[mquamar]

Airlines are responsible for checking required visa on passengers' passport before issuing boarding pass but Emirates Airline boarded my 13 year old child traveled to a country which required visa to enter in to the country. This was just the beginning to a great mess created by the Emirates Airline.

[The_Judge]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. This post proves airlines can do no right as most complaints are when the airline DOES deny boarding, they are wrong then too. How can they do the right thing if they are chastised when they do both?

[jimworcs]

The person responsible for the mess is the parent, who failed. Sadly, the parent clearly is inadequate in more ways than one. Not only can they not ensure the safe and proper passage of their child, they are so inadequate they can't accept responsibility for their own actions and seek to blame staff at Emirates. Pathetic.

[mquamar]

Airlines are responsible to verify passport and the visa if the destination country requires a visa to enter. If the airlines are not held responsible to check valid visa then so many illegals would have been entered in to the country.

Can Emirates board a passenger from Dubai traveling to USA if the passenger does not have a valid visa to the United States. Of course not!

[jimworcs]

The first responsability lies with the passenger, or in this case, the parent. How could a parent be so irresponsible and to not ensure the safe passage of their own child, with proper documentation? It is utterly irresponsible.

Emirates may have failed to carry out the second tier checks appropriately, but to blame them is ridiculous. The first duty of any parent to ensure the safety and well being of their children. How could a parent expose them to this kind of risk by sending them abroad without proper documentation? It is shocking.

[NewJerseyDevils]

Originally Posted by mquamar

Airlines are responsible to verify passport and the visa if the destination country requires a visa to enter. If the airlines are not held responsible to check valid visa then so many illegals would have been entered in to the country.

Can Emirates board a passenger from Dubai traveling to USA if the passenger does not have a valid visa to the United States. Of course not!

Who know what Emirates did, they are not US immigration experts. But luckily the US provides a site where parents of children visiting the US from UAE can check visa requirements to avoid what must have been a horrific experience.
http://dubai.usconsulate.gov/general...tructions.html

[6point3]

Originally Posted by The_Judge

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. This post proves airlines can do no right as most complaints are when the airline DOES deny boarding, they are wrong then too. How can they do the right thing if they are chastised when they do both?

I don't agree.
In my opinion the airlines have some sort of responsibility to assist the passengers in this regard, and I will tell you why.
As probably the same employees check in the passengers at the same) flight gate day in day out, it wouldn't be that much trouble for these employees to know the rules to those countries, or the airline to prepare a list for the terminal gate crew.
Since the airlines deal with these issues all the time, why not be informed ?
Why is there a requirement for airlines to check or see the passport (and not ANY kind of I.D.) on check in. I am sure there is a certain regulation, rule or law, implying the verification of compliance with those for these exact reasons.
Of course it would not hurt for the traveler or parent of a minor to check, which information may not be readily available.........

A friend of mine was checked in, baggage checked and sitting at the gate to board, when he was paged and told at the gate , that he could not board the plane, because his passport had an expiration of less than six months. They did not catch that his wife's passport had roughly the same expiration date. Wait, this get's better: So now he's refused boarding, then his wife does too, because he volunteered the information, but his (20 year old) daughter gets to go.
This was a missionary volunteer group, providing medical help to a central american country.
As it turns out , that country had NO SUCH requirement and the crew at the gate as well as their supervisor were DEAD WRONG.
Why NOT have these requirements at hand and have this info checked for accuracy periodically ???

So the Dr. did not get to go, and neither did the wife who was a nurse.
Basically ruining the whole mission.

Thank you American Airlines. And the staff at LAX !!!
They were issued vouchers and an apology, whoopdy dooo.

[The_Judge]

The information is at hand. It's just a few clicks away to look at. However, the bottom line is this......it is the passenger's responsibility to make sure that THEY have the correct entry documents and are following the requirements for the country being entered. Look it up. This is a fact.