British Airways celebrated on its social networks on Sunday morning (8), after three Boeing 777 planes landed almost simultaneously in the United Kingdom. The celebration had a reason: the aircraft managed to land before the new quarantine rules for passengers arriving from Mexico came into effect.
“There were celebrations at the British Airways operational control center in the early hours of this morning, after our three rescue flights took off from Mexico and our customers arrived home just in time,” the company said on Twitter, along with a screenshot of FlightRadar24 tracking application.
The flights landed at 2:40 am, 1 hour twenty minutes before the new quarantine rules that include Mexico on the «red list» came into effect. The last flight to arrive was BA-2202 from Cancun. If there were any delays, all passengers would have been quarantined in a hotel for 10 days and non-British citizens and residents could have been deported.
The rescue operation was planned after Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps announced that he would place Mexico on the «Red List,» giving thousands of Britons just four days to return home or face a $ 2,000 quarantine bill per person to stay in state-designated hotels.
See also: Mexico enters UK’s «red list» of countries with travel restrictions
In a statement, the Department of Transportation justified the inclusion of Mexico into the «Red List» saying that the so-called Lambda variant of COVID-19, which was described for the first time in Peru, represents a «high risk to the public health of the United Kingdom.»
There were celebrations in the operations control centre at British Airways in the early hours this morning as our three rescue flights from #Mexico made it home in good time for our customers. #WelcomeHome #YouMakeUsFly
✈️???????????? @flightradar24 pic.twitter.com/hZfk6BoxmF— British Airways (@British_Airways) August 8, 2021
Some tourists who had just left on a trip discovered that their vacations were ruined mid-flight. The British, taken by surprise, said there was no indication that Mexico could be included on the Red List. The decision surprised the tourism industry. Fortunately, British Airways decided to make additional flights to get customers home just in time, as our partner Aeroin.net reported.
After securing seats for British Airways Holidays customers, the airline announced deeply discounted ticket change fares. Seats on the last two flights were selling for just $ 120 before taxes.
«We would now like to help as many Britons as possible to return home to the UK, so we have introduced a reduced emergency ‘rescue fee’ at the lowest possible price to cover our costs,» explained a spokesperson for the UK company.
On social media, some users celebrated the airline’s action while also criticizing the British government for its constant changes in health policy. «We were on the last flight from Cancun, which was advanced six hours to avoid quarantine. Thank you BA,» said user Jo Rogers, who also said that «there was no indication that Mexico would turn red when we flew two weeks ago. In fact, compared to other countries, it shouldn’t be now. This government is a joke.»
Another user said that his 80-year-old father was literally the last on the flight to Gatwick, and that he was originally returning on August 11 but was rescheduled by British Airways at no cost.
«You know that we are lost when an airline celebrates the fact that it managed to evacuate its customers from a country before their own government imprisons them in their own country to their account,» added user Adam Harris as well.
British Airways flight BA-2202 was scheduled to land at 9 a.m. Sunday, but takeoff was advanced to escape Red List rules. A flight from Mexico City had to be diverted to Gatwick to comply with the night landing ban at Heathrow Airport.
