Brit (with passport) refused flight to NZ via OZ on Air Asia. No Visa??

[xylophone]

Does a British citizen, with the correct passport, have to have an Australian visa to transit in Australia, on the way to NZ??

 

I've always believed that if you had a British passport then you didn't need a Visa to transit in Australia, but AirAsia refused a friend of mine because he didn't have this visa and despite his protestations, he couldn't get on the flight.

 

This is interesting for me because I have relatives in Australia and also friends in NZ, and although I have a British and New Zealand passport, I'm wondering if there are new rules regarding this, or is it just AirAsia being difficult?

[Kopitiam]

Surely the best source to ask are the Australian and New Zealand embassies.

[chalawaan]

Did you have a single booking reference to get to NZ? 

If not, you should use your Kiwi passport. 

If you have two booking references, you MUST clear immigration on arrival, you cannot transit airside.

In addition, you must depart Australia on the passport connected to your flight ticket booking. Which of course, obliges you to enter Australia landside. 

If you're Australian you must enter on that passport, however, you may leave on any passport connected to your departure booking. 

Flying in as a UK Citizen you must obtain an entry visa, or use your NZ passport, or get a single flight booking (official transit) all the way to your final destination. 

The US even oblige official transit Pax to get an ESTA, and it's likely Australia now has a similar rule. 

As someone else has said, check the Aussie Immigration website. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by chalawaan

[xylophone]

5 minutes ago, chalawaan said:

Did you have a single booking reference to get you to NZ? 

If not, you should: use your Kiwi passport. 

If you have two booking references, you MUST clear customs on arrival, you cannot transit. 

In addition, you must depart Australia on the passport connected to your flight ticket booking. Which of course, obliges you to enter Australia landside. 

If you're Australian you must enter in that passport, however, you may leave on any passport connected to your original booking. 

As a UK Citizen you must obtain a entry visa, or use your NZ passport, or get a single flight booking all the way to your final destination. 

The US even oblige official transit Pac to get an ESTA, and it's likely Australia has a similar rule. 

As someone else has said, check the Aussie Immigration website. 

Thanks for the information, however as I stated in my original post, this was for a British friend of mine who was just refused a flight with AirAsia because even though he was transiting in Australia to NZ, they said he needed a visa?

 

Now I have just found this on the web: – "British citizens are eligible to transit through Australia for a maximum of 8 hours without a visa". So he should have been okay but AirAsia still wouldn't let him board the plane.

[chalawaan]

11 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Thanks for the information, however as I stated in my original post, this was for a British friend of mine who was just refused a flight with AirAsia because even though he was transiting in Australia to NZ, they said he needed a visa?

 

Now I have just found this on the web: – "British citizens are eligible to transit through Australia for a maximum of 8 hours without a visa". So he should have been okay but AirAsia still wouldn't let him board the plane.

Unfortunately, it seems your friend may have been turned away under a false assumption, but as you can see from my post, it's messy, and rules do change, check in staff usually operate with a minimal set of guidelines, sometimes the guidelines are out of date, if your freind had a valid NZ passport, that should have allowed them to fly, I'm a bit confused as to why they didn't use this to begin with!  And I drew on my own experiences with the passports you mentioned. 

They may be able to claim a fare compensation, but it's likely to be a tiresome process.  PS: Many here use an imaginary "friend" to seek help for themselves, I presumed you and the freind are the same, but if he is indeed only travelling under a UK passport, then, it's likely that 8 hour rule is unknown to the check in staff. They usually operate on the basis of no visa no boarding, no exceptions. Because if your friend is theoretically deported on arrival, they are legally obligated to return him to the port he flew from, and then try and get that fare back! 

 

Edited April 10, 2023 by chalawaan

[xylophone]

47 minutes ago, chalawaan said:

Unfortunately, it seems your friend may have been turned away under a false assumption, but as you can see from my post, it's messy, and rules do change, check in staff usually operate with a minimal set of guidelines, sometimes the guidelines are out of date, if your freind had a valid NZ passport, that should have allowed them to fly, I'm a bit confused as to why they didn't use this to begin with!  And I drew on my own experiences with the passports you mentioned. 

