Diaries of a Travel Agent E1 - *The girl who was flown back en route to Saudi*

Lyndill Cilliers on 06 January 2022
*The girl who was flown back en route to Saudi*

This story needs a quick intro to give you the back story. Two days before Christmas, I received a WhatsApp message from someone who had received my details from a Facebook recommendation for people travelling to Saudi. The Facebook message mentioned my name and cell number and indicated that I had helped the sender to get into Saudi, and if anyone needed assistance they could contact me. I had helped this client two months prior, to the Omicron variant, when countries were still open, and pretty much all airlines were operating at that time.

As we all know, things changed at a drop of a hat at the end of November and South Africa became the personification of the virus itself! As a travel agent, my hands were somewhat tied, but as I always do, I didn’t mention this to any new potential clients flooding in over the next couple of days, including Christmas and Boxing Day. I frantically started to read up endless regulations and policies for Saudi, trying to make sense of it all and then to communicate this information to my new prospective clients.

During this time I received a call from Kim who lives in Durban, she urgently needed to get back to Saudi for work. I conveyed all the information I had at that stage to her. I also mentioned that I was assisting another client, who already had a confirmed ticket, but was unsure whether or not he needed to quarantine on arrival in Saudi. I suggested we wait to see what happens with him before we book anything.

All the information we had both found on the Saudi Foreign Affairs website and up to date Internet sources, indicated that passengers travelling with an Iqama visa did not need to quarantine on arrival. So, he decided to go with this information and take his chances. He checked in at O.R. Tambo and was allowed to board the Lufthansa flight. He made it as far as Frankfurt and was then denied boarding to Saudi, due to not having proof of a pre-booked quarantine hotel voucher for Saudi. After spending more money to re-route via Ireland to book the compulsory quarantine, which also cost a pretty penny, he was finally allowed to fly into Saudi on Lufthansa. Ironically, when he departed from Ireland a few days later he wasn't even asked to present the voucher! The whole point of quarantine is for passengers who have been in deep dark Omicron infested Africa within the past 14 days - so apparently being in Ireland for only 4 days after being in South Africa was acceptable!

Back to Kim! Once the other client was denied boarding we concluded there was no way around it, quarantine needed to be booked. Working through a specific site allocated to quarantine hotel bookings we struggled for three days over the Christmas period to get confirmation. Eventually, everything was confirmed and she was ready to go.

Pre Covid, I always joke with my clients that my biggest concern was whether they preferred chicken or beef, oh boy how things have changed. Now I have to check PCR testing rules, quarantine rules, documentation rules, each stopover rule, which airlines are red-listed, and which airlines are operating... it's a logistical nightmare!

Alas, Kim was ready. She flew from Durban to Johannesburg. At around 16h00 that afternoon I received a call from her, now at O.R. Tambo. I could hear she was very upset. The airline wanted to charge her R10,000 for additional luggage, which included her bicycle. I tried to calm her down and encouraged her to speak to someone to get her a better rate. She apologized for bothering me in a panic and told me she thinks she might have a tummy bug and wasn't feeling too well, which was adding to her anxiety.

At that stage, I started to investigate using a courier company to get her bike back to Durban or leave it at the O.R. Tambo City Lodge Hotel for a night or two while I arrange for someone to collect it. Luckily Kim messaged me back shortly thereafter that the overweight issue got sorted, she has checked through security and was about to board. With a sigh of relief, I could relax with a G&T and know all was going to be OK.

I woke up during the night and checked my phone. Two missed calls from Kim’s mom. My stomach dropped! It was 03h00 and must be serious. I called back immediately and Kim's mom told me the flight had been turned around halfway through Africa as Kim became extremely ill and was vomiting non-stop. By that time the flight had already landed and she was transferred to the closest private hospital.

The Lufthansa crew were incredible, one air hostess sat with her the entire time holding her hand. Her parents were so grateful that Lufthansa decided to turn the plane around, essentially saving their daughter from what could have been fatal. I later found out they lost their 19-year old son a few years back.

I asked them to please keep me up to date with any news. My heart broke for them. Her parents stay in Durban, miles away from Johannesburg and they couldn’t get to their daughter immediately. I constantly checked my phone and saw that a Facebook group had made mention of the flight turning around. Comments streamed in, speculating what might have happened. I briefly commented that Kim was my client and it was due to medical reasons.

Sunday the 2nd of January I found out that Kim's appendix had burst and she was waiting to be operated on. That evening around 20h00 Kim's mom called me to say the hospital kept asking for someone to come in and collect her bags. Kim’s mom was still in Durban. Due to Covid she couldn't go into the hospital and was waiting for Kim to be transferred out of ICU. I offered to assist with her luggage. Calling a few Travel Counsellor colleagues in Johannesburg, I got through to Janet. She kindly offered to collect Kim’s luggage early on Monday morning and keep it until her parents could fetch it. Now that's what I call teamwork!

The next day, private messages streamed in on my Facebook from the Lufthansa crew, everyone wanting to know how Kim is doing, even the air hostess that held her hand. Kim is now on the road to recovery, her mom is with her and sent me a video of her waving and smiling in hospital.

Our industry is truly special and even though everything is crazy stressful at the moment, it is so rewarding to be a small part of people's journeys and to help where I can.