Stranded Aussies

STRANDED Australians are demanding the government increase flight caps further to clear a backlog of up to 60,000 people stuck overseas.

The government yesterday increased crippling flight caps from 4000 a week to 6000 a week at a National Cabinet meeting. But airlines have warned that they will not be able to clear a backlog of Australians wanting to get home before Christmas.

Australians stuck overseas say they have been abandoned, and many said their circumstances had changed since the government urged people to go home in March.

Some have sold cars to pay for business class flights that have then been cancelled because flights into Australia have been capped at as little as 30 passengers.

Bob Newton moved to the UK with his partner Andrea and children Dylan, 4, and Harry, 2, in 2019 to care for his father who had brain, lung and kidney cancer. His father died in March.

His family has been bumped from two flights so far and is now worried they might miss out on their flight back home on October 3. Mr Newton said his lease on a property near Norwich, two hours north of London, was running out and his family would have nowhere to live if the flights were cancelled again.

“This leaves us in a situation where we are homeless, or at least reduced to living in airbnbs and hotels with two children, with no work, and also a mortgage on a house in Melbourne to pay. It will not take long for this situation to financially ruin us,” he said.

Amber Griffiths and her husband Mark Griffiths are stranded in the United States, where they are worried they won’t be able to pay for medical bills. Ms Griffiths, from Adelaide, has been bumped off three flights and now has a booking with a new airline for October, but was worried she would still not get back.

The 26-year-old has suf