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This move will greatly reduce the stress on the quarantine system (MIQ) that returnees from other parts of the world still need to go through. There is currentl

This move will greatly reduce the stress on the quarantine system (MIQ) that returnees from other parts of the world still need to go through. There is currently a massive under supply of quarantine hotel slots compared to demand, with slots being snapped up within minutes of being released. It’s common for people to be refreshing the MIQ website constantly for weeks trying to find a slot (I’m not exaggerating), including getting family and friends to help find slots. It’s an incredibly unfair system and removing the large number of Kiwis in low risk Australia from competing against returnees from higher risk countries makes sense all around. I just hope the border is fully reopened once the vaccination program has reached enough people (>80% seems enough to me ... there will be some vaccine holdouts I’m sure!).

roca 6y ago
It sounds like most of the MIQ slots will not be released. (But apparently MIQ demand is dropping, perhaps because we're heading into winter, and/or because vaccination is going well in some countries.)
- dzhiurgis 6y ago
  Great time to get immigration back on track. Or working visa holders who've been left out in favour of citizens who haven't lived here for decades.
- yardstick 6y ago
  People in Oz with slots already won’t release them until they know for sure they won’t need them. Bet you will see a flurry of releases the day before the flight (or they’ll just hold them until they are in NZ). But hopefully new booking demand will be reduced by this.
RileyJames 6y ago
Additionally, the MIQ system enables an unlimited number of bookings to be made with a SINGLE email address. There are multiple issues with the booking system which enable this. I’ve notified them of these issues multiple times, they did nothing. It then became news, and was reported publicly multiple times, and still there were no changes. Before this vulnerability was widely known making a booking was not all that difficult. After it became widely known there was not a single booking available in the system. Go figure.
- yardstick 6y ago
  Have you tried making multiple bookings in the same account or multiple emails since Feb? They seem to have a job that checks for duplicate bookings (based on email and/or names/passports) and emails you to warn you if you don’t remove the excess bookings they will cancel all of them. Don’t actually know if they follow through with it... Yeah the system is broken. Lots of people were running tools to automate bookings in order to find and secure a date, given how quickly they get snapped up. It’s marginally harder now they are using a captcha.
  - RileyJames 6y ago
    Interesting. I didn't attempt holding actual booking for longer than an hour, because I didn't want to take spots away from people. But while they stated they would cancel duplicate bookings at the time, that's only regarding confirmed bookings. A user can still hold a booking for 48 hours while "booking flights", and with a 48 hour window its easy enough to time the release of said booking at the lowest volume booking period and attempt to snap it back up within few seconds with a second account. Additionally, there is no validation beyond the email address. Name & passport are simple string fields, and you can have many different names / passports under a single account. That's all before you go all out and make 100's - 1000's of accounts. I'm being a bit harsh, I was generally impressed with the quality of the booking system and how quickly they got it up. But once it's been out for a few months, and the cracks are starting to appear AND those crack become public it's just not good enough. It becomes another class based system where: Priority 1) those with contacts within the department / ministry or some other method of getting special treatment Priority 2) those who can bot / exploit the system to get what they need Priority 3) those willing to pay to access priority 1 or 2. Priority 4) everyone else, ie: the public. And this isn't getting tickets to a sporting event. This is "I want to go home to NZ because I've lost my job in Australia and I can't afford to pay rent" or "my mother is sick and I'd like to see her and spend a few moments before she passes". If priorities are to be made, they shouldn't be on class & connections.
ivanvanderbyl 6y ago
I wouldn't count on that. Flights to Australia in the first place are exceedingly hard to get on unless you upgrade to business class. Secondly, Australia's hotel quarantine has been at capacity since June, and limits the number of arrivals quite aggressively.
- yardstick 6y ago
  Yes you are right, it won’t mean free beds in hotels. But will mean greater chance of those desperate to return home being able to. They have a fighting chance now of getting a MIQ slot.

roca 6y ago

It sounds like most of the MIQ slots will not be released. (But apparently MIQ demand is dropping, perhaps because we're heading into winter, and/or because vaccination is going well in some countries.)

dzhiurgis 6y ago
Great time to get immigration back on track. Or working visa holders who've been left out in favour of citizens who haven't lived here for decades.
yardstick 6y ago
People in Oz with slots already won’t release them until they know for sure they won’t need them. Bet you will see a flurry of releases the day before the flight (or they’ll just hold them until they are in NZ). But hopefully new booking demand will be reduced by this.

RileyJames 6y ago

Additionally, the MIQ system enables an unlimited number of bookings to be made with a SINGLE email address. There are multiple issues with the booking system which enable this. I’ve notified them of these issues multiple times, they did nothing. It then became news, and was reported publicly multiple times, and still there were no changes. Before this vulnerability was widely known making a booking was not all that difficult. After it became widely known there was not a single booking available in the system. Go figure.

yardstick 6y ago
Have you tried making multiple bookings in the same account or multiple emails since Feb? They seem to have a job that checks for duplicate bookings (based on email and/or names/passports) and emails you to warn you if you don’t remove the excess bookings they will cancel all of them. Don’t actually know if they follow through with it... Yeah the system is broken. Lots of people were running tools to automate bookings in order to find and secure a date, given how quickly they get snapped up. It’s marginally harder now they are using a captcha.
- RileyJames 6y ago
  Interesting. I didn't attempt holding actual booking for longer than an hour, because I didn't want to take spots away from people. But while they stated they would cancel duplicate bookings at the time, that's only regarding confirmed bookings. A user can still hold a booking for 48 hours while "booking flights", and with a 48 hour window its easy enough to time the release of said booking at the lowest volume booking period and attempt to snap it back up within few seconds with a second account. Additionally, there is no validation beyond the email address. Name & passport are simple string fields, and you can have many different names / passports under a single account. That's all before you go all out and make 100's - 1000's of accounts. I'm being a bit harsh, I was generally impressed with the quality of the booking system and how quickly they got it up. But once it's been out for a few months, and the cracks are starting to appear AND those crack become public it's just not good enough. It becomes another class based system where: Priority 1) those with contacts within the department / ministry or some other method of getting special treatment Priority 2) those who can bot / exploit the system to get what they need Priority 3) those willing to pay to access priority 1 or 2. Priority 4) everyone else, ie: the public. And this isn't getting tickets to a sporting event. This is "I want to go home to NZ because I've lost my job in Australia and I can't afford to pay rent" or "my mother is sick and I'd like to see her and spend a few moments before she passes". If priorities are to be made, they shouldn't be on class & connections.

ivanvanderbyl 6y ago

I wouldn't count on that. Flights to Australia in the first place are exceedingly hard to get on unless you upgrade to business class. Secondly, Australia's hotel quarantine has been at capacity since June, and limits the number of arrivals quite aggressively.

yardstick 6y ago
Yes you are right, it won’t mean free beds in hotels. But will mean greater chance of those desperate to return home being able to. They have a fighting chance now of getting a MIQ slot.