[kbhasi2]

I am one of the miserable passenger who was not allowed to board the flight few hours before departure. I wanted to share my suffering as well as the financial crisis undergone by one decision from the Virgin Atlantic, not allowing me to board the flight.

At the time of my arrival at the JFK airport, few hours before my flight departure, I provided all my documents to the supervisor in charge of issuing boarding pass. I provided with my passport in addition to other documents.

The supervisor after looking at my documents refused to issue me a boarding pass and told me that my visa is not valid and a determination was made that I won't be able to board the flight. Even when I am a passport holder of the destination country I was traveling to. Upon my continuous requests, the supervisor denied all my explanation. I almost had tears in my eyes but he didn't help me with anything. Since my flight was a round trip, I asked if I would be able to take the flight back to US. The supervisor refused saying that it’s our policy that you cannot take a round trip flight if you are not boarding from here. You have to plan your own arrangements and get a flight with other airline.

I went through all airlines at the airport asking for assistance with my travel but I guess I wasn't lucky enough to get a seat in any plane. I ended up calling a travel consultant to help me with my travel and have me land on a same day flight as I had some of my own personal travel emergencies. I spent hours on phone trying to find a flight which could make me reach my country on time. After going through so much pain, the consultant was able to find one flight flying that day but my worry doesn't end here. The only seat available on that plane was a business class seat costing a hefty sum of 5,000 dollars. Still in the trauma of what I had gone through, I probably thought 10 times before purchasing this ticket but on the other hand, due to my emergencies I had to travel no matter what. I ended up buying the ticket which broke my entire financial budget. I also had to buy another flight on my way back which also cost me a lot of money.

Had I known about the issue with this airline, I would not have booked this flight. This above case was presented to Virgin Atlantic and all I hear is sorry we cannot help for your loss.

Not to mention my seat was given to another passenger by charging him another hefty amount for booking the flight few hours before schedule. Is this how airlines are making money now ! This greed needs to end !