Originally Posted by
SOPS
I always wonder about this 50000 people who are trying to get home. The number has never changed. But at Perth airport alone, more than 60000 people have passed through since the pandemic began. I don’t know what the numbers for the other states… but the total would far exceed 50000. I can’t figure out why the number never changes.. there are always 50000 people waiting to get home.
And to quote your illustrious leader…..
”some people have been in and out of Australia 8 times!”
Even the Aus govt figures have show that almost 50% of arrivals in 2021 have been NON Australian citizens (movie stars, business people etc).
So halve your 60,000 to 30,000. Out of a city the size of Perth, that’s jack****. Considering some of the remaining 30,000 would be people with lots of cash coming for a holiday to visit family (rich expats), you can reduce that number even further.
I can tell you from personal experience that buying tickets from where we are (UAE) would have cost a minimum of $30,000 AUD, ONE WAY (highest was $45,000) If you wanted to come from the USA, last price I saw was $14,000 USD per ticket.
How many families have that sort of cash lying around?? We certainly don’t. It’s fine if you’re single and the boss is paying (business travel) or even a couple that really needs to get back, but for families, forget it.
Plus to add to this cost, because the government keeps changing the caps, if your flight is rebooked you might have to wait an additional 3-5 months for a new spot. Really helpful if you’ve just moved out in expectation of your flight in a few days. Because you’ll only find out a few days before that you no longer have seats. Then if you try to get a refund a rebook with another airline, you’ll need an ADDITIONAL $30,000+ to book again while you wait for Qatar/EK/Etihad/etc to refund your tickets.
So if you’re wondering why the number of “stranded Aussies” keeps growing, look at what it actually takes (and the money required) to get home. Ask yourself if you would be stuck if that’s what it cost to get back to your own country???
But this has been explained to you (SOPS) many times before and you still don’t seem to understand.