A family left “stranded” in Edinburgh Airport have demanded £11,000 in compensation after a passport issue led them to miss their flight to India.
Gunasekaran Kumar, 37, travelled with wife Anita Gunasekaran and daughters Yazhini, 6, and Rithanaya, 2, to Chennai to see Anita’s sick father ahead of surgery. He claims he has been left in credit card debt after buying another set of flight tickets after the incident on March 29.
Glasgow Live reports the family left their home in Govanhill, Glasgow, at around 4am that day – four hours ahead of the scheduled departure with Qatar Airways. The flight to Chennai via Doha had cost the family £2,080.
Mr Kumar said: “We were the first passengers at the check-in desk. After checking all of the passports, they claimed that my wife’s passport was damaged because it had been scribbled on by my daughter.”
Mr Kumar said check-in staff took Mrs Gunasekaran’s Indian passport to check with immigration officers in Chennai. When they returned, the family were told she would not be able to travel.
Mr Kumar said: “We had everything, our photo ID, proof, everything. It was just a couple of scribbles.”
According to UK Government guidance, a damaged passport must be replaced, and travellers may be refused travel if their passport is damaged. The passport office considers a passport damaged if details can’t be read, any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing, there are holes, cuts or rips in the cover, the cover is coming away, or there are stains on the pages. Indian authorities say passport holders should apply for a reissue of a passport, even if number is readable, name is legible and photo is intact.
Mr Kumar says he spoke to immigration officials in India himself and was eventually told Mrs Gunasekaran would be cleared to travel as long as she applied for a new passport on her return to the UK. But Mr Kumar says Qatar Airways staff continued to refuse to check the family onto the flight, including after Mr Kumar suggested just checking himself and his two young daughters in.
Mr Kumar said: “We were roaming around without any help and no idea what to do next.” The family claim they were told Mrs Gunasekaran’s passport had been cleared and the family could book tickets on the next flight over the phone with Qatar Airways.
But, over the phone, Mr Kumar was told the family had been registered as a ‘no show’ for the flight, meaning they would have to pay £4,000 to rebook their tickets, on top of the £2,080.44 they had already spent on the unused tickets. Mr Kumar raised a complaint with Qatar Airways before the family left the airport around 11am and returned to Glasgow.
“I still haven’t had any response from them,” said Mr Kumar. “We then booked tickets with Emirates and flew to Chennai and back with no problems on the same passport.”
Mr Kumar said Qatar Airways eventually offered to pay compensation for Mrs Gunasekaran’s ticket, as well as a refund of the other three tickets, but he refused, saying: “Our trip was spoiled due to ignorance. I demanded compensation for all four of us.” Mr Kumar is now seeking £10,969 compensation from Qatar airways, including the cost of the original tickets, £4,080 compensation for missing the flight, £4,162 for the reimbursement of Emirates tickets, and £647 interest.
Mr Kumar says he raised a complaint with the Civil Aviation Authority. The family eventually made it to Chennai following Mrs Gunasekaran’s father’s surgery, which was successful.
Qatar Airways was approached for comment.
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