One plane passenger was denied boarding because of a confusing travel rule in Hong Kong.
Gabor’s fiancée was set to fly from Osaka to Hong Kong on October 20 with one ticket.
Then on the same day but with a separate ticket, she planned to jet off from Hong Kong to Doha, and then to Budapest.
However, despite checking in and receiving boarding passes for both journeys, the traveller, who has a Hungarian resident card and a Vietnamese passport, found herself stuck, One Mile At A Time reports.
She was stopped from boarding in Osaka by HK Express who said she would not be able to enter Hong Kong because she didn’t have a visa.
But according to the publication, it’s fine to transfer through Hong Kong on two separate tickets if the passenger remains ‘airside’.
‘First they said they need a confirmed ticket for the onward journey from HKG. When we showed the ticket, they changed their stance and wanted a boarding pass, then from that they quickly changed to that they want a Cathay Pacific boarding pass,’ Gabor told One Mile At A Time.
In the end, the airline decided the passenger wasn’t allowed to board even if she did have a Cathay boarding pass.
Gabor’s fiancée was set to fly from Osaka to Hong Kong on October 20 with one ticket. Then on the same day but with a separate ticket, she planned to jet off from Hong Kong to Doha, and then to Budapest
Despite offering different possible solutions, she still could not board the plane with the separate tickets.
‘Since we couldn’t resolve the issue in time, I had to buy a separate ticket to my fiancée, then I used my original ticket,’ Gabor explained.
‘Let me say that this happened in Japan, so even though HK Express is a HK airline, the agents were Japanese, and were nice and polite. They did everything based on the instructions which they got from the HK centre.’
Usually, when transiting through a different country a visa isn’t required, but it is important to check with officials beforehand.
Hong Kong’s immigration site outlines the regulations for each country and its passport.
British citizens, for example, can visit visa-free for up to 180 days.
The Daily Mail approached HK Express for comment
On its website, the airline outlines: ‘All customers, including children and infants, must possess a valid travel document to fly on HK Express. Under some circumstances, you may also have to obtain a visa.
However, despite checking in and receiving boarding passes for both journeys, the traveller, who has a Hungarian resident card and a Vietnamese passport, found herself stuck
‘As the documentation required varies by destination and citizenship, it is your responsibility to verify and obtain what you and all members of your party need prior to making a booking.’
A study by Go.Compare earlier this year analysed data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and revealed the reason why 6.6 million plane passengers are denied boarding every year.
At the most, around 20.9 million people a year have been affected by overbooked flights. Of those, more than a third (32 per cent) weren’t allowed to board at all – the equivalent of about 6.6 million people every year.
When a flight is overbooked, airlines are legally required to provide alternative flights, compensation and assistance to any affected travellers.
