimately cost him. 

IF he had been told he’d have to quarantine upon arrival in the UK he may well have opted not to travel. 

 

I can understand why is was upset, he checked not just once, but twice. 

That said, as blackcab mentioned, many would double check the information they were told with a further source. 

 

 

[mike787]

Relax...he wasn't robbed by lady Boyz.

[from the home of CC]

was given the wrong information by a Canadian immigration officer over the phone which later caused me considerable trouble years ago. I brought a complaint to as far as it would go and was told eventually that it was my responsibility to know the rules/regs while acknowledging the officer passed off misinformation. This airline knows perfectly well they're setting passengers up for a problem but would rather make a buck - I'm going to make it a point not to fly with them in the future..

[RocketDog]

If I've learned anything in my too-many years on this planet it's to distrust governments and authorities in general.

 

Do your research, ask pointed questions, and know your rights. Go up the chain of command when necessary. 

Think of it as being a sheep with sharp teeth. 

[Iron Tongue]

On 2/23/2021 at 10:55 AM, mike787 said:

Relax...he wasn't robbed by lady Boyz.

 

You don't know that!

[ballpoint]

I'd be more worried about the poor guy who staggered down the hallway trailing blood behind him.

[DaLa]

I had a problem with Emirates in the past and the UK government don’t help by passing a degree of responsibility onto the airline with regard to any restrictions that immigration impose once you land in the UK.

 

My Thai wife had a 6 month tourist visa for the UK many years ago and we had visited the UK once, thus the visa was marked as ‘used’. However that visas was a multiple entry visas and thus we returned a few months later using said document. Emirates at check in would not let me wife check in as they said the visa had been used which was correct. However it was still valid and I couldn't get them to understand this.

 

Study the responses on this forum to get an insight into the interpretation of immigration rules just in this one country and then multiply that by the number of countries in the world that Emirates fly to.

 

Moving up the management hierarchy and requesting a letter denying boarding eventually resolved my wife's multiple entry visa problem on that occasion.

 

Requesting everything in writing is the tool of use when it comes to resolving liability. I have already started to maintain a folder of documents and announcements relating to returning to the UK later this year (hopefully), so I don't come unstuck by yet another layer of regulations relating to C-19.