They may be able to claim a fare compensation, but it's likely to be a tiresome process.  PS: Many here use an imaginary "friend" to seek help for themselves, I presumed you and the freind are the same, but if he is indeed only travelling under a UK passport, then, it's likely that 8 hour rule is unknown to the check in staff. They usually operate on the basis of no visa no boarding, no exceptions. Because if your friend is theoretically deported on arrival, they are legally obligated to return him to the port he flew from, and then try and get that fare back! 

 

I think you're probably right and that AirAsia just didn't know about the eight hour rule for British subjects transiting in Australia.

 

My friend (not me) has a UK passport, so he thought that he would be able to transit Australia and then fly on to NZ which is what he intended to do.

 

I only asked on here because someone else might have had experience with AirAsia in regard to something like this. As for me I have a British passport and a NZ passport and I have travelled backwards and forwards for many years with no problems??

 

Having said that I always used to fly JetStar into Oz and then transit to NZ and I never had a problem with JetStar and despite them getting a bad rap on sites like this, I've always found them to be excellent, especially their business class which wasn't much more expensive than "cattle class".

 

I will pass this information on, and as regards fare compensation with AirAsia, I think he could be waiting a long time, if ever, to get that.
 

[Goat]

Probably the result of Brexit.

[CharlieKo]

21 minutes ago, Goat said:

Probably the result of Brexit.

Absolutely nothing to do with Brexit. Oz and NZ are not EU countries.

[NanLaew]

43 minutes ago, Goat said:

Probably the result of Brexit.

Probably the result of trying to cobble together a cheap long-distance international flight on AirAsia. I let them take me to Don Muang and back to Udon when needs must but that's about as far as I trust them as an airline.

[chalawaan]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

I think you're probably right and that AirAsia just didn't know about the eight hour rule for British subjects transiting in Australia.

 

My friend (not me) has a UK passport, so he thought that he would be able to transit Australia and then fly on to NZ which is what he intended to do.

 

I only asked on here because someone else might have had experience with AirAsia in regard to something like this. As for me I have a British passport and a NZ passport and I have travelled backwards and forwards for many years with no problems??

 

Having said that I always used to fly JetStar into Oz and then transit to NZ and I never had a problem with JetStar and despite them getting a bad rap on sites like this, I've always found them to be excellent, especially their business class which wasn't much more expensive than "cattle class".

 

I will pass this information on, and as regards fare compensation with AirAsia, I think he could be waiting a long time, if ever, to get that.
 

Agree about Jetstar. They're actually a "different" airline than the domestic version, Jetstar Asia even use a separate flight code. And the Dreamliner is a lovely kite! 

[treetops]

It appears AirAsia only offer their Fly-Thru service when transiting in KUL, DMK, CGK and DPS.  At all other transit points he would be required to exit to landside and check in again for his next flight, which rules him out of the 8 hour transit without visa exemption which must be done airside.

 

[StayinThailand2much]

2 hours ago, xylophone said:

I only asked on here because someone else might have had experience with AirAsia in regard to something like this. As for me I have a British passport and a NZ passport and I have travelled backwards and forwards for many years with no problems?

Don't know about transit, but AirAsia does check the Australian visa when flying there. So, either staff is incompetent (possible in the case of AirAsia), or it is because it's not a connecting flight, so that passing through Immigration is necessary. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by StayinThailand2much

[NanLaew]

11 hours ago, treetops said:

It appears AirAsia only offer their Fly-Thru service when transiting in KUL, DMK, CGK and DPS.  At all other transit points he would be required to exit to landside and check in again for his next flight, which rules him out of the 8 hour transit without visa exemption which must be done airside.

 

Well spotted and explains why the OP's friend got bounced. No AirAsia staff incompetence here, just traveler ignorance.