dandso1

Hi Fellow travelers,

Greetings !

Need real input from you all. Please.

I was traveling from Montreal to Dubai via LHR with British airways. I don't hold the easiest of travel passports lol. I hold an Indian passport and I don't need a visa for travel to the UAE as I hold a US visa. I did hold a return ticket too.

There were problems at check in in Montreal for many passengers, the flight was even delayed for an hour because of this. My boarding for the LHR-DXB segment would not print, my docs were all good for travel i was told. The manager tells me that I can pick the second boarding pass in London.

Now we arrive an hour late in London, and I head to the busy ticketing desk at T5. Here again, the agent is not able to print my boarding pass. He agrees I don't need a visa after doing his checks but can't print it out. He then contacts API and also some UAE authorities. On providing all my details to them, he gets an email asking them to approve me by choosing the government override option.

He does that and still struggles. He tells me only the UAE can do this from their end now on as the usual override methods don't work.

This process so far took about 5-6 hours with the managers in the know. He later comes by and takes me to a manager and tells her what the issue is. She then insists a visa is absolutely necessary. Lol. This makes no sense at all, after all the approval emails the UAE sent out. The poor agent echoes his managers statement from then on, and seems to have lost interest in the case. I told them I prefer to go back to Montreal, and I get booked for a flight due to depart in 1 hour

I see this as a case of a wrongful boarding denial. The UAE authorities clearly gave them an approval, but BA's system won't print my boarding pass. I have written to customer relations including names of all the people involved in this at LHR.

Does anyone here think that I deserve a compensation based on EC261 ? My only worry now is if BA spins this and blames the UAE for their system not being able to generate a boarding pass. I don't have proof of the emails that the gentlemen who helped me received on his iPad. I hope the investigator tracks it down.

Just to let you know, I was allowed to board the flight from Montreal after the managers took a look at the requirements and gave it a green signal.

Thank you,

Dan

KARFA

Hi dandso1 and welcome to FT. I am sorry that it's this issue which has brought you here, hopefully some happier posts in the future

So on to your issue, just to help with some details are you a resident in the UAE/Dubai/Abu Dhabi or have any separate visa for there? I am not implying it's necessarily an issue, just trying to get a full picture.

Was your destination in the UAE Dubai itself or were you heading off somewhere else in the UAE?

dandso1

Thanks for your response.

No, I am a resident of Canada. I get a visa on arrival since I possess a US visa. My destination was Dubai.

Visit Dubai and also the UAE embassy in Washingtons website confirms the voa eligibility if you check it online.

Im a new user

Note that GDPR requires BA to provide you with a copy of all personal information that BA has about you, unless the UK has removed this GDPR provision after leaving the EU. You might be able to get proof you want if you get a GDPR report from BA. If you are trying this, then I suggest that you get the GDPR part sorted out before you start talking about denied boarding compensation.

dandso1

Thank you. And do i ask customer relations for this GDPR report ?

L1705

When did you travel?

I’ve found an article from the 25th August suggesting visa on arrival was suspended for Indian Passports with US Visas for a while?

dandso1

On the 8th. I read that article too, but that was only for people who were in India in the last 14days/or those traveling from India due to the covid situation there. I was traveling from Canada.

Also the rules changed again on the 30th of August.

antichef

I think that is only if you are arriving from India or have been there in the last 14 days, but the OP was coming from Canada
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...785382967.html

plunet

Care is needed here. From what the OP has said, they are not an EU/UK citizen or resident in the EU/UK, therefore the OP does not have legal rights under GDPR. However there is a good chance that if a sensible focussed data subject access request is made to BA they will process it, but there is no guarantee and there is legal recourse if they choose not to.

the BA privacy policy details what you need to do.

Make your request succinct, you don't need to give any backstory, don't highlight that you are not an EU citizen. Just state you want all records relating to your immigration status, communication with UAE about your ability to enter the country, and these may exist in the flight systems and emails of staff who handled your check in Canada and again in Heathrow.

Good luck. They have a month to respond by law.

mrow

Pretty sure that if the processor is bound by GDPR then the rules apply to all data subjects regardless of their nationality, residence etc.

Tobias-UK

Correct, the residency or nationality of the ‘data subject’ is irrelevant.

Amil

I don’t understand why airlines are more willing to fly u back to Montreal then to just you onto your destination if they already let u go halfway. such annoying bs

garykung

Yes. However, how you are able to get it will beyond our imagination.

ISTFlyer

In case there is a denial issue during transit, the airline is required to transport the passenger back to his point of origin upon his request.

dblumenhoff

And often additional fines by the destination country.