BENGALURU: A lack of awareness about transit visas has caused a huge financial loss to this Bengaluru IT couple and ruined their vacation plans.
Milan Kumar Muni, an employee of HCL Technologies, and wife Seema, an engineer at Shell India Private Limited, got the shock of their lives when they went to collect their boarding passes for their British Airways flight to Hamburg in Germany via London (BA 118 and BA 966) at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).
The reason: Seema required a transit visa for London as the flight will have a stopover at London Heathrow International Airport. The same was not necessary for Milan since he had a valid US visa was the response they got from the airline’s staff at KIA.
"We tried to explain our case with the staff but they said that in case we reach London without the transit visa, we would be sent back to India and made to pay a fine of 2,000 pounds," Milan told TNIE over phone from Germany. "I hurriedly booked a ticket to Hamburg via an Emirates flight for my wife alone on the same date and it cost me Rs 63,630," he said.
Seema said, "I was speechless. The VFS Global Services Pvt Ltd, which helped us get the Schengen visa, asked us to submit many documents. There was not a word about the requirement of such a visa." Milan added that they had booked their tickets via MakeMyTrip.
“No one there either told us about the need for such a visa,” he said. “When I checked at Heathrow after landing if the transit visa was mandatory, they replied in the negative. I also checked at Hamburg airport. It is only the Bangalore office of British Airways which said it was mandatory. It was heartbreaking for us as it was the first time my wife is travelling abroad,” he claimed.
The ticket booked by them for a round trip from Bengaluru to Germany in early September cost both Rs 1,02,000. When contacted, the media team of British Airways crosschecked the ticket details and said, "The customer needed a transit visa - which was not present."
A representative of VFS Global Services asked for details so that they would be able to respond while the PR team of MakeMyTrip wanted a mail to be sent to them for their response. The couple plans to file a case in consumer court in Bengaluru after they return from their vacation on January 5.
A statement issued by VFS Global says, "VFS Global manages non-judgmental and administrative tasks related to applications for visa, passport, identity and citizen services for the governments it serves. Our staff is equipped to accept the visa application that the customer applies for, but is not authorised to provide information services, or advise on visa category or any other visa requirement that the customer may need."