[SwissExPat]

[quote quote=935540]

SwissExPat wrote:

I have often checked in at ZRH for a flight to JFK via LHR (incl baggage) with BA.

At check in, the agent always checks that I have a visa/esta for USA.

My expectation is that if this is not in order, then I won’t be allowed to take the ZRH – LHR flight (and check in my Bag).

I expect the same should be the case in SNN at the start of this PAX’s journey.

If you have the correct documentation to enter the UK I don’t see how they could stop you. If you are in transit that is a different thing. Baggage is irrelevant, easily offloaded if you are no show on a subsequent flight.[/quote]

The point is that the check is made (and at lease any problem arising is noticed there and then). The consequences would be likely that I’d either be refused travel on the opening sector or if not, the bag is unlikely to be tagged through to the final destination if my visa/esta is not in order.

I have also noticed that on these flights (to USA via LHR) I cannot check in online and get all boarding passes. The message I get when attempting this is that “you need to check in at the airport”.

[SenatorGold]

I doubt you have good prospects of suing whichever airline it was with whom you entered into a contract for breach of contract. The airline’s part of the bargain was to get your mum from Shannon to Doha. It was unable to do so because your mum was unable to meet the entry requirements for Doha. There’s no breach of contract.

Whether you would have a claim against the airline in negligence (based their upon amending the London – Shannon sector rather than letting it stand and selling your mum a new ticket for that sector), would depend not only upon whether they owed you a duty of care, but also whether they were negligent in their actions. You would need to prove that had they not changed the London – Shannon sector that the ticket would have remained valid and that the agent was negligent in not exercising a sufficient level of care in rebooking your mum’s ticket. You would need to look very carefully at the terms and conditions of the ticket. For example, it may be (and I don’t know for sure), that once the Shannon – LHR sector had been flown and your mum couldn’t take the LHR – Doha flight that the ticket was void and that the only thing they could was to return her to Shannon. I would be prepared for the airline to argue this.

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=935543]

SimonS1 wrote:

SwissExPat wrote:

I have often checked in at ZRH for a flight to JFK via LHR (incl baggage) with BA.

At check in, the agent always checks that I have a visa/esta for USA.

My expectation is that if this is not in order, then I won’t be allowed to take the ZRH – LHR flight (and check in my Bag).

I expect the same should be the case in SNN at the start of this PAX’s journey.

If you have the correct documentation to enter the UK I don’t see how they could stop you. If you are in transit that is a different thing. Baggage is irrelevant, easily offloaded if you are no show on a subsequent flight.

The point is that the check is made (and at lease any problem arising is noticed there and then). The consequences would be likely that I’d either be refused travel on the opening sector or if not, the bag is unlikely to be tagged through to the final destination if my visa/esta is not in order.

I have also noticed that on these flights (to USA via LHR) I cannot check in online and get all boarding passes. The message I get when attempting this is that “you need to check in at the airport”.[/quote]

Also your example of a BA to BA ticket is very different to OP. OP was using 2 airlines and was ticketed by a third.

In your case BA would get a fine for landing passengers in US without a visa, however I wouldn’t expect EI to be checking entry criteria for Doha, they don’t fly there and it is Qatar’s problem anyway.

[Irons80]

Also, as I understand it, airlines try to avoid boarding people with the wrong documentation at their point of departure because I thought that if they arrive at a destination and are refused entry, the carrying airline has to pay for the return flight home the next day. Therefore, as unfortunate as the whole situation has been for the OP, the carrying airline is protecting themselves from further cost.
As many have said – and I can imagine I would also be livid if this happened to me – but ultimately ensuring that you have the right documents for travel is the responsibility of the traveller. The traveller had the right docs for EI – UK so therefore the airline didn’t need to flag anything, despite it being helpful if they had of done.

[MartynSinclair]

Question – was the check in agent in Shannon, required to check validity of passport before handing over the London – Doha boarding pass, which had been printed out at the same time?

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=935683]Question – was the check in agent in Shannon, required to check validity of passport before handing over the London – Doha boarding pass, which had been printed out at the same time?[/quote]

Why would they be? The traveller could just have easily printed the BP at home. The BP is not confirmation of eligibility to travel.

[KE LONDON]

I have since found out that yes, documentation check is also the responsibility of the person (airline) checking in the first flight if checking bags thorough to final destination and issuing boarding passes to final destination.

