Query about being refused to fly
Hi All,
Looking for your advice. I am unfortunately not seasoned on the topic of travel in the Europe region and have a bit of advice to ask.
I aim to be as objective as possible and I recognise I am entirely to blame for the situation we found ourselves in, a tough lesson to learn, but I am concerned about the airline's role in this and want to seek some feedback from you.
My wife and I travelled to Europe from Singapore for our honeymoon. For this, she needed a Schengen visa. The visa requires all travel to be booked (not paid) before applying. I really should have used a travel agent but lesson here is learned. I booked a full itinerary with a particular airline from SIN to FCO, VCE to ATH, ATH to SIN. Each of these transit via the Airline's hub.
Unfortunately as I now understand fully, the transit between VCE to ATH was via a non Schengen country. It is also a country that requires a visa for entry but not for transit < 24 hours, which we did not have as we did not need it per the itinerary.
The Italian embassy approved our travel plans and issued a single-entry visa. I, sadly, took this as validation of the travel plans and did not reconsider the plans thereafter. I realise this is my responsibility and I don't seek to minimize it, only as an insight to my thought process.
We left VCE and were stamped out. I now know (add this to the list) that this completed the single entry visa. We were carried to the transit airport without incident.
Upon boarding for the leg to ATH, we were denied boarding. This is specifically where a situation I never imagined unfolded. We were held back by the gate agents who assured us they would assist us. After boarding all other passengers, they literally pulled back the ropes and started walking off.
I followed them and asked what we would do now, they shrugged and said "I cannot help you". I asked if anyone could, they said no.
We were now stuck airside at the airport with no entry visa. I couldn't find any way to speak to an airline representative about how we could proceed. Neither the help desk nor any rep would talk to me. I called their HQ, they repeatedly said they'd get back to us, 6 hours later and nothing.
Eventually, I gave up. I rented an airport hotel so I could get wifi, and booked a flight back to SIN with another carrier. Once the booking was confirmed, we very nervously lined up at the immigration line, as our bags had been offloaded and we did not know where they were. Unsurprisingly, passport control had no idea what to do with us.
We were sent for the next few hours to various parts of the airport by various people. The time was getting closer and closer to our flight and I was almost convinced we'd not make it out. I offered for us to be treated as visa overstayers so I could pay a fine and get on with things, but that was not an option.
We found a guy eventually at a transfer desk who took pity on us. I can't thank him enough. He actually took up our case and negotiated with the immigration officials and, on our word that we would return within the hour with our cases and boarding pass, let us in.
We then went through the process of locating our bags from the lost and found office (another hour or so) and just made our flight on time.
My question is this - I feel that I was lucky enough to have just enough diplomacy and conviction behind me to get out of that situation but I fear for others. It seemed like a really poor way of dealing with this from the airline. I can't imagine how refusing to carry someone on the basis of not having a valid visa but instead stranding them in a different country without a valid visa is at all a reasonable strategy.
Does anyone with better knowledge of the airline industry think there is a basis on which I could get an adverse finding against the airline for this practice? I would hate this to happen to someone else. My travel plans were what they were (we ended up flying elsewhere in Asia and had a great time) but I find it hard to let go of the idea that people who do not know their rights and/or are not well versed in complex travel laws are being stranded the way we were.