myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Use this topic thread to update, check for and post any useful info that you may have.

What i know for sure so far is:

No international commercial flight allowed to land or depart after 23.59 on the 22nd.
BA and Virgin do not know this yet !!
CAL have already grounded most of the fleet so no island hopping route currently available
No cases recorded on tobago yet
Stores in the Crown Point area, Canaan, carnbee, Bethel etc well stocked for now
Sinanans Pharmacy in Milford Court also well stocked yesterday, including gloves
Hand sanitiser made by mixing rubbing alcohol with body lotion is just fine
BA are full ex Piarco tomorrow

On the phone to BA now - some talk of a "rescue flight" TAB-LGW tomorrow but in all honesty the operators are as confused as we are

Paul

Very helpful lady at BA seems to think that they have a flight TAB-LGW on the 22nd ? Interestingly, this "new, maybe non-existent" flight has the same details and references in their system as the monday one but she doesnt know why this has popped up on the system and doesnt know if its a glitch or not.

searching for a sunday BA flight on the booking system shows no such flight however

Virgin have no availability tomorrow according to their system

paul

and shes now realised that there is no sunday flight after all !!

paul

my cell # is 750 8711

paul

Hi Paul

Thanks for opening this thread. Looks like quite a few of us will be stranded on Tobago for the duration. Of course nobody can guess how long that will be.

Any 'stranded' souls who have any questions or need any help, please post here and we'll all try to work together to find solutions.

Here's an immediate question that I hope someone can answer: Does anyone know a good helpful doctor on Tobago who can arrange for stranded visitors to have UK-issued medical prescriptions fulfilled? Both Jill and I are on a bunch of meds and only have about 8 days supply left.

Good luck everyone and keep smiling.

Steve

Some pharmacists will cash the script anyway but here's 2 to start the ball rolling as it were :

Dr Paul Burnett 746 5262
Dr Thompson 313 2893

Not used by myself but suggested by an british ex-pat friend down here

Paul

Thanks Paul. Just realised that it may not be as urgent as we initially thought, because we were originally staying until 30th March, plus a 1-week reserve of meds. So, we've got 2 weeks supply, which takes the pressure off.

Cool, anything that reduces the current pressures everyone is under can only be good, however small that reduction may be !

Paul

I received a personal reply from Mr Tim Stew, the British High Commissioner to Trinidad & Tobago, just 15 minutes after contacting him this evening. He confirms the situation and says....

.....You can follow updates we are issuing on Facebook (UKinTT), Twitter @HCTimStew and Instagram timstewfco. Please do advertise these on your site, that would be helpful.

A video update from me will be issued before long. This will confirm that the last scheduled flight will be BA tomorrow. We are working with tour operators, airlines and the Government here to see what we can do beyond that to help British nationals return to the UK, following the T&T Government’s flight ban effective tomorrow at midnight.

Working hard to get you all home.

Well done, Mr Stewart. The fact that he was still working on a Saturday evening at least gives me confidence that the British Government are looking after our interests as best they can.

thats BA ex Piarco Steve ?

BA themselves told me that they are not flying TAB tomorrow and when they checked they seemed to be saying that the piarco flight was full but they had a wait/stand-by list ? Could send a larger aircraft i wonder and some people may be cancelling if unable to enter the UK in the current circumstances?

not sure i'm going to roll the dice on that one to be honest. being stuck on trinidad again (oh, yes, done that before) is not an experience that i'm keen to re-live

paul

Yes, Paul, I should have clarified that rather than anyone thinking that there was a BA flight from Tobago tomorrow. Yes, you would have hoped that BA could have done something extra, wouldn't you? Sods law!

Just so long as they don't run out of Stag, I guess we'll just have to make the most of it.

yes indeed. the absence of stag would make me very sad indeed.

i'm guessing that BA and Virgin for that matter have plenty of aircraft sitting around which could be mobilised tomorrow using rotated crews who are within their hours.

who decides these things ? the airline?, the UK government ? Im aware that ATC are truly in charge and a full clear routing would be needed on an agreed flight plan but surely the requisite elements for a flight getting in and out before midnight tomorrow are existent

paul

and, unlike the coup, we cant even have curfew parties because of the "no large gatherings" instructions

paul

double post !!

just for those who have seen a seemingly disturbing headline about a sudden jump in cases on Trinidad but not had access to the full reporting:

the increase in confirmed cases from 9 to 49 was known about well in advance. the "new" cases were passengers on a cruise ship that left Trinidad on the 5th. It was stranded in Guadeloupe as the vessel was denied docking until arrangements were in place for immediate, mandatory, quarantine. They were disembarked by HazMat teams and isolated in a "facility" (looks grim ! - Camp Balandra on the east coast, a former retreat and spa run by the SDA) and "pose no risk to community spread". To date, all cases in TnT have been "imported"

For Virgin passengers today - the TnT airports authority are expecting the flight (from an inside source, usually reliable) and i see that the "Last Call" has just been put out in the UK terminal. Departure time was 10.50 UK so a small delay it seems.

Paul

BA 2159 - the Piarco flight - has left the UK so for those trying for seats tonight it will be flying back to the UK later. i have no updates on seat availability however, was standby only when i checked yesterday

paul

VS97 has just taxied.

safe journey to those leaving us today

just realised that i'd not added this for those without twitter who may need consular services or assistance beyond that which we can help each other with etc

British High Commission
19 St Clair Avenue; St Clair
Port of Spain
Trinidad
Trinidad and Tobago

Telephone:
+ 1 868 350 0444

It has just been announced that the British Government has agreed repatriation flights with the T&T government. Please see the High Commission Facebook page for details.

BA are running 1-way service from Tobago tomorrow, 23 March. There are similar flights from POS in Trinidad on 23, 24 and 26 March.

Virgin's last flight is today.

you just beat me to that steve.

i have spoken with BA - flight is full (understandably) but it seems that all pax already on it or re-booked onto it should just arrive at the airport as if the flight were operating normally

paul