Reda

I was supposed to fly to Jeddah from Dubai this week, however at the airport, I was denied check-in as apparently a new rule in enforced refusing Business Visa Holders and allowing only Pilgrim (with the right visa) to fly directly to Jeddah from abroad during Hajj Period (Until September 2nd)

I got a full refund from Emirates after escalating the issue and 45 mins arguing and have a case opened for compensation.

I hope no one else will have the same experience,

DYKWIA

Why do you think you are entitled to compensation? Even if Emirates had let you board, you'd have been denied entry at Jeddah and put back on the next available flight back to Dubai.

It's up to the passenger to ensure they have the correct documentation when travelling.

I think getting a full refund is a good result in this case (assuming it wasn't a fully flexible fare).

skywardhunter

Is this a real new requirement by KSA? I just checked Timatic but couldn't find anything, however you don't mention your country of citizenship.

If this is in fact a new rule, EK technically wouldn't owe you any refund, as it is the pax' responsibility to ensure they have the correct documentation and permissions to enter the destination country, this is where travel insurance would possibly refund you. It is nice that EK gave you a full refund.

If this was an error by EK check-in staff then of course great that they refunded. Did they acknowledge the error when you initially contact you but refuse refund or only acknowledge the error after escalating (if indeed it was their error and not a legitimate KSA requirement).

What did you end up doing? Did you cancel your trip entirely or rebook via another airline/entry city into KSA?

skywardhunter

Agreed, one caveat: OP might have no-showed if showing up late and EK wanted to levy the no-show fee (which there is on Flex + fares also)

Reda

I have a valid visa to enter the Country while there is absolutely no way to be informed about this new rule, which emirates has admitted.
A flight alert on their website (like the US electronic bans ,,,etc) would have prevented this from happening or even a pop up message during the purchase saying that there is a temporary change in the requirement to Jeddah and Jeddah only, not the country to which I have a valid visa.

Reda

I ended up Cancelling the whole trip, as they offered me to reroute via Riyadh the next morning, then take a domestic flight to Jeddah which I will have to find and purchase myself. It did not make sense for my schedule neither, so cancelled all.

extramileage

I'm sure that was not pleasant!

What was your flight number? EK 80x or EK 28xx?

skywardhunter

Those flight alerts and info are provided as a gesture of good will, there no legal requirement for them. EK have no control (and not necessarily knowledge) of short-term changes in immigration requirements to all the countries they fly to. At the time of purchase in fact there may have not been any such restriction.

I think you get a pretty good outcome, even the offer of a reroute is very kind of EK.

Reda

EK 803 and yes it was

extramileage

That's a regular flight.... and still available for sale!

Reda

I bought my ticket one day before, this restriction was already applied and business traveler were being refused the check in.
We are all aware that EK or any other airlines has zero influence on immigration policies, however my point is that what you call gesture of goodwill could has saved EK and myself time (I spoke to two people for about 45mins), money (they fully refunded my ticket even it was not flexible, I had to pay taxis, hotel cancellation fees) and above all the impact of my business.

skywardhunter

​​​​​​ Absolutely. Corporate processes may be too slow or the impact underestimated. What comes to mind is the restrictions on minors travelling to/from South Africa requiring full unabridged birth certificates. On these itineraries EK Shows a warning informing pax (but no requirement to acknowledge to continue booking). However this also took a while to implement. Wonder how easy their IT allows such info to be added to a route, they may also see it as too temporary (or be unable to restrict the warning to the Hajj date range and rather risk the damaged than scare off pax travelling after the end of this restricted date window).

Lots of possible scenarios, ultimately EK wasnt at fault but granted perhaps could've done more to inform in the pax' and their own favour.

simons1

Sounds very strange.

There have always been additional Hajj flights which do require special ground handling in Jeddah as they park at the Hajj terminal plus they had a dedicated check in at Dubai.

However my understanding is the regular flights continue to run as well for regular travellers.

ajeleonard

Failing to hold a valid visa for your itinerary has caused these costs and impact on your business. EK has already refunded you when it did not have to, you are not owed anything else.

If you have any complaint it is with the Saudi authorities for changing their immigration rules which made the visa you thought was valid, actually invalid for entry at Jeddah.

marconess

Some sense! Key... it was the failing to hold a valid visa that led to these costs and impact on your business. Nothing to do with Emirates. If you were permitted to travel, EK would have let you on. But you werent, and therefore you were denied boarding.

No idea why some people feel the easy option is to blame the airline since they are the ones delivering the bad news.

Great they offered a refund but compensation is out the window. Im not even sure travel insurance would allow you to claim unless the Saudis changed the policy after you booked and you could display reason that you wouldn't be able to travel.