7 ms·

I've recently been travelling to some fam in Europe and the entire COVID experience is so convoluted and obscene I feel a moral obligation to defraud the privat

I've recently been travelling to some fam in Europe and the entire COVID experience is so convoluted and obscene I feel a moral obligation to defraud the private services profiting off of it.

ilikerashers 5y ago
Paying 100 euro for a test at the airport in Dublin when you depart so you can prove you didn't get COVID in the UK when you come back into Ireland 2 days later. No logic or reasoning.
- djohnston 5y ago
  The logic is "let's milk these sheep for every penny we can while the scare tactics still work"
- secondaryacct 5y ago
  In Hong Kong it's simpler: 3-week hotel quarantine when you enter and no guarantee that if you leave your airline will be allowed back in. I havent moved for the last 2 years and my daughter has grown her first years by seeing her grandparents on Skype. Im not risking what a friend lived through, stuck 6 months in Europe unable to come back. New people entering these days do so without their family and with the clear understanding they re stuck here for a while. 0-case policy is not even working so well, since the last week we had an "explosive" cluster of 5 cases (so far) because a now fired freight airline employee went out sick everywhere ... The only potential exit will be China, maybe, if they dont get scared by our recent uptick, if you like to install their gps-based tracking system. And you better not be foreign-looking and sick while in China, you're never coming back :D The best story was when they still allowed exceptions for diplomatic staff and families and the kids of a Saudi official decided they were too good for self isolation and created a mini cluster isolating entire buildings for re-test. Or the Dubai IT guy who's now in jail after he forced the city to retest 800k philipinos helpers because he lied and contaminated some going to a party (and slowed down tracking since he lied to protect his friends from quarantine) before leaving his 1-week long (+short quarantine at the time, he's the reason we have 3 weeks now) vacation... So your 100 euros wasted, Im not crying for them :p
  - solididiot 5y ago
    Heavily off-topic but I think he means that you pay and get the test _before_ actually making the trip on which you might actually get the virus. Which indeed makes no sense other than making Dublin airport richer. OTOH if you spend some time in Dublin I'm afraid you get used to burning money for no good reason as the city has become absurdly expensive in recent years.
- avh02 5y ago
  some countries had an exception to testing for short trips (when only essential travel was allowed)
- djohnston 5y ago
  FWIW I've been re-using the same test number on all my trips and no one ever stops me. I've saved hundreds of pounds doing this and I just have the NHS send me the same test for free.
- nly 5y ago
  €35 private antigen test in the UK[0], taken within 48 hours of your planned return, would have done it. You paid €100 because you didn't read the guidance and prepare. [0] https://fly.randox.com/ https://fly.randox.com/
  - djohnston 5y ago
    The fact that you're expected to pay some private company 35 quid for a test the NHS will send you for free is laughable and demands subversion.
    - aflag 5y ago
      Disagree. The nhs doesn’t provide it for free, but it’s paid by everyone. international tourism is not really a necessity, if you can afford that, you should be able to afford a test too. There are many test providers, but they are all in high demand right now, so it’s expected that the prices and waiting times are higher than they used to be. The cost of travel during the pandemic has certainly increased, specially when going through the peak of a huge wave as we are right now. I don’t think it’s unreasonable. I do get the complaint regarding going back and forth from Ireland. The transit between NI and Ireland should be smoother and not require you to pay extra. However, if you’re coming from Portugal, the US, etc I think it’s entirely reasonable,
    - iso1210 5y ago
      You want the taxpayer to pay for the test so you can go on holiday?
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - djohnston 5y ago
        I am the taxpayer.
        aflag 5y ago
- biztos 5y ago
  Last time I entered the EU (fully vaxxed) I had to pay $375 for a 24h PCR test in San Francisco because Portugal, unlike most EU countries, was not yet accepting US proof of vaccination. I was pretty happy to pay “only” 100 EUR for the next one, which was to go between two Schengen countries in August, yay borderless Europe!
durnygbur 5y ago
- djohnston 5y ago
  With respect to the private testing entities with buddies in parliament that make it mandatory for us to pay businesses like Randox, I entirely agree.
  - kreeben 5y ago
    I don't see the scam nor a conspiracy. First of all, private COVID test producing corporations are prolonging the pandemic by suggesting to gov't that testing be done to a higher degree than necessary? Why would governments fall for that? Oh, you mean they're all corrupt. Well, then you should call all government procurements corrupt, not just this one.
  - jjgreen 5y ago
    It is good to see on the London underground that the adverts for these COVID-test scammers are routinely daubed as such.
- fortran77 5y ago
  I think the test requirements are a scam. The most dangerous thing I did on my trip last week to the UK was have to wait on line in a stuffy crowded room for over an hour to take my post-landing PCR test. It would have been safer for people to take a rapid test outdoors.
  - kreeben 5y ago
    Most people aren't good with logistics. This procedure might have been called a "well it's better than nothing" solution, because of the logistics, instead of it being a scam. Just saying.

