<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Leumas:
Interesting... I always thought all airlines do are to check whether you've have a valid and not-near-expiring passport and whether it's you... They don't necessarily check whether you've a valid visa to enter the destination country...
To put it another way, I don't recall any airline staff checking the visa pages in my passport...?
Isn't that what Immigration is for when checking for valid visas?</font>
As explained, many countries have put the onus on the transporter to ensure that passengers are able to enter the destination country.
Most of it is straight forward e.g. Australian flying SYD-LHR needs no visa for the UK so if they see you are an Australian passport holder they won't check to see if you actually have a visa e.g work permit, right of abode etc.
However if it is a Jamaican National (for example) checkin at SYD for LHR, the CSA will look for a valid visa, and if one is not their confirm if Jamaicans need visas for UK entry with their handbook as the CSA probably does not get many Jamaicans cheking in at SYD for LHR. (Jamaicans now need Visas for any UK entry)
If the Australian then turns up to Heathrow but is disallowed entry to the UK by Immigration for whatever reason, the airline has not broken the law and is not responsible for repatriation costs.
However if the Jamaican turned up at LHR without the visa, the airline is breaking the law and may be fined and suffer the costs of repatriating the passenger.