Missed flight but no visa to get a hotel

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Many years ago. My wife and I flew Bangkok to London via Athens. She was not yet British. She needed and had a UK visa. She did not have a Greek visa which was okay for transit but not to enter Greece.

While in London, we considered stopping in Athens on the return trip so we inquired at the Greek embassy in London. It was not possible to get a visa in time so we dropped the idea.

When we got out in Athens and went to the transfer desk, we were told that the flight was overbooked. They asked for volunteers to take the next flight in 3 days time. We were offered local transport, a hotel, and meals. I volunteered but explained that my wife would need a visa. They said that they would sort it out. This was remarkably quick. My wife's passport was held at the airport and she was given a receipt. We did not have much in our hand luggage so we asked about our checked in luggage. We were shown into the storage and pointed to a mountain of bags. We could not find ours in a reasonable time.

So, you might be lucky but, as others have said, there is no guarantee, you might also be unlucky.

Upvote:8

I once spent a night on the airport terminal floor precisely because of this issue. The inbound flight was late and the airline was willing to pay for my hotel, but immigration authorities didn't let me in. Immigration authorities tend not to care about passenger comfort -- if you need a visa and don't have one, you can't enter, and they have zero obligations to accommodate you.

Most countries can issue a temporary entry permit on the spot to cover unforeseen circumstances. Normally they won't issue it for a simple flight delay, but in serious cases, such as urgent medical need (e.g. a heart attack), they might make an exception.

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, it's worthwhile to ask the airline and immigration officers to resolve the issue, but accept that it might not be possible.

If immigration won't let you in, you can try to ask the airline to give you free business class lounge access instead of the hotel -- those tend to be much better for sleeping than common areas, but unfortunately, some of them close late at night.

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