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The Daily Coronavirus Story: $20,000 to Travel Back to School

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Whether you’ve sworn off travel or are taking advantage of the great deals, we can all agree that the coronavirus has brought on strange times. So we’ve decided to feature the most eye-brow raising coronavirus story we hear each day. Want actual information on the coronavirus? Check out this consolidated FlyerTalk thread with everything you could ever want to know about the coronavirus–from flight cancellations to reports from the ground in Wuhan–in FlyerTalk’s consolidated Coronavirus/COVID-19 Thread. Or, check out the coronavirus tag for news stories from the front page. 

How much would you pay to make it back to school on time?

University of Sydney international student, Karen Ji, found herself in China when Australia announced their coronavirus travel ban. The country declared that they would temporarily not be allowing flights from mainland China to go in or out of their airports – Karen Ji was stuck. With class starting, she had very few options left: stay in China, or book flights to get around the ban.

Ji reports that she bought five tickets in an attempt to get back to Sydney, eventually booking a flight to Bangkok where she would be stuck for 16 days due to quarantines before being able to travel back to Australia.

Ji, along with other international students, is outraged by the amount they were forced to pay to get back to their universities, calling upon the government to reimburse them.

Funds have been put in place to help students, professors, and staffs book tickets and get around the travel band since Ji’s trip. According to The DailyMail, “Universities across the country have even begun offering financial aid to help students get around the travel ban.” This ban, specifically in relation to the students, is expected to have an impact on Australia’s economy in the coming months, as Chinese students bring in $40 billion a year.

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[Image Source: Good Free Photos]

6 Comments
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Peoriaman1 March 10, 2020

A college student spending other people's money.... Sounds like business as usual!

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pagophilus March 9, 2020

Coronavirus or no Coronavirus, it does not take $20000 to get from China to Australia, including can 20 days in Bangkok. Blame the student for stupidity. Obviously she had too much money to burn and not enough sense..

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pdsales March 8, 2020

Funds have been put in place to help students, professors, and staffs book tickets and get around the travel band since Ji’s trip. According to The DailyMail, “Universities across the country have even begun offering financial aid to help students get around the travel ban.” So this is a good thing? If the travel ban is to prevent the spread of disease, and students find ways around it, they become the disease vector.

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edgewood49 March 7, 2020

This is a health emergency let alone the fact that your person is question lives in China the epic center of all this mess. Remember China sat on this virus allowing millions of people to travel for Chinese New Years. Travel bans are there for a reason we all need to obey them.

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dogcanyon March 7, 2020

"Ji, along with other international students, is outraged by the amount they were forced to pay to get back to their universities, calling upon the government to reimburse them." Why should she expect the government of Australia to reimburse her when this whole debacle is the fault of the Chinese government?