A passenger was denied boarding at the Lufthansa check-in counter in Delhi for a visa issue. A Lufthansa duty manager responded to her persistent request for an explanation by calling security on her. But the real question I have is why she was denied boarding in the first place.
Lufthansa Transit Visa Problem In Delhi: Passenger Denied Boarding
Below is a video of the exchange that occurred. We have no other context.
Kalesh b/w Air lufthansa crew & a passenger for Delhi – Munich – Toronto flights with return ticket (Full context in Clip) pic.twitter.com/BO4szehD10
— Ghar Ke Kalesh (@gharkekalesh) May 8, 2024
People want to focus here on the interaction between the passenger and the Lufthasna agent, but while the agent may be a bit condescending (no need to point fingers) and the passenger a bit pushy, I just do not see the problem here with the conduct of either one.
I think it is quite understadable that a passnger who is denied boarding woudl be agitated. In that sense, a litte more compassion and perhaps a clearer explanation could have gone a long way.
But I am more interested in why she was denied boarding. Transit visas are normally required for Indian nationals traveling through Germany, but an exception is made if they hold a visa for a number of countries, including Canada, and are connecting to that country.
Here, I would think the problem, if there was one, would be her Canadian visa and not whether she could transit through Germany (unless she had more than 24 hours in Germany).
Maybe she has a US Green Card but was traveling to Canada rather than the USA and therefore the TWOV (transit without visa) rules applied differently? Even that I question since the rules seem to allow for that sort of situation.
On the other hand, I cannot imagine a Lufthansa agent (i.e. working for a German carrier and dealing with transit passengers from India every day) would get this wrong.
So yes, I am much more intrigued about that than who was more rude.
Lufthansa is investigating:
Hi Harpreet, we are investigating this case and are in contact with the people involved. /Aria
— Lufthansa India (@Lufthansa_India) May 8, 2024
CONCLUSION
While this story has gone absolutely viral in India, it strikes me as a rather simple denied boarding case relating to a visa. And frankly, I think both passengers spoke and acted for more reasonably than others have suggested. The takeaway is therefore that we (the traveler) are responsible for knowing our visa obligations and even double-checking and triple-checking what we are told by a travel agent.
image: @gharkekalesh / X
Have to agree they’re both pretty civil. The agent is a bit terse but this video may have come after 45 minutes of arguing followed by a camera being shoved in her face.
I’ve had some of my worst arguments at the airport with gate staff or even other passengers. Ugh. Have had to apologize on a couple of occasions.
Also, I’ve been caught out a few times with visa rule changes. Flew from Ord to Toronto with the family in 2018ish. Turned up at the airport and was told that as an Aussie we now needed visas for Canada!! Didn’t even think to check. Feverishly did 5 online visas on my phone before checking in.
Actually this reminds me that I need a visa to visit India next month.
@Mick … perhaps you will also need a visa when you depart India … lol .
Last year, I was trying to enter an airport terminal in India to board a Singapore Airlines flight. I did not have internet access at the airport because the free wifi required an Indian telephone number. Security refused to let me in unless I had proof of a ticket or reservation. I was about to ask anyone to use their cellphone to look up my reservation.
Wait, I had a piece of paper…my MS Word document with flight numbers, record locator numbers, dates, also hotel reservation info. Seeing that he was about to let me in….but wait, your flight is tomorrow….you wait…the flight departs a few minutes after midnight so I mus5 check in now…ok
@derek … lol .
My understanding is that the passenger had an itinerary which required 2 stops in Germany (probably DEL-FRA-MUC-YYZ) which requires a Schengen visa to enter Germany to catch the domestic leg between FRA-MUC.
If she flew directly to Munich, no transit visa would be required.
I usually would be on an Airline Side. But after being wrongly denied boarding, even though I showed them official government websites showing their computer was wrong, I am now taking the passenger side.
I hope customers will buy a walk-up fare on another airline, and then threaten them with a lawsuit to cover the cost of a new ticket like I did.
if the rule is clear, why can’t she just explain in plain words? LH agent’s claim that ask german embassy is pretty stupid because embassies rarely answer these questions and why german embassy unless the person needs to enter Germany. If the pax had an intra-shcngen leg, simply explaining that would be sufficient. This is actually a nasty type of ticket that LH publishes because many people do not notice the intra-schengen leg and its implication on the entry requirements
LH check-in agents in India have some history of contacting the German national police’s border control liaison when there are questions about a passenger’s eligibility for entry or transit in Germany. Not sure if they did that for this passenger too.
While the check-in supervisor may generally get it right, I have seen this very same woman wrongly fuss over entry and transit requirements for a couple of people whom I managed to get checked in and were able to transit and enter Germany anyway. Airlines sometimes get it wrong, but a lot of passengers get it wrong out of ignorance too. Also, some airline agents in India handling international check-in seem to pick on women more than men and fuss more when the woman is wearing traditional Indian clothing than when they are checking in an Indian or Nepalese citizen wearing “western” clothing,
Could it be that the passenger didn’t have an onward or return ticket from the final destination?
Toronto is a popular destination for Indians trying to gain illegal entry to Canada by applying for tourist / transit visas with no intention of returning to India. LH for some reason seems to be the carrier of choice. I imagine the check in staff at DEL have seen more than enough of these cases with the predictable outcome of deportation at LH’s expense. Maybe these ladies were being proactive and I dont think they can be blamed.
Ordinary Indian passports for Indian residents with no legal foreign residency cannot be used to fly to Canada without having already been issued a visa allowing entry and/or transit in Canada. Applying for a visa to an OECD country doesn’t deliver illegal entry to Canada or any OECD country. The Indian national generally has to get the visa or be recognized by the relevant government authorities as not needing a visa for the cross-border travel by air before its even possible for such a person to fly on LH from India to Canada.
Certainly feels like an issue that would be far better served away from a busy gate loading a flight. Gate agents made a call, the call can’t be adjudicated at the gate, but in a separate venue with airline staff trained and empowered to handle visa-related go/no-go decisions. Gate felt it was wrong, demanding a justification is inappropriate at that time. The supervisors first response told the pax the extent of the problem- that’s as far and as deep as her authority goes. Escalating to louder voices quite rightly moved the conversation to Security. No longer a visa or boarding issue, it is now pax refusing and obstructing direct instructions from uniformed staff. Pax now 100% at fault, and deserving of nothing but scorn and public shaming.
Omg, thanks for the endless recap. Tell me you’re a white guy who likes the sound of his own voice without telling me you’re a white guy who loves the sound of his own voice.
You are 100% on the mark.
Is difficult for me to bite my lio and not say that all too often those in India seem to believe the rest of the world should welcome them with open arms and automatically put them in the front of the immigration queue because “Huff huff, we’re Indians!”
Oops, J said it.
Lufthansa takes its obligations to international authorities seriously.
As a responsible carrier, we cooperate with government authorities to ensure that a risk assessment takes place when passengers have insufficient documentation to justify their travel to a foreign country. Our staff undertake a risk assessment in rare cases and these checks are performed with extreme care to ensure travelers are not inconvenienced. Our staff are trained to follow defined processes while remaining courteous. In this instance a staff member determined that the traveler in question lacked the necessary documentation for travel to Canada.
While we are undertaking an investigation of the incident in question, we stand by the actions and risk assessment of our frontline staff member.
Jeffrey James
Director of Communications – Asia Pacific
Lufthansa Group