Brexit repercussions: Indians are unable to fly on EU carriers to the UK without a transit Schengen
DELHI, NEW DELHI: The resumption of regular international flights has resulted in the emergence of a new phenomenon. Indians attempting to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) on European Union (EU) carriers such as Lufthansa, Air France, and KLM via their hubs in Frankfurt/Munich, Paris, and Amsterdam, respectively, are being denied boarding at the origin in India if they do not have a transit/regular Schengen visa. Reason: According to top airline officials, the EU has decided to "punish" the UK after Brexit by requiring non-EU citizens to have a transit Schengen visa in order to fly to the UK on transit flights operated by its carriers.
Surprisingly, Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, is exempt from this rule for its airline Swiss. People flying from India to the UK on one-stop flights can do so through places like the Gulf and Switzerland without needing a transit visa. The other option is to fly nonstop with Air India, Vistara, British Airways, or Virgin Atlantic.
According to airline officials, the change took effect on January 1, 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic. At the time, India had a bubble system for international connectivity, with strict rules governing which nationalities could travel on which flights with one-stops. The bubble system was primarily intended for point-to-point travel between India and other countries, with some conditional connections permitted. So Travel between India and the UK at the time was mostly done on direct flights or via places like the Gulf, where airlines did not strictly enforce the no-transit rule for Indian passengers.
Now that regular flights have resumed, many passengers — those without transit Schengen visas who have booked flights from India to the UK on Lufthansa or Air France-KLM — are being caught off guard when they are denied boarding at the origin airport in India.
Will they get a refund?
"Passengers should be aware of the travel requirements, so refunds are dependent on the terms of the ticket purchased," said an EU airline official.
Some EU carriers, fearful of losing business, are said to have asked foreign governments to raise this issue with the Union. After India resumes scheduled international flights, foreign airlines will be able to offer one-stop connections between India and the rest of the world.
Following Russia's war on Ukraine, this one-stop business has increased significantly in the India-US-India sector. Due to longer routes and higher fuel costs, United Airlines has cut India nonstop flights in half; Delta has not resumed India flights that were suspended in March 2020, and American has only one daily flight (Delhi-New York). Air India says it won't be able to add more nonstop flights to the US until its fleet is expanded. As a result, the Gulf and European regions are seeing a surge in business for this route.
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