Coronavirus flight delay on flight from perth to brisbane results in hotel quarantine stay for passengers 20210426 p5y5vf.html – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Flight delay leads to hotel quarantine for Perth to Brisbane passengers

9News Staff

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Passengers on a flight from Perth to Brisbane have been forced into a two-week quarantine after their plane was delayed by about five hours.

Virgin's flight VA 469 was due to arrive in Brisbane at 8.10pm on Friday.

Instead, the flight was delayed for take-off in Perth and arrived at 1.20am on Saturday morning.

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Flight VA 469 was due to arrive in Brisbane at 8.10pm on Friday. Instead the flight was delayed for takeoff in Perth. Supplied

Virgin said the delay was due to an engineering matter.

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While passengers were up in the air, Queensland's health advice was updated to say anyone coming in from Perth or Peel from midnight on Friday night had to enter 14 days quarantine after the WA city entered a snap three-day lockdown.

Passengers came off the plane and were taken directly to buses and shuffled to nearby hotels.

Michelle Whyte was among those passengers who were left in the dark during the flight, telling 9News she felt her choice to go or stay was taken away.

"We had no preparation for being told once we landed that we were going to enter hotel quarantine," she told 9News.

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"We were herded like cattle off a plane."

Another passenger, Adrian Relf, said he would felt like he could've been at home, not at the Pullman Brisbane Airport Hotel.

"I'd be safer at home than I was sitting at this hotel," Mr Relf told 9News.

The same sentiment was shared by Brie Vickers, who, given the choice, would've stayed back in locked down Perth.

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Passengers on a flight from Perth to Brisbane were told in the air they would be spending the next two weeks in quarantine.

Passengers on a flight from Perth to Brisbane were told in the air they would be spending the next two weeks in quarantine. 9News

It is understood an exemption has been granted so the passengers don't have to pay for the unexpected hotel stays.

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