How to correct IATA incorrect information.
 

To Fellows FlyerTalk Forums Members,

We planned a sporting trip from USA to the Russian Federation at the end of August and booked flights on United with a layover on Brussels Belgium onto Moscow. Some of the members of the sporting team have encounter denial of boarding pass at check-in locations due to IATA miss information stating that “Nationals of USA must arrive on a direct flight from USA.” Does anyone know how to compel IATA to remove their FALSE and misleading information regarding the direct flight?

We have Called Russian Embassy at multiple occasions and consulted with US Embassy in Moscow they are not aware of the direct flight restriction. Therefore, we know that the direct flight restriction is FALSE.

If you use the IATA Travel Centre link and pretended traveling from USA to Russian Federation. You will get a warning about the direct flight requirement. The issue is Airline gate agents looked at IATA as an authoritative guide related to all things travel. Some gate agents will simply denial the issuing of boarding pass and force customers to rebooked last minute direct flight or cancel trip. All based on FALSE and misleading information provided by IATA TIMATIC system.

Any Fellows member that has dealing with IATA or have worked at Airlines please help. Time is of the essence.

I’ve tried the following.

1. Contacted IATA – no positive acknowledgment on the issues.

2. Contacted United – the reservation desk has generated an internal memo to IT without positive result yet.

What else can we do??

Thanks in Advance for your time

Howie Li

Take the direct flight if you really want to go because you are dealing with bureaucracy.

You could inform the Russian consulate in Geneva? IATA is in Geneva I believe. But I highly doubt anything will be done quickly., if at all.

IATA's Timatic system is the authoritative database for visa/entry requirements. If Russia indeed has no such restriction, its government unit in charge of updating Timatic has failed to send updates to Timatic. Nothing other airlines can do if they don't even fly directly to Russia.

Governments don't send data to Timatic. It's IATA's job to keep it update by going through local laws and regulations and sadly they often do a terrible job. There have been many instances of airlines wrongly denying boarding based on outdated / imprecise Timatic data but unfortunately most passengers won't claim the denied boarding compensation (if it happens in the EU), so there is very little incentive for airlines to take their time and double check in case of a dispute.

One thing that helps in my experience is flying on an airline that is based in a country you travel to. That way if you escalate things to a supervisor or manage to get the check-in stuff to contact the airline itself, you are more likely to eventually reach someone who understands the rules. Also, agents working for that airline may be more aware of some nuances the rules have.

Governments and others do send data for TIMATIC, but it doesn’t mean TIMATIC always gets updated like it should or that airline reps understand or properly use TIMATIC or whatever is put out there by the relevant government authorities.

For when rules change rapidly, my advice is to aim to fly non-stop as much as possible and do so with a flag carrier for the destination country and really know and comply with the latest rules, have those rules documented, and be confident in dealing with the airline reps.

From the US embassy in Russia website:

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has received reports that U.S. citizens transiting through certain third countries to the Russian Federation have been denied entry. It appears that U.S. citizens are permitted to enter the Russian Federation only from countries with which the Russian Federation has officially resumed flight connections. To review the list of countries, please see the following website.

And according to the Russian website, Americans are not permitted entry:
https://tourism.gov.ru/en/contents/t...il-may-01-2020

So it looks as though the IATA Timatic data base is correct.

It was not easy but IATA just updated their web site. I wanted to Thanks everyone here on this forum for the valuable insights. Thanks Shannon at United Airline that told me what TIMATIC is. Thanks Tatiana at the Russian Embassy, Washington, D.C. for her confirmation that direct flight rules from USA is FALSE and most likely not up-to-date. Last but not least, I want to Thanks the team at IATA for speedy resolution on this matter. I cannot even begin to imagine the enormous duties and responsibility that IATA have to the traveling world, specially complicated with COVID-19.

For those of you that are reading this, I encourage you to check your itinerary against the IATA Travel Centre web site ensuring that everything is in order prior to any international travel. Remember IATA is what the airlines and the gate agents goes by for international travel requirements.