I've recently been travelling to some fam in Europe and the entire COVID experience is so convoluted and obscene I feel a moral obligation to defraud the private services profiting off of it.

ilikerashers 5y ago

Paying 100 euro for a test at the airport in Dublin when you depart so you can prove you didn't get COVID in the UK when you come back into Ireland 2 days later. No logic or reasoning.

djohnston 5y ago
The logic is "let's milk these sheep for every penny we can while the scare tactics still work"
secondaryacct 5y ago
In Hong Kong it's simpler: 3-week hotel quarantine when you enter and no guarantee that if you leave your airline will be allowed back in. I havent moved for the last 2 years and my daughter has grown her first years by seeing her grandparents on Skype. Im not risking what a friend lived through, stuck 6 months in Europe unable to come back. New people entering these days do so without their family and with the clear understanding they re stuck here for a while. 0-case policy is not even working so well, since the last week we had an "explosive" cluster of 5 cases (so far) because a now fired freight airline employee went out sick everywhere ... The only potential exit will be China, maybe, if they dont get scared by our recent uptick, if you like to install their gps-based tracking system. And you better not be foreign-looking and sick while in China, you're never coming back :D The best story was when they still allowed exceptions for diplomatic staff and families and the kids of a Saudi official decided they were too good for self isolation and created a mini cluster isolating entire buildings for re-test. Or the Dubai IT guy who's now in jail after he forced the city to retest 800k philipinos helpers because he lied and contaminated some going to a party (and slowed down tracking since he lied to protect his friends from quarantine) before leaving his 1-week long (+short quarantine at the time, he's the reason we have 3 weeks now) vacation... So your 100 euros wasted, Im not crying for them :p
- solididiot 5y ago
  Heavily off-topic but I think he means that you pay and get the test _before_ actually making the trip on which you might actually get the virus. Which indeed makes no sense other than making Dublin airport richer. OTOH if you spend some time in Dublin I'm afraid you get used to burning money for no good reason as the city has become absurdly expensive in recent years.
avh02 5y ago
some countries had an exception to testing for short trips (when only essential travel was allowed)
djohnston 5y ago
FWIW I've been re-using the same test number on all my trips and no one ever stops me. I've saved hundreds of pounds doing this and I just have the NHS send me the same test for free.
nly 5y ago
€35 private antigen test in the UK[0], taken within 48 hours of your planned return, would have done it. You paid €100 because you didn't read the guidance and prepare. [0] https://fly.randox.com/ https://fly.randox.com/
- djohnston 5y ago
  The fact that you're expected to pay some private company 35 quid for a test the NHS will send you for free is laughable and demands subversion.
  - aflag 5y ago
    Disagree. The nhs doesn’t provide it for free, but it’s paid by everyone. international tourism is not really a necessity, if you can afford that, you should be able to afford a test too. There are many test providers, but they are all in high demand right now, so it’s expected that the prices and waiting times are higher than they used to be. The cost of travel during the pandemic has certainly increased, specially when going through the peak of a huge wave as we are right now. I don’t think it’s unreasonable. I do get the complaint regarding going back and forth from Ireland. The transit between NI and Ireland should be smoother and not require you to pay extra. However, if you’re coming from Portugal, the US, etc I think it’s entirely reasonable,
  - iso1210 5y ago
    You want the taxpayer to pay for the test so you can go on holiday?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - djohnston 5y ago
      I am the taxpayer.
      - aflag 5y ago
biztos 5y ago
Last time I entered the EU (fully vaxxed) I had to pay $375 for a 24h PCR test in San Francisco because Portugal, unlike most EU countries, was not yet accepting US proof of vaccination. I was pretty happy to pay “only” 100 EUR for the next one, which was to go between two Schengen countries in August, yay borderless Europe!

durnygbur 5y ago

djohnston 5y ago
With respect to the private testing entities with buddies in parliament that make it mandatory for us to pay businesses like Randox, I entirely agree.
- kreeben 5y ago
  I don't see the scam nor a conspiracy. First of all, private COVID test producing corporations are prolonging the pandemic by suggesting to gov't that testing be done to a higher degree than necessary? Why would governments fall for that? Oh, you mean they're all corrupt. Well, then you should call all government procurements corrupt, not just this one.
- jjgreen 5y ago
  It is good to see on the London underground that the adverts for these COVID-test scammers are routinely daubed as such.
fortran77 5y ago
I think the test requirements are a scam. The most dangerous thing I did on my trip last week to the UK was have to wait on line in a stuffy crowded room for over an hour to take my post-landing PCR test. It would have been safer for people to take a rapid test outdoors.
- kreeben 5y ago
  Most people aren't good with logistics. This procedure might have been called a "well it's better than nothing" solution, because of the logistics, instead of it being a scam. Just saying.