fomc

Long story Long. EU Citizen with permanent residence In the UK for the last 12 years. Have both EU passport and EU ID. EU Passport currently with an embassy in London to get a visa.

Flew from Heathrow on Friday with British wife to Budapest for a weekend with return date Sunday. Took EU ID with me because passport is with another embassy in London waiting for a visa. Didn’t realise EU ID is expired.

Boarded BA flight in Heathrow with destination Budapest no problem showing my EU ID. Upon arrival in Budapest, Immigration tells me EU ID is expired. They wanted passport, said don't have it, emailed them copy of passport and they were fine to let me in the country. Went to my embassy and asked for temp passport. They said I need birth certificate. I don't have that because its back in London so I don't get temp passport from my embassy. Go to airport on Sunday, spend few hrs. Immigration agents decide they are fine letting me go to the UK (showed copy of UK residence document, copy of my passport) if BA lets me in. The guy at the boarding gate said no so immigration asks me go back at departure lounge and sort out with BA.

I called BA line, nice gentleman on the phone said that absolutely BA should allow me back on my flight giving my circumstances and particularly giving the fact BA allowed me to leave UK on expired EU ID in the first place. He speaks to lady BA manager in Budapest who tells him immigration told BA they don’t want to let me go which is why BA agent refused boarding me. I told him that’s a complete lie and 2 senior Hungarian immigration officers (have their name and everything) told me to my face “We have looked at your documents, you are EU citizen going to another EU country where you are resident, we can’t stop free movement despite expired ID, we have no problem letting you go if BA agrees”.

He said I should contact BA manager on the ground. I called her. She was off duty. She told me same story she told BA agent I was on the phone with. I said I can give you the names of the immigration agents and everything. She said if they provide her with a document that they are fine with me leaving, then I’m ok to go from her perspective. I said OK. Meanwhile, a ground handling agent (working for BA) comes to me and deals with me for the rest of the day.

He calls the Hungarian immigration office and 2 officers come (different than the ones that gave me the OK to depart earlier). After 50 minutes of back and forth, they tell me and the BA agent handler same thing. They are fine with giving me departure approval for the UK and once BA approves me, I should go to passport check as everybody there has been told to allow me to pass.

BA handler agent then disappears and comes back 30 min later saying bad news, “UK border is refusing to give us a reference code for you coming to LHR”. I smell total BS after I ask him what phone number he contacted. He tells me he can’t give the number because only BA can have it. Really? I then said “so if once I land in LHR and I talk to a border agent will they be able to confirm that this process exists…i.e. is it normal for BA agents abroad to call you for a “border reference number”?” He said no not really…because he might not have spoken to the border agents but with immigration?????? IF HE CALLED, which I doubt, he probably called some customer service agent that told him no I cant come in, but not border agents who I’m 100% sure they would let me in.

Additionally, my wife landed tonight at Heathrow, spoke in detail with the border agents who confirmed to her they give NO such “reference numbers” that BA agent handler in Budapest is mentioning. So who did this guy talk to? Nobody I assume. Furthermore, the BA manager told me if she got approval from Hungarian immigration she would let me in. But this guy, despite getting it, didn’t.

There is ZERO chance the UK immigration authorities won’t allow me in. Hence, no risk to BA of a fine. Even if there would be one I offered to pay a pre authorisation sum of £3000 which had been refused by BA agent handler, despite BA T&C mentioning very clearly that passengers are liable for removal costs not BA. So, if I’m willing to take the risk of paying for it myself, what’s the problem? In this case there is ZERO liability to BA because I’m paying myself the fine.

Why do I think BA should let me go back home despite having an expired ID? Because UK authorities will let me in 100% due to:

1. I have an EU ID. Yes I know its expired but end of the day it’s real not a fake one. Very easy for UK authorities to check this.
2. I have a UK residence card (a photocopy with me) and the original at my London home. My wife can very well bring this to the airport upon my arrival. Additionally, they can very well see me in their database.
3. I have a valid EU Passport that is with an embassy in London and a photo of it on my phone. Border agents can call the embassy and confirm the passport is in their possession. I also have emails between me and the embassy.
4. I’ve been travelling in and out of the UK multiple times and am sure they can see pictures of me, etc from the e-gate
5. I am married with a British wife. My wife can come to the airport and identify me.
6. I can produce multiple proof of address. My wife can bring them to the airport and I also have photocopies on my phone.
7. They can very well call my embassy and check my EU status with them
8. I have offered to pay BA any fees that might result from a fine by the UK immigration authorities

Lets face it people, there are multiple ways UK border agents can verify that I am indeed a resident in UK.

To recap. I am totally stranded in Budapest. My embassy cant get me a temporary passport because I have no birth certificate. Hungarian authorities say they allow me to travel. British Airways agent on the phone says “absolutely we should allow you to travel back as this is an exceptional circumstance and BA left you leave in the first place”. I have offered to pay any charges that would arise to BA IF UK immigration refuses to let me in (impossible in my view). Still, BA handling agent refuses to let me board giving me what I believe to be a lie as an excuse.

This has been an absolute NIGHTMARE. Thankfully my wife knows very well reporters at both Sky News and BBC who apparently were looking last week to run a live news story regarding airlines poor standard of service (I guess its relevant for them given Brexit). We couldn’t think of a more suitable example than mine. So, if I’m still stranded here because of BA this week, sit tight and enjoy my upcoming live TV appearance on Sky News or BBC at some point this week live from Budapest. Will post here updates on timing once I have it all confirmed. Good thing I have good internet connection so Skype interview shouldn’t be a problem. I love BA but this time they / their handling agent in Budapest really got it totally wrong.