Dear Tripped Up,
I am a single American mother living in Jordan and working for the United Nations. In September 2019, I adopted my then 5-year-old son from China and promised him that we would return to visit his country every year. But the pandemic broke out. When China finally reopened to tourists in 2023, we got visas and booked a July flight to Beijing via Doha on Qatar Airways, paying a total of about $1,400. My now 9-year-old had worked hard to retain his language and was excited, but nervous. At the time, the Chinese government required passengers to fill out a “Health Declaration Form” in advance or upon arrival. The link on the Qatar Airways website was broken, but I confirmed online and with friends who have recently traveled to China that I could fill it out on arrival. At the airport, Qatar Airways disagreed and when I once again couldn’t get the form to work, we were denied boarding. My son collapsed on the airport floor crying. I rebooked the next day and we flew to Beijing via Istanbul on Royal Jordanian and China Southern for $1,882. No airline asked to see the QR code showing my form was approved: All passengers upon arrival were required to fill out new forms. Qatar Airways mostly refunded the tickets – we received $1,185 – but refused to admit it was a mistake. Factoring in more expensive last-minute flights and other costs (like rebooking domestic flights and trains in China), we’re around $930. I believe the airline should provide a flight voucher that reimburses us for this amount. You can help; Elizabeth, Amman, Jordan
Dear Elizabeth,
Your foray into the complex world of international travel documents was especially devastating because of the emotional stakes this trip represented for your family. But confusion over documentation leads to denied boarding “thousands of times a day,” said Max Tremaine, chief executive of Sherpa, a company that maintains a database of international entry requirements for travelers.
Not to excuse Qatar Airways for what I’ll charitably call overzealous enforcement of the rules, but those front-line airline workers facing long queues at check-in may have a difficult task making snap judgments about whether travelers have sufficient documents or not.
All countries have their own entry rules depending on the passports travelers hold and where they come from, and airlines are penalized when they accidentally allow people to fly. The decision can be simple when their customers are an American family with valid passports heading directly from New York to London for a week’s vacation. But travel can be complicated — think, for example, when a Dutch banker goes to Bangladesh via Cairo, or an Australian trapeze artist with a one-way ticket goes to a show in Kyrgyzstan via Frankfurt. The pandemic only complicated this complex system. In your case, your itinerary had you going through the Qatar Airways hub in Doha, meaning that those behind you in line in Jordan were likely headed to dozens of countries, all with their own rules.
In its responses to your complaints, Qatar Airways cited information from Timatic, a system used by many international airlines to track ever-changing entry and departure rules. An email response read: “At the time of your travel, a QR code for China was mandatory before boarding the flight, and also according to Chinese regulations.”
When I contacted the airline, I received a similar response in a statement from Craig Thomas, Qatar’s vice president of American sales. “Passengers traveling to China were required to complete an electronic China Customs Health Declaration before boarding the aircraft,” he wrote, noting that local entry requirements are “often complex” and that the airline is “committed to helping our passengers navigate . any issues that may arise.”
But Qatar is not right for what Timatic advised at the time. Timatic is run by the International Air Transport Association, a trade body better known as IATA. The assistant manager of the group that runs Timatic from the Netherlands, Mahir Sahin, sent me the actual information that Qatar Airways staff would be relying on in July 2023:
“Passengers must complete an ‘Exit/Entry Health Declaration Form’ and present a QR code prior to departure or upon arrival.”
The “or on arrival” bit applies to you, as you discovered in your second itinerary. When I asked Qatar Airways about this apparent oversight and asked if it would change their decision not to refund your requested credit, they did not respond.
However, airlines often act extra cautious in such matters as they are wary of these government fines if they carry passengers without proper documentation. Timatic has no official status, Mr Sahin said. The airline is ultimately responsible.
Mr. Sahin explained the thinking of an agent at check-in: “The agent checking you in doesn’t know if everything you’re importing will be accepted by the government.”
Airlines at times still resort to risk management,” he said, “making judgments when boarding a passenger, especially in cases where government rules and regulations leave room for interpretation.”
However, there are precautions you and other travelers can take to reduce your risk.
International documentation requirements vary, so it’s worth reading country policies as well as US State Department recommendations.
But the best strategy, Mr. Sahin said, is to use the same source that provides the airline with information about entry requirements. Many international carriers provide online resources powered by data from Timatic (or other vendors such as Sherpa) that allow passengers to read what they read. (The Qatar Airways Travel Requirements page uses Timatic data.)
You can also check the databases yourself, using this rather clunky but perfectly functional page for Timatic, and this more user-friendly but not necessarily as detailed one for Sherpa.
At the end of the day, however, as you discovered, there is still room for airline agents to interpret, and sometimes misinterpret, the rules. This is especially true when connecting through an airline hub in a third country and the agent may not be familiar with that destination’s immigration procedures.
Even this American family heading to London could theoretically be asked to prove they have arranged accommodation, according to the British government. Timatic doesn’t mention this in its guidance to airlines and, for most travelers, it’s unlikely to happen.
But when Timatic makes a claim, travelers should take it seriously, even if they find conflicting information elsewhere.
I received an email from a woman in California who was denied boarding by Avianca for a trip from Los Angeles via San Salvador and Bogota, Colombia to La Paz, Bolivia. In Los Angeles, an Avianca employee refused to let her board, telling the traveler she needed passport photos and a copy of recent bank statements. He countered that there is no mention of this requirement on the State Department’s entry requirements page for Bolivia. But this was the wrong place to look. Had he consulted Avianca’s page provided by Timatic for travel requirements, he would have seen that passengers must have a passport photo and be able to provide “proof of funds” upon arrival and “these could be bank transfers ».
He rebooked for the next day, took pictures and dutifully printed the bank statements. But you know how the story goes: Bolivian officials asked for neither.
If you need advice on a better travel plan gone wrong, send an email to TrippedUp@nytimes.com.
