Forget about calling embassies and reading anything other than the TIMATIC results for your specific situation. That is IATA's database and it is what almost all carriers rely on. In a dispute, even if TIMATIC is wrong (which it rarely is), the carrier has reasonably relied on it and that is the end of the issue.

As others note, it always the passenger's responsibility and it always makes sense to check TIMATIC as even in the case of regular passengers on a given route, changes happen.