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Do people really mistakenly fly to Austria instead of Australia?

People on social media have been sharing a photo that suggests airports in Austria have help desks for people who mistakenly fly there instead of Australia. Is there any truth in it?

Published: 16 October 2023 17:22 CEST
Updated: 20 October 2023 11:19 CEST
A plane flying above Austria
Are people flying to Austria instead of Australia? Photo: Martin Herfurt from Pixabay

One is a landlocked country in central Europe, while the other is a huge mass of land surrounded by the Indian Ocean, on the other side of the world. 

But that doesn’t stop people getting on the wrong plane and flying to the wrong country because their names sound similar – at least according to some. 

Recent posts doing the rounds on social media claim that it’s a fairly common occurrence for people looking for Australia to end up in Austria. 

A post by Nazir Afzal on X, the site formally known as Twitter, shared a photo of a sign from Salzburg airport that said: “Sorry, this is Austria not Australia! Need help? Please press the button.”

Afzal then said that “more than 100 passengers fly to Austria” instead of Australia every year, adding that this photo was Salzburg airport’s special help desk. 

Perhaps the tweet was tongue in cheek – but it got a lot of people talking. 

At the time of writing on Monday afternoon it had received 2.1 million views, was liked more than 18,000 times and had hundreds of comments. 

“What does the help button do, what are the next steps, any first person accounts?” asked one social media user.

“Doesn’t surprise me one bit,” said another user. “My wife currently has a parcel sent from the UK that quite clearly said Austria on the front sitting in Australia right now.”

Since the initial tweet, the claim has been repeated on social media. 

However, on further investigation, it is clear that the sign isn’t an airport desk – instead it’s an advert for a company called Commend that offers intercom systems. 

The Local asked Salzburg airport if there was any truth in the claims, and to clear up whether people do fly to the Alpine nation by mistake.

“Although it is true that people sometimes confuse Austria with Australia, we have never heard of a single passenger who landed in Austria instead of Australia in error,” a spokeswoman from Salzburg Airport told The Local. “There is definitely no help desk in Salzburg for these passengers, since this simply never happens.”

We also contacted Vienna airport who told us that they’ve never experienced this situation with passengers either.

So it seems that people don’t come to Austria accidentally when they’re aiming to go “Down Under”.  

But the two countries are mixed up sometimes. In 2016, CNN was mocked for sharing a banner on screen that said that Australia was ‘building fence at Slovenian border.’

In 2022, the rock band KISS were playing in Vienna, Austria’s capital, but paid tribute to the audience with a message in the colours of the Australian flag. 

The names do sound similar but it’s worth remembering that Austria in German is Österreich. It comes from the Old High German word “Ostarrîchi”, meaning “eastern realm”.

READ ALSO: Why is Austria called Austria?

Meanwhile, the name Australia is said to be derived from the Latin australis, meaning “southern”.

If anyone is still having trouble remembering which is which, take a tip from these Tshirts. 

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The EU's new Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport controls is due to come into force later this year, but among many questions that remain is the situation for non-EU nationals who live in the EU or Schengen zone.

Published: 27 April 2024 07:59 CEST
Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

Currently scheduled to start in autumn 2024 (unless it’s delayed again, which is not unlikely) the EU’s new Entry & Exit System is basically an enhanced passport check at external EU borders, including a facial scan and fingerprinting.

You can find a full explanation of the new system HERE.

Travellers crossing an external EU or Schengen border for the first time will be required to complete EES ‘pre-registration’ formalities including that facial scan and fingerprinting.

There are, however, several groups exempt from EES and one of them is non-EU nationals who have a residency permit or long-stay visa for an EU country.

So if you’re a foreigner living in the EU or Schengen zone, here’s what you need to know.

Exempt

One of the stated aims of EES is to tighten up enforcement of over-staying – IE, people who stay longer than 90 days in every 180 without a visa, or those who overstay the limits of their visa.

Obviously these limits do not apply to non-EU nationals who are resident in the EU or Schengen zone, which is why this group is exempt from EES checks. They will instead be required to show their passport and residency permit/visa when crossing a border, just as they do now.

In its explanations of how EES will work, the European Commission is clear – exempt groups include non-EU residents of the Bloc.

A Commission spokesman told The Local: “Non-EU citizens residing in the EU are not in the scope of the EES and will not be subject to pre-enrollment of data in the EES via self-service systems. The use of automation remains under the responsibility of the Member States and its availability in border crossing points is not mandatory.

“When crossing the borders, holders of EU residence permits should be able to present to the border authorities their valid travel documents and residence permits.”

How this will work

How this will work on the ground, however, is a lot less clear.

Most ports/airports/terminals have two passport queues – EU and non-EU. It remains unclear whether the non-EU queue will have a separate section for those who are exempt from EES.

It does seem clear that exempt groups will not be able to use the automated passport scanners – since those cannot scan additional documents like residency permits – but should instead use manned passport booths. However it is not clear whether these will be available at all airports/ports/terminals or how non-EU residents of the EU will be directed to those services.

There’s also the issue that individual border guards are not always clear on the processes and rules for non-EU residents of the EU – even under the current system it’s relatively commonly for EU residents to have their passports incorrectly stamped or be given incorrect information about passport stamping by border guards.

Brits in particular will remember the immediate post-Brexit period when the processes as described by the EU and national authorities frequently did not match what was happening on the ground.

The Local will continue to try and get answers on these questions. 

READ ALSO What will EES mean for dual nationals

What if I live in the EU but I don’t have a visa/residency permit?

For most non-EU citizens, having either a visa or a residency permit is obligatory in order to be legally resident.

However, there is one exception: UK citizens who were legally resident in the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period and who live in one of the “declaratory” countries where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory. Declaratory countries include Germany and Italy.

Although it is legal for people in this situation to live in those countries without a residency permit, authorities already advise people to get one in order to avoid confusion/hassle/delays at the border. Although EES does not change any rules relating to residency or travel, it seems likely that it will be more hassle to travel without a residency card than it is now.

Our advice? Things are going to be chaotic enough, getting a residency permit seems likely to save you a considerable amount of hassle.

Delays 

Although residents of the EU do not need to complete EES formalities, they will be affected if the new system causes long queues or delays at the border.

Several countries have expressed worries about this, with the UK-France border a particular cause for concern.

READ ALSO Travellers could face ’14 hours queues’ at UK-France border

Where does it apply?

EES is about external EU/Schengen borders, so does not apply if you are travelling within the Schengen zone – eg taking the train from France to Germany or flying from Spain to Sweden.

Ireland and Cyprus, despite being in the EU, are not in the Schengen zone so will not be using EES, they will continue to stamp passports manually.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland – countries that are in the Schengen zone but not in the EU – will be using EES.

The full list of countries using EES is: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Therefore a journey between any of the countries listed above will not be covered by EES.

However a journey in or out of any of those countries from a country not listed above will be covered by EES.

You can find our full Q&A on EES HERE.

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