Improperly denied boarding or not? Legal question China visa etc.
 

So I was denied boarding this morning by AirAsia for my KUL to SZX flight. I had a subsequent SZX to SEA flight that I then missed. They denied me boarding because I do not have the 10 year China visa. However earlier this month I had entered China through SZX on a 24 hr visa and entered Hong Kong within that time. No problems.

Now correct me if Im wrong but they improperly denied me boarding right? Not only did I not even need the transit Visa as I was staying within the international terminal but the 24hr transit Visa would have applied anyway.

The guy who denied me at the gate didn't know about the SZX 24 hr visa on arrival. Later at the help desk they tried spinning some web about them sending an email out at 4am asking for a transit Visa but I doubt their claim. Am I in the right and do I have any recourse?

Thanks!

What's your citizenship?

American

Hi,

To be confirmed, but I find the following on Timatic:

Bolding is mine. So the fact that it worked previously may be the actual mistake, not AirAsia's mistake.

GenevaFlyer

That changed a year ago or so AFAIK in Shenzhen. There were signs everywhere for transit without visa when I was there in May.

http://www.hongdaservice.com/blog/new-free-72-hour-shenzhen-visa-on-arrival-for-foreign-visitors

Not to mention that myself and about 15 other Americans did it a month ago without problems. The problem was air Asia did not know ahout the new policy. Now what do I do?

As this isn't a trip report I shall move it over to the Other Asian, Australian, and South Pacific Airlines forum.

Moomba
Moderator: Trip Reports

Air Asia is a tough one to get any kind of compensation. It seems your in the right. Unless you can find a local laws that can legally help you to apply pressure I think nothing else will work.

Did you get the name of this guy?

America has quite a number of countries on it - incl. Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina ...

That may well be, but if Timatic is not updated, as the system of reference for all airlines, an airline can still refuse boarding based on what is in Timatic.

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

WOW, I did not know that. Thanks for the heads up.

How do I check the latest output of Timatic? Lesson learned I guess to not trust these smaller airlines to know what's what. If this was an American airline I would probably get compensation quite easily. These AirAsia .......s are super shady. Refuse to give names, be recorded, or give a written account. Am I completely hosed here? I did purchase my tickets using a chase Sapphire card do I have protection there?

Wow - that does sound frustrating. China transit without visa can be an issue - ANA were confused about the concept when I flew with them from KIX, for example. To their credit, they did make an effort to look into it and I flew as booked.

I'm not sure I would have the motivation to pick this battle with AirAsia - the best conceivable outcome would presumably be a refund of the cost of the KUL-SZX ticket?

AirAsia, BTW, are not exactly a small airline - around 190 a/c in service incl. the JV airlines (but excluding AirAsia X and affiliates).

Based on my experience with US majors, I wouldn't expect them to be any better. For example, got once stuck at Boise airport as they couldn't issue my BP for whatever reason (had a paid F ticket and used to have 1K status with them). Missed my connecting flight and had to buy a new long-haul J ticket. I think we ended up getting a refund for the domestic ticket and that was it. And it was a lot of work...

In any case, your experience sounds very annoying.

He said American... which means a citizen of the USA.