KANHANGAD: Shaukat Ali K P, who runs a grocery shop in Abu Dhabi, feels cheated. Though the Kanhangad native was forced to drop his plans to travel to the UAE on Sunday as he tested Covid positive at Kozhikode airport, Air India Express has still not refunded or rescheduled his flight.
His first test, done by a private lab in Kanhangad on Saturday, had been negative. As per travel guidelines of the UAE, passengers should conduct an RT-PCR test 48 hours before travel and take an RT-PCR test at the airport six hours before departure.
Ali could not believe he tested positive at the airport and took the RT-PCR test again for Rs 1,580, only to test positive again.
“When he tried to demand a refund for the ticket, they called in security. Passengers are terrorised if they test positive,” said Ali’s cousin A Hameed, a social activist.
Unlike Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the UAE’s insistence on an RT-PCR test at the departure airport is troubling travellers.
On Sunday, around 40 UAE-bound passengers were sent back, while 35 were stopped at Kozhikode airport on Monday, said Hameed.
However, Safeena Avikkal of Ajanur panchayat in Kasaragod stood her ground and managed to get her Indigo ticket rescheduled.
She was scheduled to travel to Sharjah on January 19 and tested negative at the District Hospital on January 18. She reached Kozhikode by train.
“When I tested positive at the airport, the staff tried to shoo me away. I said I won’t leave until Indigo rescheduled my travel,” she said.
"The staff first shared an unrelated phone number, but later relented and booked her a January 29 flight,” she said.
Hameed demanded that Covid testing be done outside the airport.
“Why should the airport insist on a ticket for an RT-PCR test? There should be the option to buy a ticket if one is negative,” he said.
Ajmal Sinan of Thalangara in Kasaragod town lost money twice on tickets.
In the first week of January, he reached Kochi airport to fly to Dubai, but tested positive.
Ajmal, who had reached Kochi after testing negative in Kasaragod, was sent back.
He said he stayed in quarantine for 10 days and booked another ticket for January 21 from Kozhikode.
An RT-PCR test from a private lab in Kasaragod on January 20 showed he was negative.
However, upon testing Kozhikode airport on January 21, he tested positive.
“I had been careful not to get exposed to the virus, yet I tested positive within 24 hours of a negative result. I lost around Rs 40,000 on the two tickets,” he said.