Mumbai missed flight due to immigration

night_scorpion

Hi,
We were a total of 5 passengers (2 adults and 3 kids age 2,5 7). 
We had a flight   from munich (Etihad) -abudhabi (Etihad) -mumbai (Air-India) - mangalore. All of the connections were based  on a single ticket.  The  baggage counter at munich  issued us a baggage slip that the luggage could be picked up directly in end destination (mangalore).  

We missed our flight from mumbai to mangalore due to multiple reasons
- Luggage was needed to be collected in mumbai at the international airport
- transit from international airport to domestic airport with all checkedin baggages
- fill up the immigration forms for all passengers
- long line at the immigration and customs (out of my control)
- Ethihad failed to inform air-india that were passengers who had to board the next flight.
 
The counter at the domestic airport in mumbai  was closed 60 min pripr departure. So in total we hat just 2 hrs and 5 min. Air india says that Etihad dint inform them. Etihad says sorry that you missed the flight but we dont provide compensation for this case.

my query:

1. Is the airline reponsible from taking the passegers from Terminal A to Terminal B when it is a single ticket . Or atleast be informed (in this air india)  that there are passengers that need to board the flight?
2. what is the minimum time frame for a layover period between 2 flights

I would like to know what rights do i have. Would it make sense to take this to court since it was quite a bit of amount  for paying the ticket

Thank you.

born_again

Better asking in travel section, as not a consumer rights issue. (Reported to move)

tightauldgit

Did the airline fly you to your destination on the next available flight or did they make you buy new tickets for the last leg of the journey? 

Minimum connection time varies from airport to airport but airlines aren't allowed to sell single tickets below the minimum connection time so I guess yours was within the limits. (Just checked it's 2 hours International to Domestic for Mumbai)

As for informing the next flight that they have passengers coming it does often happen as a courtesy but there's no requirement for the next plane to wait for you. 

DullGreyGuy

Are you sure it was a single continuous ticket? 

Etihad's website doesnt offer flights to Mangalore and Air India isn't a partner. Similarly if I use an aggregator site like SkyScanner it does show flights like yours with Etihad but highlights its a 2 ticket flight with the internal flight being separate/"self transfer".

Having been to India a few times, as far as I am aware it is always a case of going through immigration, collecting bags and rechecking in for the domestic flight even if it is a continuous ticket. Immigration queues are often long but you'd fill in the form on the plane before landing (or at worse in the queue)

1. If its a continuous ticket then the airline is responsible for getting you to your ultimate destination. If its not a continuous ticket then they have no responsibility

2. Varies massively by airport and airline. International to Domestic flights are always going to be more complex because of the need to pass immigration. 

tightauldgit

DullGreyGuy said:

Are you sure it was a single continuous ticket? 

Etihad's website doesnt offer flights to Mangalore and Air India isn't a partner. Similarly if I use an aggregator site like SkyScanner it does show flights like yours with Etihad but highlights its a 2 ticket flight with the internal flight being separate/"self transfer".

Having been to India a few times, as far as I am aware it is always a case of going through immigration, collecting bags and rechecking in for the domestic flight even if it is a continuous ticket. Immigration queues are often long but you'd fill in the form on the plane before landing (or at worse in the queue)

1. If its a continuous ticket then the airline is responsible for getting you to your ultimate destination. If its not a continuous ticket then they have no responsibility

2. Varies massively by airport and airline. International to Domestic flights are always going to be more complex because of the need to pass immigration. 

If it's not a single ticket then any little hope of recovering anything probably went out the window but even if it was I don't think there would be any compensation due from the airline as they have done their part and got you to Mumbai in time and within the minimum connection time limits. Immigration/customs is something the airlines have no control over 

I think the only difference (and I'm winging this a little) would be that on a single ticket the airline would get you on the next flight to your destination whereas with separate tickets the replacement flights would be your responsibility. 

