Computer says ‘No’ to a cuddle
ThIS long-awaited cuddle in New Zealand between my daughter, Caroline, an NhS nurse, and her granddaughters Charlotte, two-and-a-half, and ten-month-old Isabella nearly didn’t happen.
The morning of her flight, as requested, she emailed all her documents to Auckland, including her negative Rapid Antigen Covid test.
She phoned me in tears: ‘Mum, I’ve been denied entry.’ The reason given was she hadn’t conformed to the requirements, even though she had done everything asked of her in the times stipulated. She phoned the helpline and was told the Covid test needed to be taken 24 hours before arrival. That would have been impossible. Caroline’s flight left heathrow at 10pm on June 3, not arriving in Auckland until June 5. The computer hadn’t recognised the world’s time differences. Thank goodness, an understanding customer services assistant was able to manually arrange permission and Caroline was able to fly into the loving arms of her family.