agentpeppermint

:curse: grr...

He goes to check in as normal and the clerk gave him a hard time because his return flight is for one year out

( Round trips are cheaper and he is going to use the return flight to visit in 1 yrs time were just going to buy another round trip ticket for his return to the US...etc etc...so that at least we both know, if he ever has to fly back to the UK for whatever reasons, he has a ticket to go home all ready, would just have to pay to have the dates changed if needed not to mention james has a sister dying in Derby...so whos to say when that return ticket may be used! and its not even on delta!!!)

so he begins to question james as to his intentions and why hes going to america... very invasive questions considering the clerk saw James k-1 visa in his passport. anyways, the clerk took his passport with the visa and his itinerary to another clerk who proceeded to tell this nosey clerk that it was perfectly normal and since the passport and visa are valid, there are no problems. When he came back to finish checking James in, he was rather rude and had a condescending tone when he said "Enjoy your flight" you know sucked in teeth, head wobble and funny little accent...


Obviously the clerk knows nothing about immigration or the little he did know was about the VWP overstays....I think it was a bit much that james had to explain to the clerk about having the visa, adjusting status, dying sister, return ticket etc etc... he wouldnt even issue the boarding pass until after the other clerk told him there was no problem. Check in time took about 20 mins....

Now hes called me in a panic ( yes my ever loving OCD suffering fiance ) wondering if the return flight will now pose a problem in the US at the POE....i assured him it wouldnt, people do this every day, and if they did give him any trouble about it, explain the cost ( which im sure IO's know about and the fact he can change the flight dates at any time and buy another roundtrip ticket in the future....)

crg

And you are surprised by this because.....

agentpeppermint

Im shocked by this because I did not realize that Delta now had Immigration officers at their check in desks. If thats the case, why do they even bother having them at the POE's?


Delta does not require ANY of the information the clerk was asking my fiance in order to issue a boarding pass, which was confirmed by another Delta employee.

Did you think I am talking about the IO at the POE? The plane hasnt even taken off yet and is just now boarding.....

Just Jenney

The Delta guy was a jerk. Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing by asking these questions (I'm sure the check-in staff at United and American thought the same way after 9/11) but he didn't need to be rude about it. Ultimately your fiance got on the plane, right? That's all that matters now.

~ Jenney

crg

I get what you're saying, but the airline workers can't even get their own corporate baggage policies straight. I don't expect them to get the immigration requirements straight. I'm sure they're held accountable for who they ticket for the flight because they can be subject to fines and are liable to return refused travelers at their own expense if things don't go well at the POE.

The guy probably didn't know the difference between a B1/B2 and a K1 and was puzzled by the 1 year ticket. It's the perfect mix of incompetence and responsibility.

I bet the sky waitress even gave him a green form to fill out.

Noorah101

Yep, I agree....airline staff don't always know what's going on. Last year my green card holding husband and I were coming back to the USA from Turkey. The KLM flight attendent insisted Sadegh had to fill out an I-94, even though he had a green card. Finally I just took the card from the flight attendent who looked like he was going to kick us off the plane mid-air if I argued anymore, but of course we didn't need it. Argh.

Glad he's on the way, agent!!

Rene

agentpeppermint

LOL he was rude about it, delta got an email about it as well as air france since theyre operating together on this flight....
my friends mother is some important person with Delta in florida and she said it warrants a complaint because check in clerks are not allowed to ask for that kind of detail, if he was that concerned after another clerk told him there were no problems he should have left it alone and put on his happy face.

yes he did make it on the plane...i think....he called me because he couldnt find his gate, but he had an hour so im sure he found it.... im just now getting ready to go get him, even though i AM dragging my ass, i have a 2 hr drive to the city, possibly 3 with traffic!!

jeffreyhy

ap,

You and James should be feeling sorry for that check-in agent - he's been poorly trained in both the technical aspects of his job and in customer relations. He's going to have a hard time of it until he gets his act together or gets fired, whichever comes first.

Regards, JEff

penguinbar

My husbad flew into JFK from Edinburgh on Delta with a return for his K1. They were very nice but had never heard of a K1 visa and kept calling it a K9 visa. They did question him but nothing to invasive and no hassle

chartreuse

Yup, I've had that at LHR. AA agent insisted I had to fill in an I94W, I said I didn't, she then insisted I fill in an I94, I still disagreed but to shut her up took the damn thing, crumpled it up and shoved it in my pocket.

I thought about pointing out that the very first line of the instructions says "This form must be completed by all persons except U.S.Citizens, returning resident aliens, aliens with immigrant visas, and Canadian Citizens visiting or in transit." but I couldn't be arsed.

chartreuse

Woof!

Duncan Roberts

Well, I tend to go kind of the opposite way on this. They should have done it in a much better way and if they were in doubt checked things out but I think he was protecting himself and the basic point of the questions was probably valid. The airline gets fined and gets in a lot of trouble if a passenger is turned away at the POE so I would guarantee that the check in folks have it drilled into them to make sure the chance of that is almost non-existent. In his mind he was probably thinking that there was a high chance of a POE turn away and fine and it would be his name linked to the check in. The complaint should be against the way it was done, not that it was done at all. You have to remember that the K-1 has an expiry date of less than 1 year so if you don't know what comes with the K-1 you could be forgiven for thinking that the visa would expire before he returned. If they were intelligent they would have gone to somebody in the know and just asked them about the K-1 rather than being a tool.

Rete

A voice of reason. Thanks Duncan. My thought exactly.

Bluegrass Lass

Then why doesn't Delta have a set of Work Instructions that tell their agents that a K1 visa holder does not require a return ticket, or that the return does not have to be within 90 days? I would think it would make is easier on check-in agents if Delta provided info on visas that way they are not confused and don't treat their customers this way. There is no excuse for the way he was treated since a simple set of instructions from Delta would have prevented the situation. The blame is on Delta, IMO.

Sorry, I feel the outrage coming from AP and I agree completely with it.

Ray

I think some people are not used to International transport and making something out of nothing