Pollycat

OP
Were you unaware that you would need to complete immigration process in Mumbai? And that meant collecting your luggage in Mumbai?
Were you expecting to complete the immigration process in Mangalore?

daveyjp

"All of the connections were based on a single ticket.l

Fact or OPs belief?  We need to know where they bought the ticket and if it was flagged as 'self transfer'.

night_scorpion

Hi,
@ Pollycat : i was aware that i had to complete the immigration process but dint expect it to be so slow like an ant (Taking thumb impressions from Left hand, right hand, face, checking all the documents) The line hat nearly 150-200  people standing in queue and waiting. We further went to the family/children queue but this also was too long.  half  of the people in the queue were without children.  For us 5 Passengers they took nearly 15 minutes to complete the immigration.

tightauldgit: 
 i payed for the hotel, food and for the alternative flight with my own money.  Air India nor emirates (counter was not open in the domectic airport) did not provide me an alternative flight.  even though Air India  accepted it is a  single ticket they were blaming Etihad saying they dint know that they had passengers coming from a connecting flight. 

We landed at the mumbai airport at 2:40AM. The flight  from mumbai - mangalore, was scheduled to be departed at 5:45AM. We reached the counter of the domestic aiport with the luggages to be checkedin at 5:00 AM. Since the counter was closed 60 min prior departure (4:45AM) we were denied boarding. 

"Immigration/customs is something the airlines have no control over." The same  goes also for the passengers . When the immigration counter is too long i as a passenger dont have control either.  Air India should have atleast be informed from Etihad that there are still passengers to be boarded. Moreover the flight had not  departed. 



DullGreyGuy : When i have already mentioned that it is a single ticket i dont have to be sure again. I booked this ticket via checkfelix.at.(bravofly). I was not provided with the immigration form on flight rather after  landing at the airport. After reaching the domestic airport it got to my senses that air india belongs to star alliance and etihad  doesnt. In this case  such a  ticket shouldnt have been issued in the first place.  Is there a written rule somewhere saying that the airline is responsible for getting me to the end destination.  Airlindia blames Etihad and eithad  says sorry but we dont provide compensation in this case.

daveyjp :  Nowhere in the ticket does it state 'self transfer'.  I booked this ticket via checkfelix.at.(bravofly) and i have one booking reference number.

Doshwaster

The worst immigration queue in my life was at Mumbai so I would always want to allow as much time as possible,

tightauldgit

I would expect if it genuinely was a single ticket that you would not have to check-in again at Mumbai for the domestic flight although fair enough you may have had to check the bags in again I wonder if this couldn't have been done at the gate?

In any case, if its a single ticket then I believe there is a responsibility to get you to your final destination and they should have paid for that flight. Beyond that I don't think they have any responsibility because the delays at immigration are not the responsibility of the airline.  

Voyager2002

DullGreyGuy : When i have already mentioned that it is a single ticket i dont have to be sure again. I booked this ticket via checkfelix.at.(bravofly). I was not provided with the immigration form on flight rather after  landing at the airport. After reaching the domestic airport it got to my senses that air india belongs to star alliance and etihad  doesnt. In this case  such a  ticket shouldnt have been issued in the first place.  Is there a written rule somewhere saying that the airline is responsible for getting me to the end destination.  Airlindia blames Etihad and eithad  says sorry but we dont provide compensation in this case.

daveyjp :  Nowhere in the ticket does it state 'self transfer'.  I booked this ticket via checkfelix.at.(bravofly) and i have one booking reference number.

So responsibility lies with Bravofly, an agent with a rather poor reputation. Evidently they sold you two separate tickets rather than one ticket for the entire journey, and they failed to mark it as "self transfer". If you had really been travelling on a 'through' ticket then the airlines would have made sure that you reached your onward flight on time. Probably Etihad would have given you boarding passes for the entire journey and so you would not have needed to check-in for the Mangalore flight, and so could have dropped your luggage at the baggage counter or perhaps at the gate.

For the record I passed Indian immigration recently, and completing the form took only a few moments.