Originally Posted by
Andriyko
I’m sorry for the stress your family experienced. If I understood you correctly, the flight from JNB to Mauritius was on a separate ticket? If yes, then BA did what airlines usually do in this case - they treated their ticket as a separate contract and treated JNB as the destination point wanting to see a visa. This is a very frequent reason for denied boarding for visa nationals on all airlines.
I know it is upsetting, and a lot of people have complained before that airlines do not take into account separate tickets for travel out of the transit country, but this is how airlines protect themselves against large fines imposed by the governments on them for bringing people with incorrect documents. What you read on Timatic would have applied had your family been traveling on a single ticket.
BA do say that one must have proper documents for the final destination, and the final destination on their ticket was JNB.
There is nothing in TIMATIC that says all travel must be on one PNR or one ticket. Nothing. I am truly disappointed BA staff would be so careless in refusing carriage. People do exactly what the OP organized every day. I have done it countless times.
Originally Posted by
Cotswold Eagle
You appear to have skipped over Clause 2: “these conditions of carriage will apply to all flights we operate under the BA airline designator code and to any case where we have a legal liability to you in relation to your flight.”
Why do you think BA should take account of, or have any legal liability in relation to, a separate contract you have with a different airline?
With all due respect, that's absurd. The legal liability is to ensure the passenger meets entry requirements which are typically referenced in TIMATIC. BA is not free to disregard any documentation that they did not issue. If they are not going to impose more stringent requirements as their own internal policy which go beyond law they must disclose that openly. And I am sure that is not their intent. This is just a dumb mistake.
OP, sorry to hear about your troubles. Hope you get a satisfactory resolution.