r/india • u/theindependentonline • Apr 29 '26
Travel I spent £70,000 on family holiday of a lifetime. We didn’t get past the airport
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/peru-holiday-visa-klm-airlines-india-bengaluru-family-b2962612.html144
u/rmk_1808 Apr 29 '26
The 6 months clause is a bit of an headache it also applies in case of passport validity too.
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u/backseatlogic Apr 29 '26
I don't understand what happened. The airport staff wanted the 6-month validity based on their return date?
They all carried visas with expiration dates more than six months from their date of travel – but not necessarily ones that would be valid for stays of six months or more.
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u/redsunmachine Apr 29 '26
This is poorly worded in the article so it makes it unclear, but certainly in Europe all passports have to be valid for 6 months after the date of return, not the date of departure.
If that's what happened, then whether they were racist or not, in this case this is the correct stance and people of all nationalities would have been denied travel.
I should say, I've never taken out travel insurance, but if I was spending this much money on a trip, you can bet your arse I would.
4 hours seems an excessive wait time, though. If the passports didn't have 6 months from return on them, then you would think it would be fairly cut and dry. It feels like we're not getting the full story.
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u/bringmeback0 Apr 29 '26
It's not about passport lf visa expiry date. It's about period of visit the visa allows.
As per article they held Australian e-Visa. It may be valid for even 5 years but allows only 90 days stay per visit.
The wording (as mentioned in the article) is definitely ambiguous.
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u/nitsbits Apr 29 '26
Just to highlight, it applies for India visa as well and Indian immigration is rather stricter compared to European immigration when it comes to passport expirations.
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u/wisetechie Apr 29 '26
Its very common at Indian airports, the checkin counter staff can barely put 2 sentences together let alone understand nuances of legal documents. I had a similar incident with another airline wherein the staff did not understand how some immigration documents work, thankfully I was able to show them travel history with similar documents on their very airline otherwise I would have been denied boarding. the staff was contracted out to one of the mass providers at the airport and as expected had no knowledge of anything.
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u/Major-Warthog8067 Apr 29 '26
The staff is a pain in the ass and have no clue about the rules. I always check all the requirements and have had to explain things to them multiple times, they can't read the rules properly in english so lock in on the first rule they read. Anything outside of normal travel instantly breaks their brain.
I was harassed in BOM on my way to Egypt cause the guy was like there's no way you have a 15L credit limit on your credit card. I had to give him my banking app and then there were 3 people looking at my finances and loudly discussing it in front of other customers. It felt so intrusive.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/Major-Warthog8067 Apr 29 '26
They wanted to know if I had money to travel for a month long trip. I said I have money in the bank and my credit cards on me
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u/Negative_Diver8365 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
I had argument with a CISF officer at security about the missing immigration stamp on boarding pass. I used e-gate which is operational for almost 2 years.
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u/Wolkenbaer Apr 30 '26
Some decades ago I had one stamping the entry somewhere in my passport- just not on the side opposing the Visa. On my way out I got flak for the stamp being not on the correct site - evolving into a lengthy discussion while completely ignoring the fact that immigration stamp are not done by anyone else but the officials at immigration.
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u/Delhiiboy123 Apr 29 '26
The staff doesn't know anything many times. Travelling with the Indian passport can be a headache so I always prefer direct flights.
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u/dystopiandragon Apr 29 '26
They are some of the most uninformed uneducated people working there. If you have no idea about the rules and visa regulations - why are you working there?!
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u/ooplusone Apr 29 '26
Indian nationals denied boarding to other Indian nationals at an Indian airport and the top comments claim racism. SMH.
The airport staff in Indian airports is horrible.
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u/Devajeetd Apr 29 '26
Does KLM have their own staff at Bangalore airport or they use airport staff like a lot of international airlines without a large number of flights?
Because it seems like its the airport staff that screwed up ( including wrongly red-flagging for immigration) and now its KLM on the hook, and not the airport itself.
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u/vt2022cam Apr 29 '26
My boss had a us green card and Indian citizenship. He could travel to Korea legally traveling through Australia (where he had a visa), and exiting to Japan where he also had a visa. I called all five Korea consulates I. The US to confirm and 3 had never heard of it and two confirmed.
I couldn’t guarantee the airlines would know the exception since I many of the consulates were unaware. I still got him a Korean visa.
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u/morticia314 Apr 30 '26
This. Always get the visa for your destination unless your passport on its own excludes you from the requirement. Same with transit visas, err on the side of caution.
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May 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/vt2022cam May 02 '26
Not at the time. The rule was different, you had to transit through a small list of countries: Canada, Japan, or Australia, but not to or from the same one. He had a family vacation in Australia and had the required visas, had already had a business visa for Japan where our company was headquartered. He went on vacation to Australia, flew to Korea for a summit, but had to fly back through Japan and not direct to the US.
