At least 20 Belgian youngsters who this week became infected with the coronavirus have flown back to Belgium, although it was already known in Spain that they tested positive. Travel organisation Jongerentravel.be was supposed to return them by bus, but the parents of those youngsters decided differently: they massively booked plane tickets.
Jongerentravel.be manager Katrien Corens is far from happy about the fact the youngsters returned by plane: “It is incomprehensible that they have done this without hesitation,” she says to Belgian broadcast VRTNWS. “The system isn’t right: you can just return from a so-called red zone after being tested positive? Sheer madness,” she added.
Exception made for youngsters to return to Belgium, by bus
Recently, Spain turned back into a “red zone”: anyone who becomes infected on holiday must go into quarantine in the particular country. Yet for minors, an exception was made so they could travel back to Belgium by bus, but not by plane.
In any case, you must complete the Passenger Location Form (PLF) no more than 48 hours before you arrive back in Belgium. Based on this, it will be decided whether you have run a risk and whether or not you should be tested.
A loophole in the system
Airlines do not ask Belgians for a negative PCR test if flying back to Belgium. You can therefore easily “hide” a positive test, although that is of course not the intention. The parents and returning youth also did not consider the fact that they could also possibly infect passengers and crew members on board and other people in the airports.
