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Dulles to Moscow on UA – the ULTIMATE double EQM run – right now anyway!

Dulles to Moscow on UA – the ULTIMATE double EQM run – right now anyway!

Old May 13, 2009, 2:37 pm
  #136  
 
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Originally Posted by mvoight
Regarding another poster's comment about what happens if there is an irrop and you have to stay over 24 hours. Surely irrops of affect people traveling to "third" countries to. I am quite sure the Russian government people at DME understand that sometimes transit will be delayed over 24 hours.
A few years ago flying SCL (Santiago de Chile) to EZE (Buenos Aires) our Varig flight diverted to Porto Alegre, Brazil due to severe weather/wind shear at EZE. I had no Brazilian visa. Didn't seem to matter too much because immigration was closed at the airport due to the hour and Varig just had us walk on through and on to their charter busses. They put us up at a nice Holiday Inn, fed us, then took us back to the airport in the morning. My fun began when I attempted to leave Brazil in Sao Paulo. I ended up getting Varig passenger services involved and a clearance from the commander of immigration at the airport to get the OK to leave (since Brazil does a passport check outbound as well as inbound). I wrote this adventure up as a trip report which can be found in the Flyertalk trip report archives.
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Old May 14, 2009, 10:10 am
  #137  
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Originally Posted by indo79
and to UA for this. They knew the complicated visa issue pertaining to DME, and it's not like MRs never existed prior to IAD-DME-IAD service. They should have trained their agents properly and there is nothing wrong with any of what the MRs are doing. If we can fly to SIN for 7 hours, you can bet FTers will fly to DME for 2 hours.
Of course. How dare UA not to research and address mileage running needs?!
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Old May 14, 2009, 3:10 pm
  #138  
 
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Originally Posted by indo79
and to UA for this. They knew the complicated visa issue pertaining to DME, and it's not like MRs never existed prior to IAD-DME-IAD service. They should have trained their agents properly and there is nothing wrong with any of what the MRs are doing. If we can fly to SIN for 7 hours, you can bet FTers will fly to DME for 2 hours.
On the one hand, you're totally right -- UA should know the visa rules in all their complexity for all the countries to and from which it has flights. That's their business and they should know it.

On the other hand, if I had a RDM for everything UA personnel should know but don't, I'd be living in Int'l F. There are so many things that UA's frontline people don't consistently know that it's hard to claim with a straight face that they should know about the application of Russian visa rules to same-day turns at DME. Come on, even the email reply g_leyser received from the Russians doesn't make it clear whether MRs are officially kosher.
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Old May 15, 2009, 9:56 am
  #139  
 
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Originally Posted by indo79
and to UA for this. They knew the complicated visa issue pertaining to DME, and it's not like MRs never existed prior to IAD-DME-IAD service. They should have trained their agents properly and there is nothing wrong with any of what the MRs are doing. If we can fly to SIN for 7 hours, you can bet FTers will fly to DME for 2 hours.
This is a fascinating thread.

But one question sticks in my mind which I think was asked earlier.

A traveller boards at IAD without a visa on a MR with a same day turn.

On arrival at DME, they do not board the return flight (or deliberately miss it), and instead attempt to pass through immigration. They are denied as they do not have a visa. Is UA fined? Or, they simply miss their connection inadvertently, through forgetfulness or falling asleep. They are therefore stranded. Again, what happens to them? Having missed the flight they have no valid ticket out of the country - with no visa they cannot enter the country. Again, is UA fined?

While these scenarios may appear unlikely, perhaps they explain why UA is reluctant to have same day turn MRs with no visa?

Or, of course, it could just be incompetence on their part.
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Old May 15, 2009, 10:00 am
  #140  
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If any airline gets fined in such cases, the passenger ALSO gets fined. That is how it works.

You'd have to be pretty stupid (or rich) to go to sleep when you know full well your once a day flight takes off in an hour.
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Old Jun 2, 2009, 12:27 pm
  #141  
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Originally Posted by as219
On the one hand, you're totally right -- UA should know the visa rules in all their complexity for all the countries to and from which it has flights. That's their business and they should know it.
That IS their job at the gate in such cases.
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Old Dec 4, 2012, 12:52 pm
  #142  
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Originally Posted by ozstamps
If any airline gets fined in such cases, the passenger ALSO gets fined. That is how it works.
That's not true. In many instances, the fines are levied solely against the transporting carrier as the intent is to require airlines to affirmatively verify the documentation eligibility of the pax they're carrying.
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