AAgent visa requirements misinformation?
 

I booked a multi-airline itinerary through American that includes a transit in MAA (BA to AI) and another in AUH (EY to BA). The AAgent checked and said that we'd need visas in both transits, despite what I've read on the forums and EY's own website. Is the system they use to check for visa requirements for US citizens just inaccurate? Or does it assume that you'll be leaving the airport rather than staying airside?

How did AAgent check? Thorough review of timatic, or just looked it up and decided "I'll tell him to get a visa, that can never be wrong advice"??

My suggestions:

1. Try this: https://www.united.com/web/en-us/app...aspx?i=timatic

2. HUCA. If you are on the phone, make sure they are actually using the online tool

3. make a written request to customer service

Thanks. I'm not sure. They definitely used some tool, but I didn't ask if it was HUCA.

How did you book Air India with American miles? Are you sure your flight isn't on Jet Airways?

The OP didn't say they were using miles.

We found a cheap routing on Google flights, which gave us a multi-airline itinerary. I entered a bulk of the segments into Hipmunk through the advanced search syntax, and once I was able to get it saved as an AA itinerary, I called AA to add the missing segments and actually price/ticket. It was a pain, but it saved a ton of money and kept us in J across all segments.

not sure what OP would get from doing this. persuade AA to allow him fly without visa even those transiting points do require visa?

the link gave by Exec_Plat is what you can check and it's what the airlines follow to decide whether they would allow you fly.

except some rare cases, which airlines you take doesn't matter.

HUCA = Hang up; call again (to see if you get a better answer).

AA uses Timatic. Timatic (Travel Information Manual Automatic) is the official visa/travel requirements of the IATA.

I have found GAs will stop looking as soon as they can which usually is after the part describing visas are required. The exceptions are listed after that and you need to point them to the specific section that allows TWOV transits and how long you can stay in country.

I had the same issue going ORD PEK HKG. First few paragraphs all stated US citizens required visas. A page and a half down they started describing TWOV rules which we met. They even called their Czar of International Travel in Dallas and he was unsure of the rules. We had printout from the Chinese Embassy showing the rules, but they had to see it on their system. Final outcome was they only allowed us to fly IF we agreed to pay any fines and return travel costs if we were denied entry. Absolutely no issues once we reached PEK.

AA clearly states it is up to the passenger to know the rules before attempting to travel, yet they don't seem to want to know what rule book they are using so you can go in prepared. Many have reported TIMATIC as their source. Other airlines actually provide a link to do your research, but not AA. Given AA only flies to a few airports in China, it should be an easy task to put together a simple decision tree showing what the rules are. TIMATIC addresses all aspects of travel into and out of the country and not just by air. They can still refer to TIMATIC for some of the obscure cases.

It is always 100% the passenger's responsibility to have the proper documents for travel. Asking customer service is a complete waste of time and, if CS is wrong, the customer is stuck.

Use TIMATIC yourself https://www.united.com/web/en-us/app...aspx?i=timatic (it's what the carriers use) or check with the consulate(s) of the countries which you will transit / enter.

The problem is when you HAVE the documents and the GA doesn't have the right data. You also have to be able to point them to the place in their system that says you have what you need. Poor training, plain and simple.

Sorry for the confusion but I assumed points since this is in the Aadvantage forum. I stand corrected.

It's actually the "American Airlines | AAdvantage" forum; anything related to the airline and mileage program is up for discussion (as in the analogous FT fora for other airlines/programs).

They rely on TIMATIC for that. AA isn't going to develop resources of the scale of the State Department to determine visa needs, nor endlessly train 15,000 counter agents in the ever-changing nuances. It's going to be cheaper to bounce the rare edge case from a flight and let somebody else deal with it, frankly. Call it bad service if you want but it's commercial reality.