When the couple Lars Andreas Sunde and Heidi Nesttun Sunde were going home from their US holiday, there was an abrupt stop in transit in Sweden.
Together with eight other Norwegian travelers, they were detained for 5.5 to 6 hours at Arlanda airport in Sweden when they arrived traveling from Miami on January 5, Nesttun Sunde informs Nettavisen.
It was Flysmart24.no as the first mentioned case.
– They took our passports, and we did not know if they would send us out of the country again, she says.
Her husband Lars Andreas stated Flysmart24 that all the Norwegians in the travel party received an expulsion decision against them from the Swedish police, since they did not meet the entry requirements.
Sweden had in fact introduced a requirement for a recent negative corona test – also for passers-by – a few days before the couple arrived, something the Sunde couple say that SAS did not state on its website.
Claims they were misinformed
– SAS’s website stated that we should adhere to the rules at the final destination. Even when we called customer service, we were not told that there were other requirements for testing when traveling through Sweden than for arrival in Norway, says Nesttun Sunde to Nettavisen.
She further explains that they received the same message at the airport in Miami. She says they received a stamp on the boarding pass as proof that all their documents were in order, but was not informed that the documents were not valid in Sweden.
– SAS misinforms. Many groups of Norwegians had arrived by SAS plane outside Schengen, and we were probably the drop that made the cup overflow for the police at Arlanda, says Nesttun Sunde.
See the response from SAS further down in the case.
On The Swedish Public Health Agency’s website it states that the new regulations, which applied from 28 December 2021, require that entries to Sweden must have a negative corona test that is a maximum of 48 hours old. This requirement applies to foreign citizens who do not live in Sweden. It can be PCR / NAAT test or antigen test.
Flysmart24 writes that their investigations of the new rules, show that there are a number of exemptions for showing fresh PCR test on arrival in Sweden, but that this does not apply to travelers in transit and who do not live in Sweden.
Feared US return
Nesttun Sunde talks about nerve-wracking hours at the airport in Sweden.
– We were afraid of being sent back to Miami. We asked to take a test at the airport in Arlanda, but they had no test station. We also asked to take a quick test, which we had in our hand luggage, but it was not okay either, she says.
Nesttun explains that they feared what would happen if they were put on the plane back to the USA.
– We told them that we would not enter the US without a test either, so then we would become travelers like “The Flying Dutchman”, she says.
She says that she and her husband got their own policeman as a caseworker, something the other couples in the travel party must also have received.
– The decision on whether we could travel on to Norway was taken up higher in the system. The police at Arlanda just followed the law slavishly. They kept us on the torture bench, and that was the worst thing, she says.
– The help was absent
Nesttun Sunde was happy when she heard “last call” for the plane that was going back to Miami. After a delayed departure from the USA, with reduced food service on the plane, and hours of waiting at Arlanda, the couple was happy when they finally had the opportunity to buy food.
But they are upset about the lack of help and information they received from the airline. Her husband Lars Andreas Sunde is a diamond member, which means the highest status, in SAS’s loyalty club Euro Bonus, and could therefore more easily get through to customer service than other travelers.
– The help was completely absent, says his wife Nesttun Sunde.
– We must be able to trust that those who are a professional travel company inform you correctly, she continues, who points out that they will seek compensation from SAS for the delays – both from the US and from Sweden.
However, they were eventually allowed to travel to Norway.
– We were escorted by police to the street, she says, who is not very tempted to travel any more in the pandemic.
Also read: FHI: Corona infected people experience late-onset pain after illness
– Must provide correct documentation
John Eckhoff, press manager at SAS, tells Nettavisen that it is the travelers themselves who must at all times stay up to date on which rules apply.
– It is challenging both for the passengers and us as an airline. There are constantly new changes, and therefore it is important that passengers familiarize themselves with the regulations for both the final destination and any transfer destination, he says.
– They must ensure that they have the correct documentation.
– The couple claims to have been misinformed, not only on SAS’s website, but when they called customer service before departure. Also in Miami, they received the documents approved, without being informed that they did not apply to the stopover in Sweden.
– I do not know anything about it, but if they have received incorrect information from the airline, it is only to apologize. I understand that it is complicated, but ultimately it is the responsibility of the traveler, he says.
– Risks having to take the bill
Eckhoff also says that it is pointed out in information travelers receive via SMS or email before departure that it is the passengers’ responsibility to familiarize themselves with the rules.
– We try to update our information both on the website and at stations in the world. We cooperate with IATA (The International Organization for Air Transport, editor’s note), but the changes occur at short notice and often, he says.
Eckhoff says that they have been in contact with the Swedish border authorities to try to reach an agreement on what to do when the passengers can not refer to a recent corona test.
– It is a challenge when the passengers do not have the correct documentation, he points out.
– Nesttun Sunde says that they were not allowed to take a quick test when they came to Sweden, and they had not been allowed into the US without a test. So what would they do then, if they were sent back?
– This underlines how important the responsibility of the passengers is. We as an airline also risk having to take the bill to return the passengers, says Eckhoff.
Flysmart24 has been in contact with the border police in Sweden, and press spokesperson Carina Skagerlind tells the website that they do not comment on individual cases. She only refers to the general entry rules.
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