Holiday warning as tourists are banned from flight after Covid test failure

TWO women have been banned from boarding their flight after making a simple Covid mistake.

Jessie Carr, 22, and her sister Angie, 23, traveled to Bali from Australia to see their father, who they have not been able to visit in months.

2

To enter Indonesia, all arrivals must take a Covid test 48 hours before departure.

However, the sisters accidentally took their tests too early – meaning they expired two hours before they were scheduled to check in.

They took the test 50 hours before their flight and got their results 40 hours before their flight.

Jessie told her 32,000 followers in a TikTok video: “When you’re denied a flight to Bali because the PCR test expired two hours before check-in.”

She explained that it was not made clear that the test had to be taken within 48 hours as they thought it meant they would need the test results within 48 hours.

A text from the airline reads: “Requirement to attach negative RT-PCR test results within 48 hours of departure for all passengers.”

There was an opportunity to do another test at the airport, but the results came in 1.5 hours – too late as they would be on the plane.

They then managed to reschedule their flight to a few days later but lacked the financial means for new testing and accommodation, as well as an airport hotel and taxis, and lost almost AUD$700 (£394).

Jessie told the Daily Mail: “We had already paid for our accommodation in Bali for the night too, so we lost our money on that too, $70 (£39) for one night.

“Also, by that time, our PCR tests would have expired before the new flight, so we had to pay $79 (£44) each for new ones, having already paid $150 (£84) for the first ones.

“As a result, due to the unclear information, we lost about $700 (£394) in total.”

Jetstar has since updated its advice to avoid confusion. A spokesman said they “changed their texting” to clarify testing rules.

Covid restrictions can be confusing and the sisters aren’t the first to have this happen.

Last year, a couple were banned from their easyJet flight after being told their Covid tests had been taken 40 minutes early.

And a family has been prevented from boarding their flight to Croatia after being told they had taken their Covid test just 15 minutes early.

Brits traveling to Bali could also be caught unawares by another rule, unrelated to Covid.

Bali has strict passport rules regarding the state of documents, with a number of people barred from boarding their flights.

2