The visa to international destinations continues to be a bone of contention between airlines and passengers. Once again, civil aviation is rife with the headlines of a major airline and a high-profile customer being at loggerheads in court over denied boarding on grounds of Visa. A civil judge and judicial magistrate in Karnataka took stand for the passenger and ordered a probe against the airline.
Months of planning, weeks of packing, days of excitement, eight round-trip business class tickets, and nearly Rs 50 lakh only for flights – all became futile at Kempegowda Bengaluru Airport, as KLM Airlines denied boarding to J S Sathishkumar, a prominent business tycoon, and his family. They had planned a celebratory trip to Peru in South America, but it became a nightmare and led to a legal battle. It happened in June 2024.
J S Sathishkumar is the Vice President of Vinayaka Missions Deemed University and former Chairman of Annapoorna Medical College and Hospitals in Tamil Nadu. Reportedly, he booked business class flight tickets of KLM for an international family trip, with departure scheduled on June 19, 2024, and return planned on July 3, 2024. It cost a whopping Rs 49 lakh, sans hotel booking, travel insurance, and other expenses.
Sathishkumar, along with his seven family members, arrived at BLR Airport in time and completed pre-boarding formalities. While waiting to board the onward flight, they were jubilant as it was not just a trip but a small get-together. One of the airline staff members approached them and said, “They can’t board the flight”, to their utter dismay, not because they were immodestly dressed, their bags were flagged for prohibited items, or their passports had less than 6-month validity.
A Peruvian visa was missing from the travel documents of J S Sathishkumar and his family; the airline staff reasoned for denying boarding to them. They countered the staff and said that Indians having a minimum 6-month valid US, UK, Canada, Australia, or a Schengen country visa/residence permit don’t need a tourist visa to Peru, among visa-free countries. All their words, pleas, protests, and counter-arguments fell onto deaf ears. After hours of a fiasco and a feud, they went back home from the airport.
What happened, thereafter, was worse than the boarding denial, the ruined trip, the monetary loss, and the humiliation. J S Sathishkumar told media that as they warned the airline of a legal action, they were “red-flagged”. He recalls how it caused travel disruptions to them. Once his son was allegedly stopped for interrogation at Singapore Changi Airport, and he himself faced the same ordeal during his next trip to Australia.
One airline red-flagging a passenger may refrain the passenger from traveling with its partners within the same global alliance.
J S Sathishkumar says he took the airline to the court, seeking accountability rather than compensation. Though there is yet no trace of the refund for the eight round-trip tickets that the airline itself cancelled. He asserts when the government of Peru does not require valid US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Schengen country visa/residence permit holders of Indian nationality to apply for a separate tourist visa, airlines should honor it instead of complicating visa matters. “Action should be taken. Otherwise, this can happen to anyone,” media reports quoted him as saying.
“This is just one of the airport incidents wherein the airline staff stick to a destination’s general visa requirement without knowing exemptions for US/Canadian Visa or PR holders from India. The KLM vs J S Sathishkumar case refreshes, once again, the debate- who is accountable to verify and confirm destination countries’ visa rules for foreign nationals, and when – before or after issuance of flight tickets, or just before boarding,” said Sourav Agarwal, Senior Editor at IndianEagle.com, the most trusted travel-booking partner of Indians and Americans.
