Despite the warnings people traveled to XYZ and are now stuck. Who is responsible?

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Scared Silly

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on the path to perdition
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From the Washington Post (as it is their breaking news I am going to quote the whole piece as link will temporary):

3:34 a.m.
Americans stranded in Honduras are scrambling to find a way back home
Beth Rosenzweig and Ray Bahr touched down on the picturesque island of Utila on March 9 for what they thought would be a week-long scuba diving trip off the coast of Honduras.

But on Friday night, days after they were scheduled to fly home to the Boston suburbs, they were firing off calls and emails from their room in the Utila Lodge, frantically trying to arrange a return flight.

The couple are among the thousands of Americans stranded abroad as countries close their borders and airlines abruptly cancel flights in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The State Department on Thursday issued a rare Level 4 travel advisory telling U.S. citizens not to travel internationally and warning that they may have to remain outside the United States for an “indefinite time frame.” The situation has forced travelers around the globe to take drastic steps to find ways back into the country.

Rosenzweig and Bahr were supposed to leave Honduras the morning of March 16, they said, but their flight was delayed, then canceled, due to new travel restrictions the government announced the night before.

Bahr, 63, said he called the U.S. Embassy and left a voicemail but got no response. He also tried to reach the State Department, to no avail, he said. The Air Force on Friday evacuated dozens of Americans from Honduras on a pair of charter flights, but the couple wasn’t on them. They say they’re in the dark about whether another evacuation flight will come to get them or others facing the same predicament.

“Our government has literally stepped back from their responsibilities,” Bahr said, adding that he believes there are more than a dozen Americans stuck at his hotel alone.

In the meantime, Bahr and Rosenzweig, 61, say they’ve spent thousands of dollars booking flights out, only to have them canceled or postponed.

At the moment, they’re booked on a flight scheduled to leave March 28, but they still need to find a way to get off the island and get to the airport. Their only other viable option is to drop $2,500 each on an American charter flight to Miami, but it’s not clear yet if that plane will be able to enter Honduras, they said.

Honduras had 24 confirmed cases of covid-19 as of early Saturday morning, and the couple worry about the outbreak growing before they can leave.

“Right now, it’s important for us to get home,” Bahr said. “If I’m going to be sick someplace, I want to be sick in the Boston area.”

A State Department spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

So for months now there has been a growing issue. Yet blame the US Government when things south. People roll the dice, and sometimes yer gonna pay the price.
 
Left March 9th? Should have known better. I think this is a perfect opportunity for people to learn personal and social responsibility.

Those idiot kids on spring break should all be quarantined in an aircraft hanger with aluminum shock blankets, fenced pens and no mattresses.
 
Not exactly roll of the dice. This changes day-to-day and even by the hour. On March 9 travel was still a possibility. I flew for work on March 11 with a return of March 13. I was comfortable with the March 11 trip but not the 13th. Had I been heading out on the 13th I would not have. A trip the following week was cancelled.

This was a domestic trip though. Out of country, well pay the price.
 
I flew down to Florida on March 3 and flew back on March 11. For all intents and purposes, it was as if nothing at all was happening. What a huge difference the next 10 days made. Again, a domestic example, but a vivid one.
 
I think it's on the travelers. We certainly knew enough on March 9th not to travel. I just checked my email and I sent a message to our travel agent back in February to ask if our May trip was still on. By March 11 I was asking if we should exercise our CFAR to get part of our money back. Yep, by the 9th we knew if we traveled we might not be able to get back in a timely manner. I hope they're able to continue diving, have a place to stay and lots of cash for food!
 
bottom line imho is if a traveler leaves AFTER the govmt has advised you cannot or should not travel out of the country, and you got anyway, then you are on your own.
if however, the traveler books a trip in good faith, meaning there was no travel restriction in place, and the airline or travel company took their money, then i think that airline or travel company has the duty to get them home. the only reason the tax payer should have to foot the bill is if that airline or travel company goes bankrupt.

examples....

we were in cozumel when canada 3000 went bankrupt about 20 years ago. we had no idea how we would get home. i literally showed up at the airport on departure day not knowing if i was going home or not. not really sure how it was coordinated but we were flown home on another charter airline.

our group who got kicked out of their hotel in roatan this week were flown home by the charter airline that brought them there. had that charter gone bankrupt i would certainly expect the govmnt to make sure they got home.
 
We came out of the water on a shore dive on March 19th. There was a couple from CO that had just gotten out of the water from a 20 minute shore dive. They had flown down that day. They then learned of the travel advisory that was released that day. They got on the phone and got a flight out the next day. They literally flew to Cozumel and back for a 20 minute shore dive. I was to be here for 9 weeks. On Wednesday we booked return flights for today instead. The next day the advisory. The next day the border closing and flight schedule reductions and then later that day learned that Tomorrow is the last flight out on Southwest, united, and I think American still has flights on Monday. Then it's over. You are here if you didn't get out by then.
 
I personally think they took a gamble on leaving March 9th and in a way lost the bet. While there may not have been travel restrictions it was clear things were only getting worse. I do feel bad for them (and it would really stuck to be stuck) but the world is currently having a crisis and they are one tiny piece of the puzzle.

If I already had the trip planned I can't say what I would have done but at any rate it was a decision they had to make. People try to blame the government for everything. At some point personal responsibility needs to come in. International travel is great but you do take a chance that the government may not be able to help you while out of the country. I personally think it's worth the risk to travel but sometimes things don't go as planned. Hopefully they can find a way home or at least make the best of it and get an extended dive vacation.

On another note, I had friends booking trips once things clearly were going downhill due to GREAT flight prices. To me it was clear things were going in a direction of shutting down travel but the deal was so good they just couldn't pass it up. It may sound heartless but I have no simpathy for any of those people that are stuck somewhere.
 

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