BENGALURU: The family of 23-year-old Neel is distraught as he couldn’t board his flight at Bengaluru to join his first job as chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Glasgow. Lufthansa airline staff stopped him at Kempegowda International Airport, insisting he should have a transit visa along with the UK visa, as the flight passes through Frankfurt.
Neel’s business class ticket cost Rs 65,000 for travel on September 26. The family is forced to shell out Rs 1 lakh now, and book another ticket on British Airways. His mother Kiran Kalra, an international fashion curator, told TNIE, “It was not highlighted anywhere on the website at the time of booking the ticket on September 6, that the Schengen visa was mandatory. The flight has a two-hour stopover at Frankfurt airport, and passengers continue their trip by Lufthansa only. If this was the case, then ticket booking should not have been allowed to go through. It was not just my son but at least ten others in the queue behind him with Business Class tickets who were also not allowed to go through for the same reason,” she said.
“I am trying to bring the issue into the limelight to create awareness, so that other families don’t suffer like us,” Kalra said. Having completed his graduation in Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu, Neel got the job offer. “It is an incredible opportunity as not many Indians get their first job in a Michelin-starred restaurant,” Kalra added.
Due to the late night flight schedule, no call centre could be reached in India over the issue. Kalra called up the airline’s US call centre where the first executive claimed there was no need for a transit visa! When the issue was highlighted, the call was abruptly cut.
When Lufthansa staff in Bengaluru were approached by the family for options the same night, they suggested rebooking the ticket for a later date on the airline, so the ticket amount did not go waste. “We were not sure if the Schengen visa would come through, so we opted to book an airline which only requires a UK visa,” she said. Lufthansa could not be reached for comment.