Negative report delayed, techie misses flight

Negative report delayed, techie misses flight

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:13.04.2021

A 27-year-old data scientist claimed he could not fly to Lisbon, Portugal, because a government facility in Marathahalli did not issue a Covid negative certificate in time. As a result, airline staff refused to allow him to board the flight.

Abhishek Gupta said he has now obtained a test report from a private laboratory and is scheduled to fly out on Tuesday.

Gupta said he was stopped from boarding an Air France flight to Paris from KIA on Sunday because he did not possess a negative certificate. The airline was only complying with guidelines issued by the state health and family welfare department.

Gupta, from West Bengal, had come to Bengaluru from Lisbon last October after his parents were admitted to Manipal Hospitals for treatment. When his parents were discharged and returned home healthy, Gupta decided to fly to Portugal via Paris early on Sunday.

“I took an RT-PCR test on Thursday at a government facility in Marathahalli and was promised the result online by Saturday morning,” Gupta said. “I trusted them and reached the place by Saturday noon, but nothing was ready and the response from staff was far from welcoming. I was forced to go to a hospital in Bellandur to get my results but there I was directed to the Marathahalli clinic.”

Gupta claimed that he contacted Air France’s customer care number only to be told that he doesn’t require a Covid negative certificate for the Bengaluruto-Paris leg of the journey. “But when I reached KIA on Saturday night, airline representatives refused to let me board even though I said my test results will come anytime on my email. The Air France website said I would be fined in Portugal if I did not have the certificate and I was ready to pay.”

He had to leave the airport and return home as the Covid report didn’t arrive even 48 hours after the test was taken. “Thorough inefficiency of government health staff cost me my trip,” Gupta said. “I received the test result, which was negative, on my mail on Sunday afternoon, but it was too late then.”