An Auckland woman who travelled to Perth for her dad’s funeral was turned away from her flight just minutes before check in.
Chelsea Badger arrived in Perth a week ago for the funeral of her dad, Trevor Badger, after her was killed in a light plane crash in May.
Badger was due to fly home to Auckland on Saturday evening, but five minutes before check-in began she was told there were no flights going to New Zealand due to the pause in the trans-Tasman travel bubble.
CHELSEA BADGER/Supplied
Chelsea Badger flew to Perth in Western Australia for her dad’s funeral.
The Government paused quarantine-free travel for three days, as Australia was hit by multiple cases and outbreaks of a contagious new strain of Covid-19.
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“It was a bit of a shock initially,” Badger said, “as there weren’t any major outbreaks in Perth, but I know it’s for the best.”
Badger said she became quite emotional as she was ready to get back home and grieve in her own space.
“I do have family here in Perth, luckily, but my partner Hailey and my job are all back home.”
Originally from Perth, Badger had been living in Auckland since the start of 2020.
She said she expected it may be at least a week before flights were back on again, so she was preparing to be in Australia for a while.
CHELSEA BADGER/Supplied
Chelsea Badger pictured with her partner Hailey, who is back in New Zealand while she is stuck in Australia.
On Saturday night she spent over two and a half hours on hold with Air New Zealand to see if she could find out any more information about flights.
“I was told there wouldn’t be any flights scheduled for at least the next 24 hours,” she said.
The pause to the trans-Tasman bubble comes after Wellington moved to Covid-19 alert level 2 last Wednesday.
Air New Zealand has cancelled all inbound passenger flights from Australia for 72 hours due to the trans-Tasman travel pause.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins on Saturday night announced that all quarantine-free travel with Australia would pause from 10.30pm Saturday until 11.59pm Tuesday, June 29.
‘‘I acknowledge the frustration and inconvenience that comes with this pause, but given the high level of transmissibility of what appears to be the Delta variant, and the fact that there are now multiple community clusters, it is the right thing to do to keep Covid-19 out of New Zealand,’’ he said.
Air NZ chief operational integrity and safety officer captain David Morgan confirmed a reduced number of passenger flights to Australia would still take-off over the next 72 hours, but all inbound flights from Australia had been cancelled. These flights would operate as cargo-only services.
“We are in the process of contacting impacted customers, who are being provided the option to rebook, put their flight into credit, or receive a refund if they purchased a refundable ticket.
“We appreciate our customers’ understanding and patience as our teams work to ensure they are kept up to date.”
