Unlawful Boarding denial by Ryaniar ( Compensation)

[Maruchita56]

I hold a Colombian passport and a UK residence card. I have travelled to different countries in the EU (including Portugal , Madeira)and had never had any problems boarding a plane coming back to the UK. I have travelled via different airlines including Ryanair. I have presented my Colombian passport and my UK residence permit at the boarding gate without any problems. On this last trip, coming back from Portugal (Porto), my husband and I were not allowed to board the plane because I did not have a visa check. I had no problems on my flight from London to Porto. But my return flight turned into a nightmare. I presented my passport and my UK Residence Card, explaining that I did not need a visa to come to the UK because I was a resident. They would not hear about it. Also, I was travelling with my husband who is a British subject. We were asked to step aside and not given the option to travel. They would hear none of it. "Step aside or I'll call the police," was the answer. We were chucked out of the embarking door and left there as the two Ryanair women walked away without a word. Left stranded we had to stay in a hotel and buy new tickets (via a different airline) for the next day. Is there anything we can do to have some sense of justice?

[CR001]

What visa do you hold?

Is it still valid and not expired??

What do you mean by 'visa check'??

[kamoe]

Hola Maruchita

As a fellow Colombian with a residence card, I want to say, what an awful experience!

From what you say, if your residence card was still valid at the time of boarding, it sounds like the people you dealt with don't know what a residence card is (!!!), and robotically ask for visas, even to residence card holders. Them failing to recognize a residence card as equivalent, or even stronger, than a visa it's a deep lack of professional knowledge they should have.

Bit of unasked advice: I would personally avoid saying "I don't need a visa to come to the UK", because, as a Colombian national, with a Colombian passport, you still need a form of entry clearance. It just so happens that in your case this clearance comes in the form of a residence card, not a visa. Saying "I don't need a visa" to an airport official, when Colombia is in the list of uk-visa-required countries, could lead them to think you are purposely lying. Just show your residence card, as if you did not know the difference. If they ask, you tell them: This is a long-term visa. Period.

Hope this gets resolved soon and that there is a way you can claim compensation from Ryan Air.

[vinny]

Unbelievably, the UK visa requirements: list for carriers and IATA’s visa advice seem to have omitted the UK BRP?!

[kamoe]

Unbelievably, the UK visa requirements: list for carriers seems to have omitted the UK BRP?!

I think this document doesn't really list any alternatives to a UK visa. It only lists the documents that are valid for a non-visa transit in the UK (like Australian, US, and EEA-issued residence cards). So this doesn't really apply for someone who is intending to finish their journey in the UK.

[mkhan2525]

Unbelievably, the UK visa requirements: list for carriers and IATA’s visa advice seem to have omitted the UK BRP?!

IATA still recognise EU and UK residence cards are valid for travel to the UK in an anouncement posted on their website in August. It remains a mystery why they have removed it from the visa and health search.

Family Member Residence Cards - travelling to the United Kingdom
15 August 2018

If you are a non-EEA family member of an EEA* national, you must meet the following conditions to enter the United Kingdom without a visa:

1. please make sure that your residence card has an English text " Permanent Residence Card of a Famliy Member of a Union Citizen" or a "Residence Card of a Family Member of a Union Citizen",
2. if your residence card is issued by Ireland (Rep.) it must contain a stamp "4EUFam",
3. you must travel with or travel to join the EEA family member.

*EEA- European Economic Area (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Rep., Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland (Rep.), Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom).

https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/intern ... 320068.htm

[vinny]

Unbelievably, the UK visa requirements: list for carriers seems to have omitted the UK BRP?!

I think this document doesn't really list any alternatives to a UK visa. It only lists the documents that are valid for a non-visa transit in the UK (like Australian, US, and EEA-issued residence cards). So this doesn't really apply for someone who is intending to finish their journey in the UK.

This list included returning residents and Right of abode holders. So it does also apply to some who are intending to finish their journey in the UK.

EEA residence cards issued by the UK were also not mentioned. Thereby causing confusion to these Ryanair staff?

Distributing an incomplete list is an abuse of the hostile compliance environment.

[kamoe]

The only place in the document where I see a list of alternative documents is below this title:

Nationals of the countries shown in RED (underlined) above need a visa to transit
AIRSIDE unless they hold one of the following:

Or the analogous column for LAND transit. So I interpret that the document advises on country nationals needing a visa to finish their journey in the UK, and gives a list of documents accepted in the case of transit. Are we looking at the same thing?

