They aren't just looking for a free space to place a stamp in, following your instructions - they are quite entitled to look through the passport for previous entry dates, annotations, etc. if you are a non-EU citizen. Surprised they didn't deliberately take longer with you telling them what to do :)

Not quite denied checkin but almost had our entire crew denied entry at Johannesburg when the immigration officer decided to ask us for our return tickets. No amount of explaining by the captain that he didn't need a ticket because he would be flying the plane out convinced her. Finally a manager was summoned and he deigned to let us through.

I always find it hilarious when airline staff in places like London and Amsterdam try to interpret visa requirements for countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In most places a valid passport, a positive attitude and a wallet size picture of Benjamin Franklin is sufficient to arrange "visa-on-arrival"

Love it! ^ So true :D

that is extreme! i love it.
what kind of proof of living and working did you present if i may ask?

sadly france is not a country with punitive damages in civil lawsuits. imagine if that happened to you in the usa. could make an interesting lawsuit and finance many future trips.

does english law know punitive damages?

al

interesting. do you think if you signed the passport (by mistake or to make sure you don't get problems with foreign immigration agencies) the canadians would give you grief?

al

timatic won't help
 

this actually reminds me of another story that i believe exemplifies the absurd situations that the airlines can sometimes find themselves in with the requirement to make sure the passengers are admissible in the country of destination.

flying from ord to nrt i was queuing to check in at the ana counter. in front of me stood a few south americans i believe, perhaps brazilians or so. they seemed to have come from there and were flying on to tokyo. the only agents at the check-in counters were 2 americans. apparently one of the guys had a japanese (work) visa in his passport that (i presume) was expired but had been extended by a piece of paper or stamp or something like this, which was obviously only written in japanese. the other guys had similar docs. they only spoke their own language and basic japanese. the americans spoke... english.

this delayed the progress of the queue for quite a while until a japanese agent was tracked down who quickly looked at it all and deemed it to be "ok". although to what extent japanese check-in agents will be familiar with their country's work permit/visa etc. paperwork and possible fakes AND brazilian (or whatever) passports and possible fakes is also an open question.

al

In that case, it's kind of stupid for Passport Canada not to include a page on the passport that says something to that effect, no? Or for any other passport agency to include a page on the passport itself that explains the odd features regarding their passports/visas?

But then, government and common sense are mutually exclusive.

I almost had a problem last year. I was at check in for an F9 flight DEN-YVR. The agent asked where my visa to enter Canada was. I said that as an Australian citizen, I did not need a visa to enter a commonwealth country (and several non commonwealth counties for that matter). She shock her head, and disappeared into a back room with my passport. When she came back a few minutes later she had a stunned look and gave me my boarding pass without saying anything else.

Due to entry requirements I've been denied boarding once with two other attempts by airline to deny boarding (different times).

The time I was denied it hinged on interpretation of wording. Airline at my origina airport interpreted in a way I would have entry but at the transfer point interpreted that I wouldn't have entry. This same airline has been known to allow pax to fly who sign a waiver of indemnity (basically a form accepting you'll pay any and all costs if denied entry - these can be huge).

One time I was almost denied was due to error by gate agent - entered wrong country code for my passport. Easily corrected when I showed a printout from timatec.

The other time I was almost denied (actually I had already boarded and they were trying to kick me off the aircraft) the airline agreed to reroute me (from ADD-KRT-LHR to ADD-FRA-LHR with ADD-KRT-FRA being same flight).

I use timatec to check entry requirements (link) - I keep a link on my blog for easy access. I also use a visa specialist company to double check.

hiya,

would it be indiscrete to ask for more details regarding this instance?

al

I was travelling A to B to C to D (all transits). At A the airline checked requirements for C and decided I was okay. The same airline at B refused to carry me to C.

I wasn't given an option of signing a waiver, but I know others flying the same airline who have been (in similar circumstances).

oh i was hoping you could tell us which countres A, B and C were and what the point of contention concerning C's entry requirements for you was... no worries though.

al

The contention was interpretation of the wording for "entry requirements" in the case of transit. Sorry, I can't give the wording in question as it was some years ago.

I have had problems getting on flights into Indonesia - as they require an onward or outbound ticket - - both from check in and from inbound immigration - - my question of "do they not sell airplane tickets in Indonesia?" sometimes works - - carry an old (13 years now) CGK-RUH ticket with me for people will not move off that point . . . guess an onward ticket does not need to be a valid ticket
keeping a ticket alive and readable that long has been a challenge

I don't have my daughter's passport in front of me, but where the signature line would go it says something like "Signature not required."

What I consider 'odd' would be requiring a signature in an 8 month old's passport. She can't sign, and it doesn't make sense for a parent to sign because what if the other parent is traveling with her?

Furthermore, why is it the job of the airline to enforce passport signature rules anyway? If I haven't signed my passport I could just scribble in there. Presto, there's your signature. I can see the airline requiring that the photo matches and it hasn't expired, but after that...?