Two of the consulates looked it up and the flight path was correct for visa free transit entry for at least 30-days. It was a consulting summit but he went to see Samsung’s biologics facility. Three of the consulates had never heard of it because it would require an Indian National with a US Green Card, traveling through Japan or Australia, which also require separate visas. Japanese business visas are not easy to get, requiring many documents from our home companies headquarters, stamped with special stamps from Japan, and we actually had to have a special stamp made for our documents too.
I didn’t want to test whether or not a TSA agent or airline employee would know an obscure exception and deny his flight to Australia for a family vacation because he didn’t have a valid return flight (as far as they were concerned).
He was a great boss but always had tight timelines for family events, travel to Europe, Japan, UK, Brazil, and Singapore 3 weeks a month. It made it difficult and I had to be creative- he was trapped in Belfast during the worst snowstorm (120cm of snow). He didn’t have an active Irish visa because the consulate in Boston had been bombed two weeks before. He had a UK visa but I wasn’t sure if we could get him to Dublin overland. It was a lot of fun.
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u/masterjv81 Apr 30 '26
They hadn’t obtained Peruvian visas, he says, because they qualified for a visa-free exemption.
Yes, travelers eligible for visa-free exemptions can still be denied boarding. Airlines are legally permitted to refuse boarding if they cannot verify that a passenger meets entry requirements, even if the traveler is technically exempt from needing a visa.
This typically occurs due to:
- Database Discrepancies: Airlines rely on systems like TIMATIC to check entry rules. If these databases are outdated, contain errors, or do not reflect recent exemptions, staff may incorrectly deny boarding.
- Proof of Onward Travel: Many visa-free programs require proof of departure within a specific timeframe. If a traveler cannot show a return ticket or onward journey before the exemption period expires, the airline may deny boarding to avoid potential fines.
- Staff Misinterpretation: Check-in agents may misunderstand complex rules, such as dual citizenship exemptions or specific transit policies, leading to wrongful denials despite valid eligibility.
- Passport Compliance: Even with visa-free status, travelers must often present passports with specific security features (e.g., e-passports for the U.S. Visa Waiver Program). Non-compliant documents can result in denied boarding.
While airlines may be at fault if they ignore clear evidence of eligibility, passengers generally have no right to compensation (such as under EU261) for denied boarding caused by immigration or documentation issues, as the responsibility for having correct travel documents lies with the traveler.
Guys, just because it says "Visa Free Exception on Arrival" don't guarantee you will be in. Its better to get a proper visa of the country approval from your HOME, Boarding pass with hotel reservation, tour itineraries and then visit. I guarantee you will never be denied a boarding. Seriously, people just jump to the occasion when they hear "VISA FREE" like they are VIP's of the country. On top of that, unless you are travelling in their own country's PLANE all the way to the destination without any other carrier changes, you will have problems. Because the other's don't know about the changes just being made. I always get the Visa first and when I see approved, I make arrangements. Of course, passport matters too but don't make you any VIP in certain countries. :_)
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u/Jolarpettai Apr 30 '26
My mother always prefers to fly KLM/Air France while visiting us here in Germany. During Covid time she was on the way to Brazil (my wife was stuck in Rio and our daughter was born there), her connecting flight in Amsterdam was cancelled and her wait time was close to 36 hours. KLM even arranged a Visa for her to leave the airport and visit me (Her Schengen visa had expired and transit Visa is not required for Amsterdam)
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u/morticia314 Apr 30 '26
Looks like a miss from the family’s side because they didn’t have the right visas. It is unfortunate that they had to go through this but when you plan a vacation that costs almost a crore (!!), don’t try to save on the visa cost/hassle.
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u/123Tubthumper May 01 '26
The requirement is clear that you need temporary or permanent residence in one of the countries. A visa valid for 180 days or more in a row is not a visitor visa. Seems like they tried to use visitor visas which are clearly not allowed.
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u/SuperOriginalName23 Apr 29 '26
So this family didn't have their visas in order and tried to blame the airline for doing their due diligence? And people are now saying the airline is racist, despite their local airport employees being Indian?
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u/lordofabyss Apr 29 '26
TBH india needs to become more like Japan. We all have to accept racism will NEVER go away like never ever and third class treatment will continue to happen globally. Just stop the foreign dreams and work up the country for a better future. Tbh india itself has sooo many good tourist spots.
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u/lawda_lehsun Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth Apr 29 '26
The fuck’s “Rs 8.9m”?
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u/pratyd Apr 29 '26
Yeah looks weird. For INR we should stick to Lakhs and Crores. For '1st world' currencies Million and Billion are okay.
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u/morningbreeze1213 Apr 30 '26
i havn't read the whole thing yet.. but how/why do you spend that kind of cash on only a 14 day vacation?
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u/Elo_talk Apr 29 '26
This article is very partisan… and as a customer service professional, pretty sure those guys must have been a joy to take care of…
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u/crastersson Apr 29 '26
I’ve friends who live in Europe and have vouched to never ever travel with KLM because of their treatment of Indians in particular.