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Airlines Causing Hassle to Transit Passenger

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  • 13-02-2019 8:20pm
    #1
    Hiddden
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭


    I am a dual citizen, originally with a non-EU passport and recently an Irish one. My Irish passport did not come through before my trip, however I got a Stamp 6 Endorsement from GNIB which says I have "right to live in Ireland without conditions". I also had a copy of my Irish citizenship cert at the time of traveling. On my way back to Ireland, at the home country I got checked by Qatar Airways staff, they asked for several documentations including my GNIB card (which I no longer have, as I am a citizen now, rather than a resident). I explained the situation to them and they confirmed that particularly being the spouse of an Irish national, there is no issue and I can travel back to Ireland.

    However in transit in Doha, where I had the connection to Dublin, the airline officer stopped me and did not allow me on board because I had to have a GNIB card to show. Extensive explanations of how and why I do not have a GNIB card anymore was not enough. I ended up missing my flight, missing my job the next day, and an appointment with the estate agent for the house hunting adventure in Dublin, and spending hours and hours in Doha so that they can enquire this with Dublin Airport. Weirdly enough we had to wait for the working hours in Irish time which added further hours to my waiting there. I believe passport/border control officers in the airport works shifts 24/7, right?

    Anyhow, they eventually got the confirmation from Dublin and let me fly back a day later.

    As far as I am aware, the airlines must have not allowed me on board in the home country if they had doubts, and not letting me on board half way through the journey is a mistake on their behalf and has consequences for them.

    Is there anywhere I could get some information about this, and any tips on how I could make a claim against the airlines?
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    #2
    ohnonotgmail
    Registered Users Posts: 40,200 ✭✭✭✭ohnonotgmail


    The airline has an obligation to ensure that all passengers are eligible to be landed at the destination. They can be fined if a passenger is refused immigration clearance. They were just doing their job.


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    #3
    Marcusm
    Registered Users Posts: 10,218 ✭✭✭✭Marcusm


    The airlines generally rely on a system known as Timatic to identify what is required for entry to a particular country. In this case, I imagine you were a visa required national and having identified the stamp in your passport sought the GNIB card which they will have become used to seeing in conjunction with Irish residence visas. Yours seems to be one of the minor cases in which there isn’t one. Did they treat you respectfully?


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    #4
    Hiddden
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭Hiddden


    ohnonotgmail wrote: »
    The airline has an obligation to ensure that all passengers are eligible to be landed at the destination. They can be fined if a passenger is refused immigration clearance. They were just doing their job.

    That's correct, but they had to do their job in the home country before allowing me to get on my first flight, not in between two flights. So they didn't their job correctly as far as I can see, as they checked and approved I can fly in the home country. No?


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    #5
    GerardKeating
    Registered Users Posts: 7,542 ✭✭✭GerardKeating


    Hiddden wrote: »
    That's correct, but they had to do their job in the home country before allowing me to get on my first flight, not in between two flights. So they didn't their job correctly as far as I can see, as they checked and approved I can fly in the home country. No?

    Did you change airline in Doha, or were both flights on the same airline.

    If is of course possible that the agent whom checked you on the first flight had previous experience of Irish Stamp 6, and knew more about Irish rules than Timatic.


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    #6
    Hiddden
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭Hiddden


    Marcusm wrote: »
    The airlines generally rely on a system known as Timatic to identify what is required for entry to a particular country. In this case, I imagine you were a visa required national and having identified the stamp in your passport sought the GNIB card which they will have become used to seeing in conjunction with Irish residence visas. Yours seems to be one of the minor cases in which there isn’t one. Did they treat you respectfully?

    They weren't super rude, but no particular respect either. They also weren't clear in their communications. They had been keeping me on standby for so so so long while I had no food or sleep in hours, and pretended that the next flight is in the afternoon, rather than the next morning after midnight! So it took me half a day to figure that out and at that point make noise to get them give me a bed and food.

    The point is I had my citizenship in hand, but they wouldn't accept that. However their colleagues in the original country enquired about it all and allowed me to go. So I believe they just messed up over there. No?


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    #7
    Marcusm
    Registered Users Posts: 10,218 ✭✭✭✭Marcusm


    Hiddden wrote: »
    They weren't super rude, but no particular respect either. They also weren't clear in their communications. They had been keeping me on standby for so so so long while I had no food or sleep in hours, and pretended that the next flight is in the afternoon, rather than the next morning after midnight! So it took me half a day to figure that out and at that point make noise to get them give me a bed and food.

    The point is I had my citizenship in hand, but they wouldn't accept that. However their colleagues in the original country enquired about it all and allowed me to go. So I believe they just messed up over there. No?

    The problem is that it is possible to train them to recognise passports which are laid out in a standardised international format. The citizenship certificate does not have that universal nature. Often, people in the gulf obfuscate rather than acknowledging a lack of experience, especially as you had already taken the first flight. I don’t think you are covered by EC261 but you could write to the airline seeking compensation for the delay. Ultimately stamp 6 is a valid Irish immigration stamp and not a basis to deny you boarding.


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    #8
    GGTrek
    Registered Users Posts: 834 ✭✭✭GGTrek


    Had something similar happen to me many years ago at departure airport in Asia. I asked them to give me a statement they were refusing me boarding. I had to book a new one way flight wirh different airline and when in the UK I sued the original airline UK branch for all my out of pocket expenses at small claims court and got all my expenses back. Airline check in staff has a duty to know about right of entry of the passenger and passport is just one possible mean (especially on a return ticket). If the jobsworth at check in is dumb ask him/her to call his/her supervisor and ask them to write down they are refusing boarding which is a very serious violation of the contract of transport that shouldn't be undertaken lightly.
    As a minimum they should have offered next flight and hotel while they were "verifying" .


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