[RedBaron]

I shouldn’t enter this entertaining debate, but there are a few factors at stake that mostly have been remarked on but are also largely all correct. Most of us that have done undergraduate law school (and even like me not finished) and all know the basics of contract law. That said contract law is generally superseded by the law of the land.

As a non British or EU national (Aussie Aussie Aussie) I remain shocked that I can leave Dublin’s airport security (which normally is lax and usually involves a good yarn at passport check about where their relatives live in Australia and which county in Ireland mine are from), then arrive at Heathrow and walk out with no checks.

That said if you leave any major Asian gateway to Australia such as SIN/KUL/BKK/HKG you will often be greeted at the boarding gate by an Australian official doing extra checks on your passport before you can even get on board. Some years ago I became quite friendly with one of the officials at KUL as he’d checked my passport so many times.

Long and short is caveat emptor – you need to have a valid passport/identity card for what you have bought/where you are going. I sympathise with the outcome you had but you need to ensure you cover all these. Back when i did tour management for bands years ago the first thing I would do in preparation would be to seize all their passports and ensure all the passports were up to date, visas were correct and there were no outstanding legal issues/mischiefs that the US/Japan/Australian/NZ Authorities would take a disliking to that may have been associated with them.(NZ didn’t care about prior drug offences- they just searched them for possession like officers possessed).

I wish you luck in your claim but I think old bean you might have to cop this one as as sloppy work – I would have been sacked for such lax work back in the day and had to leave a hungover band stranded en route to a tour that their families/multiple girlfriends and kids depended on them making money from as a result…

[FaroFlyer]

I am astounded by the title of this topic. By his own admission the fault lies with the person buying the ticket. If this a regular occurrence then surely the topic subject should be: Astounded by my own stupidity…yet again

1 user thanked author for this post.

ImissConcorde

[capetonianm]

Anyone can make a mistake.

A retired friend of mine who worked at senior level in the travel/airline industries for many years, and who dealt daily with errors made by his staff and clients, went to Canada last year for the umpteenth time

When he checked in at LHR for his flight to YYZ he was asked for his ETA. He had no idea that one was required, he’d simply never thought to check.

[FaroFlyer]

[quote quote=935730]Anyone can make a mistake.

A retired friend of mine who worked at senior level in the travel/airline industries for many years, and who dealt daily with errors made by his staff and clients, went to Canada last year for the umpteenth time

When he checked in at LHR for his flight to YYZ he was asked for his ETA. He had no idea that one was required, he’d simply never thought to check.[/quote]

Surely the airline would know what time he would arrive 🙂

I am one who got to LHR for a flight to HKG and had to call the Virgin driver to take me back to the Midlands as I had forgotten my passport 🙁 I was astounded by my own stupidity

[esselle]

I once hosted a trip to Paris for 12 city analysts.

We met at LHR. 2 had forgotten to bring their passports…

[FaroFlyer]

[quote quote=935746]I once hosted a trip to Paris for 12 city analysts.

We met at LHR. 2 had forgotten to bring their passports…[/quote]

Back in the mid ’80s I was at BHX on my frequent commute to EDI. I saw a friend in a state of panic as he was off to Milan for the day, but had forgotten his passport. By coincidence I had mine with me and lent it to him to see if it would be accepted by BA check in. He looked nothing like me, as I am obviously much better looking, but it was accepted at both ends and, that evening when we had returned from our respective day trips, he handed my passport back to me. Not sure we could have done that nowadays:-)

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=935691]I have since found out that yes, documentation check is also the responsibility of the person (airline) checking in the first flight if checking bags thorough to final destination and issuing boarding passes to final destination.[/quote]

I wish you the very best of luck but I would be astonished if you made that stick in a court of law. EI will say that:

1. Their responsibility is checking you in for a flight to London, and they had no responsibility for a flight to a different country on a different airline from a different terminal in a different city.

2. The BP issue is a complete irrelevance. The fact they handed you a BP means nothing, you could have printed it at home, how would they have checked.

3. The small print of the ticket, as well as the big print on CAA website, makes clear that having correct documents is your responsibility and yours alone.

Whether EI were right in returning the traveller to Shannon is a different issue but I suspect you will have difficulty making a strong case.

Anyway as we are moving in circles I will bow out. Take good advice and good luck.

[MS]

I just hate it when people make mistakes and then try to blame it on the airlines!

2 users thanked author for this post.

AFlyingDutchman, FaroFlyer

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