Was this itinerary switch valid?

score:10

Accepted answer

You can find a document that describes the requirements for transiting the UK on the website of the UK Home Office.

In general, Indian citizens DO require a visa to transit the UK, however there are a number of exceptions. The two that are potentially relevant to you are :

(b) a valid visa for entry to Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States of America and a valid airline ticket for travel via the United Kingdom as part of a journey from the country in respect of which the visa is held to another country or territory;

(c) a valid airline ticket for travel via the United Kingdom as part of a journey from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States of America to another country or territory, provided that the transit passenger does not seek to transit the United Kingdom on a date more than six months from the date on which he last entered Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the United States of America with a valid visa for entry to that country;

If you meet either of these conditions, then a visa is not required.

Now, the issue becomes whether your wife has a valid US visa, and unfortunately the simple fact is that she DOES NOT. Although she might have been approved for a H1B visa, until she has the visa stamp in her passport, she does not have the visa.

As she does not have a valid US visa, exception (b) above clearly does not apply.

Exception (c) is a little less clear. It could potentially be read that a valid visa is not required at this point in time, as long as she had one previously, AND entered the US on that visa no more than 6 months ago. However it is possible that I am reading that incorrectly.

That said, you have confirmed that she entered the US more than 6 months ago, so exception (c) is also not valid in this case.

As your wife does not qualify for either exception, she does NOT qualify for Transit Without Visa (TWOV) through the UK, and thus would require a visa to do so.

So yes, the airline was correct to deny your wife boarding. They have a legal requirement to refuse to transport her, and if they had done so they would have likely faced a fine from the UK government for doing so. Obtaining any required visa(s) is the responsibility of the passenger not the airline, and thus they carry no responsibility here.

For what it's worth, if you had traveled on your original flights you likely wouldn't have made your connection anyway. AA54 arrived 90 minutes late on that day, so with only a 60 minute connection you probably would have missed the connecting flight (the EK flight left a little late too, but probably not late enough for you to have made the connection).

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