HarryKUK

Sorry by 'they' I meant the pax, not BA. The pax have rebooked themselves on a flight with another carrier as BA were unable to resolve at the airport.

theddo

Since I'm assuming you are serious the requirement isn't to be at the gate before boarding, it's to be at the gate with all documents in order and checked-in prior to the cut-off time. Not fulfilling the exit requirements of India thus means it doesn't matter when they arrived.

BA require that all passenger follow appropriate laws regarding entry and exit. I don't see how you fail to understand that.

Yes, I agree. But as seasoned travellers I think we both know they won't.

They have rebooked them as in BA rebooked them for something that wasn't BA's fault? I see you've already answered that. In that case I would assume BA refunded at least the taxes if you contact them.

Andriyko

Well, I think it is important to establish what actually happened before we can help the OP and advise whether BA indeed owes the stranded passengers anything. We now have more information.

You'd be surprised how many passengers travel every day without exit stamps because immigration officers simply forget to stamp them or because a decision is made on the day not to do exit checks. Airlines do not check whether or not exit formalities were completed. This seems to have been a one off as there was a breach, and rather than evacuate the whole airport and make everyone complete the formalities again the authorities decided to check everyone at the gate as it was probably much easier.

As the OP now says that BA refused to re-accommodate, I still think that BA should at least re-book the passengers onto the next available BA service.

Andriyko

And BA requires that you have cleared security, completed customs formalities, etc... BA assumes that by being at the gate you have completed all the formalities that other entities are responsible for. This was an ad hoc situation when BA was directed to do the checks at the gate because authorities knew that some people did not follow the correct route (not through their fault). As strange and incomprehensible as it may seem to some, for first time travellers it may be difficult to navigate through the airport and be versed in immigration requirements (I wonder how many can find the exact exit requirements and how many stamps, if any, they require, as these are usually not published).
The last time I arrived to the UK the immigration office forgot to stamp my passport and had I been a first time visitor (or inattentive one) I would have missed it, which would not make it my fault.

Dave Noble

It also would not be the airline's responsibility

Whether or not the airline always verifies that the appropriate exit stamps is irrelevent. In this case it did. Whether it always does it in Mumbai or not , I don't know.

At some airports , it definitely does carefully check for all required stamps for every passenger every flight

HarryKUK

Putting aside the specifics of this incident, if pax are denied boarding as late as the gate, or even if they no show, do the taxes and fees normally get refunded or do the tickets have to be cancelled in advance for this to happen?

If BA decide to do anything above and beyond due to the specifics of this incident then great, but is there at least a minimum I should expect in terms of what they're contractually liable to pay back? (Okay, the minimum would be zero I guess!)

Dave Noble

I believe that a cancellation has to be requested at which time taxes mines administration fee will be processed

Andriyko

I am not saying that it would make the airline responsible. It was an unusual situation, and I would expect BA to help the stranded passengers.

Often1

Neither the passengers nor BA are remotely at fault based on the facts provided. The Indian government is 100% at fault. But, we know that it did not and we may presume, will not, take responsibility and pay for the rebookings. We may presume that it will not help the passengers out after the fact.

That being the case, it does not fall on BA to make things right. It is unfortunate, but when things go wrong for someone and there is nobody from whom to collect, they bear the loss.

All of that said, I would put together a short and concise note to BA listing the PNR's and ticket #'s and asking that BA consider some customer service gesture. I would keep it to 3-4 short declarative sentences as BA will have all of the details. It will be important to be very specific about how it came to pass that the passengers passed through the immigration checkpoint.

Dave Noble

The expectation of a company that didn't cause a problem to fix it reminds me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2QZprRgxDc - 54 secs onward

HarryKUK

Thanks, we will do this. Spoke to BA via their Indian telephone number who confirmed there are notes in the booking to confirm what happened and that we should write to customer relations re: the matter. Now that the pax are flying back on another carrier at their own expense (they had little choice as they were without resolution some 36 hours after the incident) we are no longer asking BA to rebook them, but a refund of the taxes would go some way to making the problem slightly better.

I suppose it would also be useful to know if BA were supposed to rebook them onto the next flight, even at an admin fee or change fee, regardless of the ticket restrictions, due to the nature of the incident. In this case I can confirm, despite several requests, no such offer was made and pax were told to exit the airport, speak to their TA to rebook an alternative flight and then return to the airport once they had new tickets. Neither BA gate staff or ticketing staff offered to put them onto the next flight when they returned to the gate with their exit stamps (to find their bags had been offloaded and the plane had left the gate).

corporate-wage-slave

Yes that does happen more often that not, just as a courtesy to passengers, the fact that it didn't here suggests that the BA staff were not very well disposed to this group. Having a TA booking doesn't much help either. I am guessing that what happened here is that the passengers used one of the side kiosk areas on the far left or far right of the line of kiosk, these are often just left open, while there are big queues at the centre lines of kiosks. Sometime a kiosk in the middle will also be left unattended and open too. So to walk through that, first time traveller in particular, without checking or asking, in the Indian context and culture is unlikely to be viewed very favourably by anyone in their airport.

You best ask for BA for any remediation they can offer, on the basis of accepting that the passengers were totally at fault here, and see if they can assist with something. It wouldn't surprise me if they offered nothing, but the fact there are comments in the PNR will assist you enormously.

HarryKUK

At this stage we are not asking BA to fix anything, we just want to know if we are entitled to the taxes and fees back. We are not expecting BA to accept any fault or blame (I think we all agree this is an issue with the authorities in India, not the airline) but sometimes airlines do have protocols in place to resolve issues, regardless of blame.

There is a difference between what BA are legally required to do, and what they are willing to do. The original question was asked so that someone who may have been in a similar position may be able to offer their advice. For all we know, their flight may have been overbooked and the next flight may have had several empty seats so it may not have been an issue for BA to simply move them across. Or, BA could have decided that since this wasn't their fault they would charge them an admin fee to move to the next flight, but still agree to do it as long as the admin fee was paid.

To simply say this isn't our issue, leave the airport and come back when you have a new ticket, is not helpful. And regardless of what they are contractually obliged to do, even from a business point of view it would have been better to make 9 x Ł100 admin fees (on top of what has already been paid) and to have nine happy customers than to have the current situation where the pax have given their money to a competitor airline and been left with a negative view of BA. No one won in this situation (except the competitor airline).

Dave Noble

You are definitely entitled to a refund of the taxes , though there could be an admin fee

Note: this is only taxes and 3rd part charges and does not include a refund of the carrier surcharges

It isn't BA's issue that the passengers were not in compliance with exit migration rules . The issue is with the passengers and possibly the Indian Authorities though hopefully travel insurance may cover the additional costs

HarryKUK

Thanks, will proceed down this route.