I'm sitting at Singapore Changi Airport waiting for my connection to Mumbai. At this time I should have already been in Pune (my final destination for three weeks)..
I left home in Melbourne for my flight on 18th Jan. I was feeling great thinking about the coming months. I reached the airport and headed for the check-in counter. Here's what happened next.
Check-in lady: "destination and Passport please"
Me: "Mumbai please.. and here you go"
Check-in lady: "Thanks. Do you have your U Visa for India?"
Me: "Here you go". Handing over the booklet that proves I am an Overseas Citizen on India (OCI)
Check-in lady: "Do you have your expired NZ passport that has the original OCI visa stamp?"
Me: "Umm... no. It's at home". This is not sounding good to me.
Check-in lady: "I'm sorry sir but you need that expired passport with the stamp to enter India"
Me: "Great.. what do we do now?"
Check-in lady: "Can you get it from home?"
Me: "It's locked away in a storage facility so I can't get it today. What do I do now?"
Check-in lady: "You need to get that passport and we will re-book you on tomorrow's flight"
The re-booking worked out well without any additional charges - good on you Singapore Airlines. But the experience gave me a strange feeling. Have you ever been turned back from the airport and told you can't board the flight? It's a true anticlimax.
The next morning I had my expired passport, current passport and the OCI booklet in hand and I left for the airport for a second attempt at boarding the flight. This time it worked.
I left home in Melbourne for my flight on 18th Jan. I was feeling great thinking about the coming months. I reached the airport and headed for the check-in counter. Here's what happened next.
Check-in lady: "destination and Passport please"
Me: "Mumbai please.. and here you go"
Check-in lady: "Thanks. Do you have your U Visa for India?"
Me: "Here you go". Handing over the booklet that proves I am an Overseas Citizen on India (OCI)
Check-in lady: "Do you have your expired NZ passport that has the original OCI visa stamp?"
Me: "Umm... no. It's at home". This is not sounding good to me.
Check-in lady: "I'm sorry sir but you need that expired passport with the stamp to enter India"
Me: "Great.. what do we do now?"
Check-in lady: "Can you get it from home?"
Me: "It's locked away in a storage facility so I can't get it today. What do I do now?"
Check-in lady: "You need to get that passport and we will re-book you on tomorrow's flight"
The re-booking worked out well without any additional charges - good on you Singapore Airlines. But the experience gave me a strange feeling. Have you ever been turned back from the airport and told you can't board the flight? It's a true anticlimax.
The next morning I had my expired passport, current passport and the OCI booklet in hand and I left for the airport for a second attempt at boarding the flight. This time it worked.
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