davetravels

^ Ya' gotta luv FlyerTalk!

PayItForward

Yup. HUCA will not work well in these situations especially if the question ends up routing to the same individual.

davetravels

But, BUT, BUT. . . . DTKWWA . . .Don't they know who we are?!?!?

Productivity

I agree here and think you'll struggle to get anything from AF. Unless you can show a ticket with one itinerary from JFK-CDG-JNB-HRE, you won't get any further. DL/AF has a duty of care to handle you for their portion, which is JFK-CDG-JNB. In the event of a major issue preventing flying to HRE (lets say weather, or civil unrest), they would be responsible for you at JNB. They are responsible for making sure you can enter wherever they sold you a ticket to go to, which is JNB. They tried to do that, you couldn't prove it, denied boarding.

I think you may have more case arguing compensation for DL, saying that their violation of their own policy (checking bags through and not validating that you could enter where they sold you a ticket to) put you in this position and you should be compensated (as if they had told you at JFK, you could have run home to get the birth certificates). That said, they will almost certainly fight you legally and you will end up getting the hammer dropped on checkin staff at JFK and you will probably never be able to check a bag to HRE again from JFK as they will get stricter in their policy. So be careful about killing the goose here - you've got a good thing going in that bags are getting checked through, next time take the birth certificates and you will be fine.

denizenxix

I've presented my case to AF and will update the thread as soon as i hear something.

davetravels

You never replied to my questions in post #144:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/27697635-post144.html

Would you kindly consider taking a look at them?

denizenxix

The law took effect on June 1, 2015 - my wife, two kids and I were actually in South Africa in December 2014 and at the time birth certificates were not required for entry into ZA.

Often1

This issue specifically discussed upthread.

DL has an interline baggage agreement with SA. DL simply does not for policy reasons check bags across tickets unless issued under the same PNR. But, that has nothing to do with whether OP and his family were or were not boarded on their DL flight to CDG.

It is always 100% the responsibility of the passenger to have in his possession all of the documents required to enter each connection, stopover or transit point. The sole purpose for the carrier to check documents is to protect itself from the risk of being fined and having to transport improperly-documented passengers back to their origin point. But, the passenger, who bears 100% responsibility, has no claim against the carrier for his own failures.

Beyond all of that, OP expressly waived any consequential damage claims he might have had against DL by the terms of the contract he made with DL. The claim you described is the ultimate in consequential damages, e.g., "if you had told me that I had screwed up, I could have run home and fixed the problem, although I consciously made the decision to leave the documents at home."

Where does that claim fly (pardon the pun)?

CJKatl

No.

So each of you has pestered SA Consulate personnel who have real situations that need to be solved for real travelers. Walk away from the computers and get some fresh air. The OP has reached out to AF and will post the answer he receives. Please think before you waste the consulate official's time. It would be akin to someone calling a limo owner in Pittsburgh asking tons of made up questions about renting a limo in Pittsburgh but having no intent of ever visiting the Western side of the Keystone State. Surely the hypothetical limo owner wouldn't appreciate having his time wasted.

davetravels

You must be living in a parallel universe! I have customers who will call me, and say....

Hi! We didn't use your service this time to go to the airport, but right now, we're stuck in a traffic jam. How do we get around it to make our flight?

I have friends who own clothing stores who say that tons of people come in - Try items on, then, buy the same thing online somewhere else cheaper!

Welcome to reality!

FlyingUnderTheRadar

You missed my hypothetical question (as you continued to focus on the OP's issue).

If I have a single ticket JFK->JHB->HRE. No birth certs are needed because we transiting. Airline boards us. We arrive in JHB and the JHB->HRE is canceled. No flights for two days. Now what? No birth certs. What would the airline do? What would SA immigration do?

This question is really generic to any transit where the onward flight could be canceled. What happens when one is legal to transit but not entry the county?

Productivity

Airline and immigration officials work out a way forward, based on unusual circumstances. You may end up with a temporary visa that's of an unusual type, potentially with embassies involved. Without specifics there is no detailed answer. It also is why it pays to think about where you are transiting if you have either an unusual transit location, less accepted passport or both. You don't want to get stuck in say TSE with extreme weather, connecting KC-KC with a passport from Lesotho for instance.

This doesn't apply here however. If AF had flown the OP to JNB, as the OP wanted and then all flights to HRE were cancelled, AF would have faced large fines and responsibility for flying them back to CDG.

davetravels

Wouldn't they just put them in the transit hotel that was mentioned several times in earlier posts that's supposedly in the transit area on the secure side of immigration?

Also, if you read my quote from IATA upthread, passengers are responsible for fines in these cases.

GUWonder

Passengers get stuck airside, end up being allowed temporary/restricted entry on exceptional grounds not otherwise commonly granted, change their travel plans, or some combination of these. The first and third in combination are rather conmon for that scenario.

The passengers' home country embassies are not as commonly engaged in such matters; more commonly it's dealt with by the onward operating carrier and the host country governmental authorities.

The above post's last sentence is not an accurate representation on what all happens with South Africa for the scenario.

denizenxix

We didn't spend anything on new tickets to JNB; VS got on the phone with DL Atlanta and they managed to get us on VS601 LHR - JNB the following day. We called SAA and were able to change our tickets from JNB to HRE for about $250 and there were no issues encountered on our return trip.

The day of boarding denial, VS put us up at an airport hotel at LHR and gave us some shuttle bus and meal vouchers; we were on our way to HRE the following day. I'm grateful for the way VS stepped in and enabled us to continue our journey but isn't DL/VS willingness to rectify the situation in a way an admission of "guilt"? If we truly erred couldn't they simply have said you screwed up and our only responsibility now is to get you back to JFK?