My Name is Zone Joseph a resident o[censored]AE under resident visa status. I had booked ticket in Air India on 28 May 2022 along with my family from Dubai International Airport to Calicut International Airport to be on board at 14.45. Booking ref: HG30N.
I was travelling for the purpose of an emergency meeting in Bangalore which was supposed to be held with our company group CFO on 30th May 2022, Monday and was planning to travel from Calicut to Bangalore on 29th evening after dropping my family back at home.
We had reached Airport at around 12 PM and while presented for Boarding Pass, the counter issued boarding pass for my wife and two children (7 yrs. and 3 yrs.) but not for me saying that there is a message in their system "DO NOT BORAD" and according to them it was from the UAE immigration dept, and I was asked to go to the dept and clear the travel ban. Immediately by letting my family to pass through the immigration for travelling I visited the immigration dept at DXB terminal 1 and they checked my passport and said, "there are no such ban on my name". I also checked with the Police Station inside the Airport and was told the same thing. (Also, there was no chance of such ban in my knowledge as well). I went back to the Air India counter and updated them about the same. Then I was asked to go to the Air India office at the terminal and met a lady staff there. According to her there was nothing doable from their side as this is from immigration dept and had to be cleared from dept side to let me in for travel. Also was told that I won’t get enough details from the terminal immigration dept and should go to the main immigration dept (which is at terminal 3). And I did so. The result was same, after checking my passport and Emirates ID, they said the same thing that there is no such ban initiated by the dept. By the time I reached back to the DXB terminal 1 at the Air India counter, it was closed and went to the Air India office who sent me to the Immigration dept. I was told now nothing can be done and I won’t be able to travel on the same flight. I was truly like a lost man there and somehow had to convince my family, over the phone call, that they must travel alone. I was worried about them as my wife had to handle along my small kids and the 3 baggage's at the destination.
After the scheduled flight was departed, I went to the Air India office in Al Fahidi, Dubai and explained what happened and was simply opened their hand saying nothing can be done and refund is possible subject to the T&C as normal and "if" I require they could reschedule the ticket at "my own risk" and by paying the additional reschedule fee. I still tried for rescheduling the ticket but was able to get the ticket for 30th May 2022 at the same time 14.45 hrs also paid AED 560 more for this ticket. Ticket No: 098 [protected] with booking ref: RLWZ8H.
On 30th May 2022 I went to the Airport (DXB terminal 1) at Air India counter, and the situation was same, and I was sent to another counter where a gentle man heard me about the issue and told that he will sent a mail to the dept and update if any progress and was asked to wait. After about 30 mnts he told me that he has received the reply from the relevant authority/ dept to override the message and issue the Boarding Pass. Though I asked for a copy of the mail, I was not allotted for the same. Eventually, without any further issues I was able to travel to CCJ on 30 May 2022.
Bottom line of my complaint is - I would really want to know what the issue on my passport for such a travel ban was and where exactly the origin was and who is responsible for that. Also, the way it was solved on 30th May (within 30 mnts or so) could have been initiated by the Airline team on 28th May and avoid such mental and professional losses I had along with the financial loss of reschedule charges and other local travel charges.
I would request for a detailed enquiry in this and support for the compensatory measures for my mental, professional and financial losses, from whoever responsible for.
Kind Regards,
Zone Joseph
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