Let’s go USA Climbing.

IATA change it from and to.

2021-08-18 the warning reads “Nationals of USA must arrive on a direct flight from USA.”

2021-08-19 the warning reads “Nationals of USA must arrive on a direct flight from USA or on a flight transiting through Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, China (People's Rep.), Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland (Rep.), Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea (Rep.), Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, North Macedonia (Rep.), Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Turkey, USA, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Venezuela or Viet Nam.

Good news. How did you manage it? Did you contact IATA directly?

I am sorry but its not the Travel Agent ,Booking Agency's and even the IATA website's responsibility to know the entry requirements of the country. This is why you call up the Embassy before booking a trip and see the requirements online. I have had to call the Brazil Embassy to get the Visa entry information. At the end of the day the airline can and does deny boarding for these types of incidents as its incumbent on the passengers to have full and accurate information. A Travel Agent can only advise you but its best to Google online what the entry requirements are. The entry requirements can change many times before a trip.

For instance your Passport needs to be valid for 6 months after you return trip. Russia requires a Visa and can also require a Negative PCR Test and they can even add a "Fit For Travel" document signed by a Doctor. Immigration is separate from Travel Booking agencies. I could book a flight to a Country that does not welcome US Citizens does it mean that I can fly there? Yes Does it mean that I will be allowed to enter there? No.

During the COVID shutdown Air France had flights to and from SFO I as a US Citizen could be denied entry into France. Yes I could easily book this flight but France could deny me entry if I did not have the proper documentation to enter!

Some countries can even impose a policy stating that US Citizens will not be allowed to transit through the country. Yes a flight operates from Europe via that country to another country and EU Nationals can be allowed but not US Citizens or vice versa.

Point is just because you can book a flight does not mean you can enter a country.

In the OP's case here the IATA website provided False information about the requirement for a Direct Flight here again it is incumbent to know the entry requirements before purchasing a ticket and not to book with a Travel Agent or other service who does not know the requirements. As you can see Travel Agents and websites are not the Russian Government nor are Airline employees they can only advise and deny you boarding so as not to encounter a fine for transporting a passenger who does not have sufficient travel documents and an airline has an obligation to transport a deported passenger back to the Origin of that flight per the Government agreements but the traveler can be asked to cover all expenses.

IATA/Timatic is actually wrong VERY OFTEN, but airlines treat it as the holy grail of authority. The vast majority of check-in and gate agents around the world for various airlines are not trained for deciphering entry rules, so they must rely on Timatic for easy answers.

Agreed 150%

We are all aware of that. But the OP does fulfil entry requirements by his destination country. The issue is that many airlines still deny boarding to passengers, even if they are eligible to enter, because IATA provides them with false information. This is way too common.

Yes, I tried to contact IATA at Quebec via telephone, but since I am just a passenger. The IATA support personnel are not allowed to talk with me. Then I obtained a list of IATA executive names, and email to all of them. One of them kindly replied and I quote “We will review immediately and confirm back to you.” Hours later the correct information was in place. Looking back, I think the nice gentleman from IATA that replied my email most likely push the issue forward. However, quite certain that I am not the only one to raise the issue. Bottom line, like the old saying “squeaky wheel gets the grease”, I have learned to squeak nicely. Works both from the top down and from the bottom up. United Airline, Russian Embassy and US Embassy in Moscow they all were aware of the problems. Visa issuing for US citizens was resumed June 28, 2021 according to the “Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation № 1745-r”. Why it took 52 days for the information to be corrected at TIMATIC? I thinks there are many words but “Grateful” is the most appropriate. I consider myself lucky on not needing to rebook on a last-minute direct flight. I wish IATA have a mechanism for passengers to raise our concerns.

Welcome to Flyertalk.

Like I imagine most here, I started to read this thread and thought that even if you were right, getting this fixed would be an impossible task. And you got it resolved in less than a day? Wow and congratulations. Best Flyertalk debut I've seen in years.

Grateful is not the word I would use to describe someone not doing the one job they had responsibility for.