AA 931, MIA - EZE (Buenos Aires), covid+ passenger flies anyway
 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...orida-vaccine/

. . . . Still, at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, Portillo received a PCR test that showed he was positive for the coronavirus, authorities said. By midnight, he had boarded American Airlines Flight AA931, and on Sunday morning, the plane — carrying 258 other passengers and 12 crew members — landed in Argentina.

After acknowledging his alleged ruse, authorities said, he was arrested and transported to a Buenos Aires sanitary hotel — one of several facilities that the city had run for travelers arriving from abroad who were ordered to quarantine. . . .

. . . . Carignano, the immigration official, said that Portillo could face 3 to 15 years in prison under an Argentine law that bars people from knowingly exposing others to infectious diseases. She noted that his “complex judicial situation” would be compounded if any of his fellow passengers develop symptoms in the coming days.

Buenos Aires city health officials have tracked down at least 14 people who were sitting near Portillo on the plane, ordering them to quarantine for at least seven days, although it is unclear whether any have tested positive for the virus. . . .

Carignano has also said that her agency would sanction and fine American Airlines for allowing a sick person to board the flight, in violation of the country’s coronavirus rules. The airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.

Question -- did AA notify all the other passengers and crew? Or did AA leave it up to the Argentine health authorities to do so?

The details here are murky, at best. The pax is contesting allegations of a "fake" CoVid Test, and apparently, the US "clinic" that issued the certificate has backed up the story. This is still a developing story.... it will probably die down from press coverage and my guess is AA will never pay the fine and this will all go away.... who knows, maybe the Kirchnerista regime want to make an example of this guy...? When Politics get involved, anything can happen.

I'm failing to understand how AA is responsible here if he was presenting a certificate (real or otherwise) that said he was approved to fly. Unless it was obviously fake, I'm not sure what someone would expect AA to do here.

I was thinking the same thing on Monday when I was in line for check in. The person in front of me was traveling internationally and showed a sheet to the agent that appeared to be a covid test (it was in a folder with a logo of a big major medical chain). The check in agent briefly reviewed it, nodded and the pax put it away. What's the verification beyond reading the sheet ?

There isn't any.

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Unless there is some sort of E-Validation for "qualified" vendors/test providers that must file/report results to some sort of Federal/Government agency - and have this process be online and pretty much real-time, I dont see how an Airline can be asked to make sure papers presented are (or are not) legit.

İt appears that he only presented a Dr's note obtained vía a telehealth appointment, not a negative PCR test to AA agents during check in. So AA could be fined too by letting him board without a negative PCR test result.

Ah. if that's the case then AA will be fined.

And that particular AA agent is spending plenty of time on linkedin today.

What makes you think so?

Like AA has been fined many times before, even for not compensating passengers fairly after overbooking

Some people deserve to be put up against a wall and ....

Disgraceful.

Im not sure that its fair to put the AA agent on the line for this.... most gate agents are poorly trained and have no clue what to do in many "non plain vanilla" situations. To give a very specific data point... my last long haul flights on AA involved a GJT-PHX-MIA-EZE route. At check-in, the agent was super friendly, but 200% clue-less on what he needed to ask me and or look for. He basically asked me if I had experience with this.... I was this guy travelling on an Italian passport and going to Argentina (with no return ticket). By the time he got through to the part of the "cheat sheet" that touched on the Covid certificate, he didnt even ask me to show him anything.

I only got a Candid question.... " do you have all you need to make sure they will let you in when you arrive down there? ".

I said, "yes".... and offered to sign a waiver/affidavit so he could be kept of the hook. He replied " No Need. You seem to know what you are doing !! "

The Passenger is the one that deserves to be Impaled. The local press has been covering this story in some detail, and some reports are saying that this Idiot was very much aware that he had clear CoVid like symptoms... thats why he got creative and didnt go the "normal" route to get a Swab or similar lab based test. Apparently, he was coached to be able to do a virtual (online) consultation with a "doctor" and by using scripted answers got a "clean bill of health" which he they used to "fool" the AA check-in staff into thinking he was good to board the plane. Some are saying that he also took medicine to reduce his fever to further "mask" his clinical profile.

Turns out the Bozo probably didnt take enough temperature-suppressing medicine because the entire reason why he was flagged upon arrival into EZE was that his temperature triggered the alarms of the thermal scanners that all arriving pax go through. Once the local health authorities saw this, he was immediatetly intercepted by Medical Staff (escorted by Argentine Aeronautical Police), and he was isolated, tested (twice) and then formally charged. He then spent a couple of days detained and I think he was released just 2 or 3 days ago on bail and is now awaiting the judicial proceedings.

Agreed

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