Airlines turned away unvaccinated travellers boarding flights to Malta on Wednesday, despite a last-minute legal notice giving such travellers the option to enter and quarantine.

A complete ban on unvaccinated tourists was watered down on the eve of new measures coming into force after criticism by the EU about the discriminatory rules

The legal notice now clarifies that unvaccinated arrivals from red-list countries, which include all EU states,  must “submit themselves to a period of quarantine”.

However, travellers coming from Poland, Turkey and England said a vaccination certificate was mandatory to board their flights, with one Polish family having no option but to leave their children behind.

Michal Mozdyniewicz, 35 said he and his wife were told two days in advance by RyanAir they would not be able to take their two teenage children with them on holiday.

Since they could not change their ticket, they decided to holiday alone rather than lose the money, they explained.

Quarantine for 14 days at a cost of €1,400 per room under new rules

“It was a problem because the rules were changed today and our children had to stay at home because they are not fully vaccinated,” Mozdyniewicz said.

However, even if the children had been allowed to board, they would have had to quarantine for 14 days at a cost of €1,400 per room, under the new rules.

Omar Kamel, a 30-year-old travelling from Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight said that many were stopped from catching their flights because they did not have the COVID-19 vaccination certificate.

“Travellers without a certificate were told to stay until there is a decision because no one will travel without a certificate,” he said.

There was also confusion on a British Airways flight from London. Even though a recognised vaccine certificate is the only requirement for entry to the island, fully vaccinated travellers were also asked to present a negative PCR test before boarding, Manish Patel, 47, travelling from London, explained.

While he did not see anyone being prevented from taking the flight, the plane was half-empty, he said.

Only vaccine certificates from the EU, Switzerland and the UK are being accepted by the authorities and Malta International Airport said those from Dubai and Turkey were accepted as from Wednesday.