[vinny]

UK visa requirements: list for carriers:

UK permanent residents
If a visa national is permanently resident in the UK they do not need a visa, as long as they return to the UK within two years of their last departure.
Passengers with the right of abode in the UK
If a visa national has a ‘certificate of entitlement to the right of abode’ label in their valid passport they do not need a visa.
Holders of non-national and refugee travel documents
If the passenger holds a refugee travel document issued by the UK they do not need a visa. If the passenger holds any other non-national or refugee travel document they need a visa to enter the UK. Whether holders of non-national and refugee travel documents require a direct airside transit visa (DATV) depends on their original nationality, and whether they qualify for one of the exemptions listed above. Persons recognised as stateless under the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons are not required to hold a DATV and may transit airside without a visa.

The above holders are not necessarily transiting.
For completeness, the list should have also included UK BRP holders, although common sense should suffice?

Actually, on reflection, the Ryanair staff shouldn’t have refused the valid EEA residence cards isssued by the UK, as these may be covered under

a valid common format residence permit issued by an EEA state or Switzerland;

When the Ryanair staff had doubts, they should have contacted the given telephone numbers for advice, instead of refusing boarding and threatening fare-paying customers with the police. This demonstrates a lack of common sense and training. Hopefully, the OP wasn’t physically attacked, as with the infamous United Airline episode.

[vinny]

See also Denied boarding.

[kamoe]

UK visa requirements: list for carriers:

UK permanent residents
If a visa national is permanently resident in the UK they do not need a visa, as long as they return to the UK within two years of their last departure.
Passengers with the right of abode in the UK
If a visa national has a ‘certificate of entitlement to the right of abode’ label in their valid passport they do not need a visa.
Holders of non-national and refugee travel documents
If the passenger holds a refugee travel document issued by the UK they do not need a visa. If the passenger holds any other non-national or refugee travel document they need a visa to enter the UK. Whether holders of non-national and refugee travel documents require a direct airside transit visa (DATV) depends on their original nationality, and whether they qualify for one of the exemptions listed above. Persons recognised as stateless under the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons are not required to hold a DATV and may transit airside without a visa.

The above holders are not necessarily transiting.
For completeness, the list should have also included UK BRP holders, although common sense should suffice?

Oh, OK, I see this is in the section below where I was looking. Agree BRP and residence Cards should be included. And agree common sense should also suffice.

Actually, on reflection, the Ryanair staff shouldn’t have refused the valid EEA residence cards isssued by the UK, as these may be covered under

a valid common format residence permit issued by an EEA state or Switzerland;

I though this, but then, this is in the columns I was referring above where it is specifically referring transit; in that sense it does refer to non-UK EEA residence cards.

When the Ryanair staff had doubts, they should have contacted the given telephone numbers for advice, instead of refusing boarding and threatening fare-paying customers with the police.

Yes.

This demonstrates a lack of common sense and training. Hopefully, the OP wasn’t physically attacked, as with the infamous United Airline episode.

Indeed.

[aplinhar]

Hello Maruchita56,

Fellow south American passport holder here. I am Brazilian and every time I used Ryanair they asked for this check.
It's literally just a stamp in your ticket from someone that has seen your visa/BRP. Basically they do a pre-check immigration status on you before allowing you into the plane.

Beware you MUST have the ticket in hands (printed) too otherwise they will charge you the ticket to have it stamped.

I have fought with them a couple of times due the subject and lost all, since I remember seeing a note in red when generating the tickets about that.
They have the info in their website too: https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-in ... visa-check.


I try to avoid Ryanair as much as possible due that, but sometimes it's difficult to compete with the price. Unfortunately, I believe they are protected in the eyes of the law.

[kamoe]

It's literally just a stamp in your ticket from someone that has seen your visa/BRP.

Ohhhh kaaaay... this changes everything. It's not that they are denying boarding because of absence of correct documentation, but because the passenger did not follow their very specific and obscure procedures to have this verification carried out (as per the link you supplied):

Irrespective of a passenger's visa requirements, all non EU/EEA citizens must have their travel documents checked and stamped at the Ryanair Visa/Document Check Desk before going through airport security.

Wow, did not know, and frankly could have happened to me very easily.
As you say, no way to fight them in that case.

[vinny]

See also interesting case.