Swati Kapoor was on top of the world when she was able to get an air ticket to Germany through London at a price which was almost ₹7,500 less than what her other travel companions were paying. She quickly booked the ticket, pulled out her suitcases and started packing.
But her joy was short-lived. When she reported at the airport, she was not allowed to board the flight. “I have a valid Schengen visa, my passport is valid, I have a confirmed return air ticket, confirmed hotel bookings and enough euros to comfortably look after myself during the trip,” she insisted, but to no avail. The staff was unmoved.
The problem with her travel plans was that though she had everything valid, one thing was missing: an air side transit visa (ASTV) as she was travelling via London.
There are many like Swati who miss seeing the fine print when it comes to visa requirements of different countries. What she didn’t know was that UK wants all flyers to have an ASTV even if you are just changing flights and not entering the country.
Like Kapoor found out, such oversights can prove to be costly. That is why it is important that as a traveller you are aware of basic visa rules when you travel internationally. This is more significant when it comes to flights in which you stop over in one country while your final destination is another country. And visas are complicated. So passengers travelling to the US and Canada through Britain do not need a visa -- not even an ASTV. But the same rule does not apply to those travelling to another destination in Europe through a British airport.
Another common mistake is to think that just because country A allows visa-free access to citizens from your country you can land at any airport in that country and you will be welcomed with open arms. This is what a senior executive of a travel firm in India discovered recently. With his family in tow the executive landed in Malaysia from a third country in South East Asia.
The entire party had confirmed air tickets for its onward destination from Malaysia, but the immigration officer declined entry on the grounds that the airport at which they had landed did not have a visa-on-arrival facility for Indians.
Get the facts rightThese are stray though common examples. What would be best is to double-check all visa requirements before booking tickets. Type ‘websites for visa requirements’ in your search engine and you will be taken to a host of sites such as www.iatatravelcentre.com or projectvisa.com or visahq.com. Another good option is going to the website of the airline that you are flying on to figure out the visa rules applicable in different countries. The British Airways website, for instance, (www.britishairways.com) gives a list of countries whose citizens require an air side transit visa while transiting through the UK.
One more good option to help you sort out the details would be informed travel agents, or you can even log on to individual countries’ websites to find out the details. But whatever you do, don’t book your tickets or pack your bags till you have all the visas in hand. Vitamin C is a weekly dose of consumer empowerment