Australian Reports of the Virus Spread

[Pushka]

In Sydney they were in the queue for the bus to quarantine but then said they had to catch a plane. If they had been put into the first queue it seems strange that someone else decided to extract them from that queue then escorted them to their flight in a different terminal even.

 

[nutwood]

It sounds to me as though they were diligently trying to quarantine at their final destination. In their eyes this was Melbourne. Everything else along the way was a transit port. I'm still struggling to blame the pax for this one.

 

[MelMel]

NSW Police admit they 'incorrectly' let German nationals fly to Melbourne without quarantining

NSW Police apologise after an officer incorrectly thought two German nationals had an exemption to board a flight to Melbourne without undergoing hotel quarantine in Sydney.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Flying mermaid]

In Sydney they were in the queue for the bus to quarantine but then said they had to catch a plane. If they had been put into the first queue it seems strange that someone else decided to extract them from that queue then escorted them to their flight in a different terminal even.

I can see it happening with language issues. Nsw Health sends woman to quarantine queue. She’s confused because she thinks this is all wrong as she should be quarantining in Melbourne.

She tells police she is going to Melbourne to quarantine and he thinks she has an exemption. This is where it went wrong as he should have checked she had one. They then very courteously escort her to domestic, she flies to Melbourne where she tries to find her quarantine and the mistake is exposed.....

 

[nutwood]

Sounds as though the general principle still holds: In any situation where $'s not involved, incompetence far more likely than malfeasance. In any situation where $'s involved, reverse principle.

 

[Pushka]

I can see it happening with language issues. Nsw Health sends woman to quarantine queue. She’s confused because she thinks this is all wrong as she should be quarantining in Melbourne.

She tells police she is going to Melbourne to quarantine and he thinks she has an exemption. This is where it went wrong as he should have checked she had one. They then very courteously escort her to domestic, she flies to Melbourne where she tries to find her quarantine and the mistake is exposed.....

Well, that is plausible but also rather convenient. She has enough nous (or someone she knows does) to get her and presumably her son, into Australia, from Germany, where Covid is raging and many restrictions are in place, at a time when overseas arrivals are pretty much banned and there has been no indication that she has Australian citizenship or residency, when countless others have failed, so she has had to apply for an exemption, her flight gets her into Sydney from Japan, then onto another flight, not connecting, into Melbourne. She had enough language to tell people she needed to get onto another domestic flight. Language issues? Mmmm.

Post automatically merged: Dec 6, 2020

Sounds as though the general principle still holds: In any situation where $'s not involved, incompetence far more likely than malfeasance. In any situation where $'s involved, reverse principle.

Well certainly incompetence from the Police which is unfortunate.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Well, that is plausible but also rather convenient. She has enough nous (or someone she knows does) to get her and presumably her son, into Australia, from Germany, where Covid is raging and many restrictions are in place, at a time when overseas arrivals are pretty much banned and there has been no indication that she has Australian citizenship or residency, when countless others have failed, so she has had to apply for an exemption, her flight gets her into Sydney from Japan, then onto another flight, not connecting, into Melbourne. She had enough language to tell people she needed to get onto another domestic flight. Language issues? Mmmm.

Post automatically merged: Dec 6, 2020

Well certainly incompetence from the Police which is unfortunate.

Without being political, what are homeland security doing by not flagging these people?

 

[DC3]

... they were walking out of the domestic terminal, looking lost. Security attendant asked if he could help them and they said they were looking for quarantine!

If that’s the case, then lucky that the security officer spoke/understood the German language, as we are lead to believe that the arrivals don’t speak English.

 

[N860CR]

Well done car rental staff member!

#avisavenger

I’ll happily admit to being wrong about this one. I had heard through the grapevine that it was an arrival from NZ which muddied the waters a little, but it’s quite clear they did come in from Tokyo. I would suspect they booked an ANA coded VA flight to MEL and we’re checked in at the point of departure in Germany.

Now as a defense to the passenger, there are provisions for immediately boarding a domestic flight to quarantine at the final destination. I did a little work with the NSW Health team at SYD back in May and it was quite confusing. No idea if that provision is still in place.

I’m not surprised the police made a mistake. They’re not the brightest sparks at the best of time and the airport crews cycle frequently (I assume “second day on the job” means second day at the airport, not in the uniform) and they regularly make mistakes. While not in NSW, I’ve been given several incorrect directions in Queensland over the last few months and it just comes from confusion with ever changing rules that make limited sense.

For all the panic, it’s highly unlikely that this will amount to anything and just further proves that the current arrangements are not sustainable long term.

 

[DC3]

...I’ve been given several incorrect directions in Queensland ....

They probably spotted someone from NSW from a mile away.

 

[Flying mermaid]

If that’s the case, then lucky that the security officer spoke/understood the German language, as we are lead to believe that the arrivals don’t speak English.

Possibly minimal English rather than none. If they were trying to scam the system, why say they were trying to find quarantine......

 

[DC3]

Possibly minimal English rather than none. If they were trying to scam the system, why say they were trying to find quarantine......

My guess is that they were not scamming. But who am I to guess?

 

[Pushka]

Without being political, what are homeland security doing by not flagging these people?

Well it would appear that their immigration papers were in order and once they get past immigration, it is up to each state to deal with quarantine issues.

 

[N860CR]

They probably spotted someone from NSW from a mile away.

Absolutely. And have no issue with this, given the policy of the time. But it’s worth nothing that I was released into the general population twice when I shouldn’t have been (specialist exception treated as a general), so the system wasn’t working well!

 

[Cossie]

Well it would appear that their immigration papers were in order and once they get past immigration, it is up to each state to deal with quarantine issues.

Yep, so let's sit back and wait for Dan to get blamed for this one...

 

[DC3]

Yep, so let's sit back and wait for Dan to get blamed for this one...

.... while waiting for Glad to come to the white courtesy phone.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

So is the whole story...

- Board flight (3 boarding passes - 1 to Japan, 1 to Sydney, 1 to Melbourne)
- Assume Sydney is for immigration/visa, customs, baggage collection
- Assume Melbourne is for quarantine

???

 

[james4321]

.... while waiting for Glad to come to the white courtesy phone.

Dont hold your breath

 

[Pushka]

Yep, so let's sit back and wait for Dan to get blamed for this one...

Immigration was in NSW as was the next step. Allowing them to escape and board a flight. Dan is in the clear.

My nephew came in on the ANA flight from Japan the day before this episode into Sydney. Will be interesting to get his thoughts on the process. He is in Sydney Quarantine.

 

[RooFlyer]

Without being political, what are homeland security doing by not flagging these people?

You mean Border Force? Not sure how the pax would be flagged, at least any different from all the other overseas arrivals. Once they clear immigration they are under the control ( or not ) of State authorities.

The incident sounds to me like an innocently determined inbound pax met slack or whatever quarantine authorities and threaded the needle to get to Melbourne.