I am stuck in transit in Malaysia from Australia
I was travelling from Australia to the Philippines with a stopover in Malaysia, to meet my wife and daughter. They almost refused to let me board the plane in Melbourne because I didn’t have a face shield, which was a requirement by the Philippines. Someone at the airport gave me a face shield and everything was solved and I boarded the plane. But when I came to Malaysia, I wasn’t allowed to board the plane to the Philippines because they told me that I had to have a visa to enter the Philippines due to a law that commenced on 7 December.
I bought my ticket on the 27th of November and checked the Philippines embassy website in Australia and saw not a word about the new law. It all said visa-free entry into the Philippines. If the Malaysian airlines refused my entry on the plane in Australia because of a face shield how come they didn’t refuse me or even check my visa for the Philippines? Because of this now I am stuck in Malaysia and can’t go to the Philippines or back to Australia. Even if I go back to Australia, I was told that I have to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel which is going to cost me over $3000. I am stressed and currently living in the airport in Kuala Lumpur and paying for all the expenses, hotel, food, and I was told that I even had to pay for my return flight to Australia.
What can I do about this?
I am an Australian citizen and my spouse and my child are Filipino citizens. I know Australian citizens could travel visa-free because I travelled to the Philippines 7 or 8 times before visa free. But on the 7th of December, the new law came into effect in Philippines where no one is visa free. The only way anyone can travel visa free is only if you enter the Philippines with your wife or child who is a Filipino. There is no more visa-free entry and this is not updated on their website on any Philippines embassy websites.
Added from a comment posted to an answer on 23th or 24th December:
I can go back now. I just found out today that they have requested to accept an extra person into Australia from Malaysia because they only allow limited number of people to enter the country. This has happened because I told Malaysian Airlines that I will go to media about this when I return to Australia and I received so much assistance today which I never received since Saturday. They didn’t give me my luggage before but today I got to get some clothes out of my luggage. I have been wearing the same clothes since Saturday hahaha
Best Answer
The traveller owns the responsibility for ensuring they have all relevant valid travel documents or ability to transit or enter into countries, either their destination or any transit stop along the way.
Airlines have no liability to the passenger for ensuring their documents are valid, or whether they actually have the ability to enter the destination country - what they do have is a liability to the destination or transit country to not present ineligible persons, and they typically get fined when that happens, but that liability infers no responsibility to the actual passenger.
You have two options - firstly, check what your travel insurance can do in this situation. They may be able to pay out for some expenses for example
Secondly, you will want to contact your country's embassy or consulate in Malaysia - they may be able to repatriate you or otherwise help you out.
You may also want to seek help from friends and family, or try opening a GoFundMe and publicise your situation.
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Answer 2
Although being stuck isn't your fault, it seems that no entity (airline or government) has the responsibility to solve your problem, so you'll have to do it yourself.
Apart from going back to Australia, one alternative option is to travel to a 3rd country which allows Australians to enter (perhaps UAE) and apply for a Philippines visa there (if you qualify, check beforehand). This involves additional flight and hotel costs, but might work out better than going back to Australia and paying for quarantine there.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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