[FDOS_UK]

DavidGordon10 – 04/02/2016 10:39 GMT

I suspect that the ratio of people who drop the US in favour of Iran will be an order of magnitude lower than the opposite case.

[rferguson]

It will be interesting how the US immigration rules will pan out. Will they simply reply on applicants to be honest in their travel history and the existence of an Iran entry stamp in the passport? Will Iran offer the same option that Israel used to? For one’s passport not to be stamped and instead a removable insert is stamped?

This issue is currently being discussed in the BA internal forums. We inherited most of the ex BMI crew who operated to Iran with BD. They are now on short haul and so aren’t issued with US crew visas (which we also use to enter the US on leisure travel). They’ve obviously visited Iran in the past but have no evidence of it in their passport.

Anyway not that i’m advicating telling fibs to U.S Federal Agents no no no. Will just be interesting to see if Iran will move to circumvent the rules.

[FDOS_UK]

rferguson – 04/02/2016 11:11 GMT

This is speculation (as I don’t know how this might work), but bear in mind that Frontex was a client of mine at one stage and perhaps I have little general insight into the sharing of data.

There are many interlinked systems (government and non-government) that share information (outside the scope of usual data protection rules) and I would not bet the house on recognition of travelling to Iran being solely picked up from the passport.

IMHO, one would be foolish to rely on a stampless passport if you’ve been to any of the countries involved.

Just my thoughts, I may be wrong.

[Exskychef]

@rferguson-As ex bmi crew that flew to Tehran, I certainly have evidence in my passport in the shape of an immigration stamp, it was actually when entering Israel that our passports were stamped on a slip which was then inserted into our passports, this was to avoid any issues when entering RUH or JED, which was ridiculous given that some of our crew were Jewish!!

[dutchyankee]

@Exskychef, that is exactly what rferguson said, re: Israel stamping a piece of paper, and that perhaps Iran would consider doing the same to avoid Americans having proof in their passports of entering Iran. Whenever I travelled to Tel Aviv I asked for the stamp to be put on a piece of paper as I travelled more to Arab destinations and wanted to avoid any issues. Passports don’t normally list religion, and there are plenty of people who are Jewish living and doing business throughout the Arab world.

[Exskychef]

@dutchyankee-You are of course correct, having re-read the post I see my error, many thanks.

Reminds me though of the time when our dedicated Saudi aircraft was switched to Tel aviv at short notice and nobody had thought to change the On screen maps, which had had Israel removed from them to avoid upsetting the Saudis, good old BD!

[dutchyankee]

That’s Brilliant Exskychef, I’m sure that went down well, not!

[Exskychef]

Went down as well as the time a helpful caterer had loaded the ovens with Hot Bacon rolls for the mid flight snack…..!

[rferguson]

Lol. I never knew airlines ‘wiped’ Israel of the map when flying to the mid east. I’m flying to Saudi tonight actually. I will be paying close attention! 🙂

[Exskychef]

They left the country on the Map just removed the place names, enjoy Saudi, I guess you guys are still Hotel based? We always stayed on Western compounds, great fun, like Butlins but Hotter!! And probably more booze!

[Exskychef]

They left the country on the Map just removed the place names, enjoy Saudi, I guess you guys are still Hotel based? We always stayed on Western compounds, great fun, like Butlins but Hotter!! And probably more booze!

[FDOS_UK]

Exskychef

Maybe we once shared the same aircraft, as I used bmi to RUH quite a bit and thought the service was fab on the A332s.

Generally, as someone who has travelled to the region for a long time and works regularly in the Arabic world

1 – being Jewish and being Israeli (or Zionist) are viewed differently by some Arabs – there have been people of the Jewish religion living peacefully in the Arab countries for many centuries and there still are – but, Israel is unmentionable to many

2 – To the mind of many Arab immigration officers, if the regulation says deny entry to people with Israeli stamps in the passport, then that’s what they will do – they probably aren’t that interested in whether you have been or not, as they have more in life to worry about and realise that a lot of western business people will visit israel sometimes – I don’t think this situation is necessarily comparable to the US re Iran/Iraq etc

3- re the bacon rolls, the worst thing for many pax would be the need to maintain decorum and refuse one, whilst secretly really wanting to eat it! I have a Saudi client who took his bachelor degree in Newcastle upon Tyne and insists a hot Pork Pie is the best winter warmer he ever had

4 – re compounds/boozo the wonder drug, if you visit a typical supermarket in KSA you will find a wonderful selection of grape juices and also very large bags (5kg+) of sugar – a little basic chemistry knowledge and you can guess the rest – this knowledge is not exclusive to expats

5 – you can buy 70% alchol in the supermarkets for cleaning purposes – occasionally expat building workers die of alcohol related poisoning – join up the dots……..

[MartynSinclair]

I visit Israel and Arab countries and is one of the 3 reasons I have 2 passports.

[Exskychef]

The other 2 reasons being? You are James Bond? You have dual nationality?

[Exskychef]

Highly likely we shared a tube, was on this route twice a week for about 5 years!

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