The Matney family smiles for a photo during a holiday visit to South Africa in November. Longview couple Dane and Kathryn Matney were forced to extend the trip after their Qatar Airways flight was canceled.

An East Texas couple visiting their missionary son in South Africa should now have a way to get home after they say their initial plans were foiled due to airline confusion and travel restrictions related to the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

Kathryn and Dane Matney, of Longview, landed Nov. 12 for what was supposed to be a two-week holiday visit with their son John, his wife and their children. When the time came for them to head home on Nov. 26, John Matney said his parents sat on a Qatar Airways flight in Johannesburg for several hours before the more than 200 passengers were told they had to exit the plane.

Matney said the airline cited a proclamation President Joe Biden signed Nov. 26, the same day his parents’ flight was canceled, restricting travel of visitors from South Africa along with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Biden on Nov. 26 announced the travel restrictions in response to the COVID-19 variant, which he said was “spreading through Southern Africa.” The restrictions; however, were not set to go into effect until Nov. 29.

It is the couple’s first visit to South Africa to see their son, who has been in the country three-and-a-half years, and finding a flight back to the United States has been challenging, they said.

“We sat on the plane for several hours, and they didn’t provide us with a proper explanation of what was happening,” Dane Matney said.

The situation became worse when passengers were taken to local hotels, they said. With no way to contact their son to let him know what was happening, the Matneys said panic set in.

Their son eventually got ahold of a friend living in Johannesburg. The friend went to several hotels looking for John’s parents only to have to travel an extra 45 minutes to find them.

“We were very tired after having to carry all our luggage from the plane to the bus to the hotel,” Dane Matney said. “We barely got sleep the whole night and had to be back at the airport the next morning. When we got to the airport, no one there knew what to do.”

The family was reunited in Durban the following morning but was told they would have to remain in South Africa indefinitely.

John Matney said the uncertainty was extremely stressful, and the prolonged visit caused more problems than just trying to get his mom and dad home.

“My parents are in their 70s and 80s. They require medications that ended up running out. My dad had to visit a doctor here just to get his medications refilled that had run out,” he said. “We’ve also had to rely on family friends in Longview to check on their house since they were not prepared to be gone this long. We have plenty of room for them here and obviously love having them but there is no place like home and they are ready to get back.”

Qatar Airways on Nov. 26 said on Twitter, “With immediate effect, passengers will no longer be accepted for travel from South Africa and Zimbabwe on #QatarAirways flights, we will continue to review the situation on a daily basis as new information becomes available from the WHO.”

By Wednesday, the couple had found tickets with United Airlines to return to Longview on Dec. 14.

“We are praying there are no issues; we are desperately trying to get them home,” John Matney said.

For father Dane, the stress of the ordeal has taken its toll.

“I do not want to travel internationally again,” he said.