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If you intend
to spend the holiday outside your home country, and belong to the group of people
who require a visa, then it is best to start travel arrangements as early as
possible – three months ahead is very wise. Moreover, if you have a visa for
your destination country, you just might need a transit visa for the airline
you intend to fly. This is the point where most people, especially frequent
fliers like me, take things for granted and get stuck at the dying minute.
In my
experience as a frequent traveler, especially with a faithful relationship with
British Airways, I never realized that the UK visa was my essential right to
travel with BA to anywhere in the world. I took that for granted. When my visa
expired in April, I didn’t think I should renew it because I didn’t have any
travel plans to the U.K. Well, I had plans to travel to the Dubai in Christmas,
and as usual British Airways was my airline of choice. I sprung into action
early enough, making sure I had everything I needed for my trip well in
advance. My Dubai Visa and BA ticket were ready, and the hotel had already been
booked five months earlier. I was set; at least so I believed.
Two days
before my trip, I got a visit from a friend who works with British Airways. In
the course of our conversation, I informed her of my trip to Dubai and that I
was flying British Airways. She went straight on to ask if I had my UK visa. I
was surprised, but confidently, I informed her that my visa had expired but
that I had no business with the UK at all, “I am only flying BA”, I said to
her. I guess she was surprised that with all my travel experiences, I didn’t
know that I needed a visa to fly British Airways to Dubai. With a smirk on her
face, she looked me straight in the eye and said, “You better cancel that
ticket, because you are not going to be able to fly BA to Dubai without a UK
visa or at least a transit visa. It’s the law”. I was crest-fallen. If she were
not my friend, I would have thought she was enjoying every bit of my
disappointment. Well, it was two days before my trip and I knew I was not going
to be able to get a transit visa in two days. Still doubting what I just heard,
I went on to double check on the bitter pill I had just been fed.
I called the
British Airways office in London, and the officer who spoke to me, having
conferred with another staff, told me I didn’t need a visa or a transit visa.
It sounded good to me, but somehow I was not satisfied. I browsed the Internet
and found the information that confirmed my fears. It was a whole lot of
information, but to cut the story short, I was indeed not going to able to fly
BA without a transit visa. How could I not know that? Disappointed as I was in
myself, and the system especially, I didn’t beat myself too much, because after
all, most staff of British Airways didn’t even know it.
Some of you
reading this may already be aware of the rules. But for those of you who are
probably like me, this is a heads up to check what rules applies, even if it’s
an airline you’ve been flying for ages. The best places to find the correct
information are on official government sites or airline sites. Rules are reviewed periodically, and you do not want to get stuck at any time. I have included
some sites that may be of interest. Many others can be found on the internet.
Happy holidays!
Europe: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/visa-policy/index_en.htm
The United
Kingdom: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transit-visitors
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