It was time to head home from Bhutan and I had booked a rather complicated route back on three separate tickets. While trying to check in for my Bhutan Airlines flight to Delhi, I encountered an Indian visa issue that nearly scuttled the trip home.
Indian Visa Scare On Bhutan Airlines – Transit Without Visa In Delhi
My trip home from Bhutan to Los Angeles was booked on three tickets:
- Paro to Delhi on Bhutan Airlines
- Delhi to Dubai on Air India
- Dubai to Los Angeles via Newark on United Airlines
While checking in for the Bhutan Airlines flight, I asked that our bags be checked all the way through to Dubai, since we only had a 2.5-hour connection at Indira Gandhi International Airport and no visa.
The check-in agent looked very concerned and informed me that Bhutan Airlines does not check baggage through on other carriers (this is typically called an interline agreement). Thus, we’d need a visa for India in order to claim our bags in Delhi.
Seriously? Could this really be the case?
Turns out, after looking up the rules, the agent was correct.
I own up to making this mistake. While India does not require a visa for transit passengers, it does require transit passengers to 1.) check their bag through and 2.) be traveling on a single ticket.
In terms of interline partners, Bhutan Airlines has only Air Algérie and Qatar Airways:
Here’s the relevant transit without visa rules from India:
The good news is that I had a backup ready to go. As the Bhutan Airlines staff discussed our situation, I noted there was a Bhutan Airlines flight to Bangkok departing at the same time that we could take, then take Emirates home via Dubai. Yes, there would be backtracking, but it made me breathe easier knowing we had another option.
But that turned out to be unnecessary…thankfully (miraculously?).
I don’t know how exactly it was done, but we were allowed to travel to Delhi and our bags were checked through. I do know that the staff made an extended call to the Bhutan Airlines office in Delhi and specific permission was granted to let us onboard. I would think that conversation included Indian authorities since the Indian transit without visa rules seemed clear that everything had to be on one ticket?
So I share this post in gratefulness for Bhutan Airlines and also as a reminder to always check visa transit rules because we may have beat the odds, but really should not have been allowed on that flight. I’m very thankful it worked out and very grateful for the kind staff at the counter who worked so hard to get us on our way. After we arrived in Delhi we had no issue checking in for our Air India flight at the Air India transit desk. The bags made it to Dubai.
But I should have planned this better…
Were you flying business class? I ask because I saw the Priority baggage tag.
Glad you made it back home.
Yes, I flew in business class. Review coming tomorrow.
Can you please write a post someday about the biggest itinerary you’ve ever had actually blow up on you because of either a delayed flight, Visa issues or other? I feel like you’ve had way too many close calls to not have at least one absolutely epic fail thrown in somewhere…
Thankfully, I’ve been spared anything absolutely horrific
My most epic fail was oversleeping and missing a HKG-LHR flight (back when Air New Zealand flew it).
I’ve also showed up too late to check bags on a United flight and then missed my LAX-SFO-FRA in business class and had to fly LAX-IAD-FRA in economy class. That was aggravating.
One time I had an AirAsia flight from Bangkok to Saigon with a connection on Vietnam Airlines but no visa for Vietnam, so I had to buy a walk-up ticket on VN from BKK-SGN.
The transit visa for Belarus was a cluster and so was my ill-conceived attempt to fly the Antonov AN-124 in Cuba.
This Bhutan Airlines one ranks up there.
Thanks for satisfying my curiosity lol.
My worst was in 2019 when I boarded a Qantas First Class [award] flight from LAX to Sydney, put my passport in the seat pocket after we pushed back from the gate… only to have the flight canceled due to mechanical failure, forget to take my passport off the plane, and be unable to be rebooked that night…
I had to return to LAX the next day to get my passport, and could only be rebooked for 2 days later, in the last Biz seat, for LAX-BNE-Perth (my final destination). Qantas staff was kind enough to write me a guest pass for the F lounge in LAX but it took me another FOUR YEARS to acquire and [finally] fly another Qantas First Class award…
Curious if your thinking about through-checking baggage has changed at all since this trip.
OMAAT had a post recently that noted American won’t check baggage across tickets, even if it is the operating carrier for both tickets. So I would be nervous that even an interline agreement wouldn’t be sufficient assurance.
Yes indeed, it is a concern and frankly, I’ve grown to only wanting to take a personal item. Not because I’ve switched to Spirt, but because it takes all the pressure away from boarding early as well. If I’m reviewing a new product, I pull out all the stops to be first onboard. But if it’s just a regular flight, no way am I boarding till the very end if I can avoid it.
Why are you checking bags, homie?
probly to take coffee…
Was my friend. I do not check bags! Well, very rarely.
Great to see airlines going out of the ways to help. I wish other airlines would learn this customer service instead of saying itis your problem nothing we can do.
Yes, I am very thankful… the staff pictured above were so great…so representative of how wonderful I found the people of Bhutan.
I was recently in Colombo flying back to Oz and there was a young traveler in tears with the same issue. She way flying to Delhi and then trying to connect to jnb on separate tickets without a visa. They denied her boarding.
She was flying air India to Delhi so I suggested searching for a one way cheap ticket on the same airline out of India on the same day? That’s all I could think of.
Nice to see a passenger taking responsibility and also nice to see staff going above and beyond.
First rule of thumb for me will be to never connect in a country where visa is required, regardless of price. Saves a lot of potential headaches and heartbreaks. Visas especially those not being able to be obtained on arrival should be condemned as a form of discrimination and deprivation of basic human rights for free travel.
Agreed. I did this because it was the latest departure of the day…I did not want to get up early!
Lesson learned.