Advice from Air New Zealand around how to get a Covid-19 pre-departure test in Melbourne has been labelled useless by a customer who spent hours trying to organise one.
From Wednesday, the airline is resuming quarantine-free flights from Melbourne, with Government permission. Two flights a day between Melbourne and Auckland are scheduled to take off from Wednesday, and daily flights from Melbourne to Queenstown, Wellington and Christchurch would resume from Friday.
Travellers wouldnt enter into managed isolation on arrival, but they would be, however, required to present proof of a negative PCR, LAMP or antigen test at check-in.
On its website, Air NZ advised customers who needed help finding a testing location to call the Australian National coronavirus helpline, but that was incorrect advice, according to epidemiologist Roger Morris.
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Passengers on Air NZs green flights would be required to present proof of a negative PCR test within 72 hours of departure. (File photo)
Morris, who worked for the World Bank, phoned the helpline only to be told, after a 30-minute wait, to phone the airline. He was also told to phone the Victorian health helpline, which he did, but was again informed they didnt have any information, and that he should phone the airline.
They gave me exactly the same useless advice, he told Stuff from Melbourne. I cant keep going in circles.
I was beginning to worry that I mightnt be able to get a test and the results by check-in time.
After persisting with staff manning the Victorian helpline, Morris received the correct information, which he later found outlined on the Melbourne Pathology website.
[Its] simple information, its not too difficult, but its taken me three hours on the phone to get that simple information.
Epidemics expert Professor Roger Morris said Air New Zealands advice to passengers on how to organise a pre-departure test in Melbourne were completely wrong.
Morris had to pay AU$160 (NZ$171.59) for the test over the phone. He was planning to get his test on Wednesday ahead of his flight on Saturday, which aligned with the requirement to get the test within 72 hours of departure.
Now that Ive paid, I can just walk in tomorrow and get a test. [But] I have no idea whether it will be an hour wait or what, you cant book a time.
A free test wouldn’t suffice for passengers planning to travel on the scheduled green flights. Information on the Unite Against Covid-19 website explained testing labs must issue a report with the travellers name, date of birth and/or passport number, date and time of the test, name of the testing lab, the type of test that was conducted and the result.
Hard copies and electronic copies would both be accepted, but text message proof must include an image of the laboratory result form.
Morris travelled to Melbourne on May 20, before the outbreak worsened. For the last two-and-a-half weeks he had been staying in temporary accommodation, which he said was easier to organise than the test.
Air New Zealand would resume quarantine-free flights from Melbourne from Wednesday.
Morris wanted to alert other travellers to the incorrect advice, and that the 1800-number hotlines in Australia couldnt be dialled from a New Zealand mobile.
If everyone from New Zealand who is wanting to rush home now, once the flights are available, goes through the same three-hour process, its just extraordinarily wasteful.
Morris said he tried contacting the airline to let them know of the incorrect information but had no luck finding an appropriate channel to communicate the issue.
There are hundreds of other people, all of whom need to get a test and are getting [the] completely wrong information. Theres going to be a rush of people trying to do it.
Air New Zealand needs to completely change their website instructions to tell people exactly where to go and where to look.
An Air NZ spokesperson told Stuff their guidelines have been updated in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s requirements for entry into New Zealand from Melbourne.