Tourist Visa cancelled in transit

[FauxExtrovert 9]

Hi guys,

 

My mother, who holds a B2 visa (expiring 2021) was in transit from Johannesburg to Chicago to come see me. Her connection was in Frankfurt Germany. When she it was time to board her flight from Frankfurt to Germany she was told her visa was cancelled and they said they didn't know the reason. A CBP officer called me asking if there could be any reason I could think of that my mother's ticket got cancelled, I told them nothing i could think of. The ran a background check on both me and my mom and nothing came back. 

She took the next flight back to Johannesburg, made an appointment for a new visa application and it was approved. The consular said she doesn't know why/when the visa was cancelled.

This was obviously a very expensive trip and I am trying to find out where i can file a claim for all the expenses, if at all possible (travel insurance, airline both failed).

 

Your input will be appreciated. 

[Mollie09 1,543]

Who are you trying to make a claim against?

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

All I can say is, if it's the State Department that you're wanting to make the claim again, or sue, Good Luck!

[Going through 5,671]

27 minutes ago, LesP said:

I am trying to find out where i can file a claim for all the expenses, if at all possible (travel insurance, airline both failed).

If you're hoping to get the losses recouped from the consulate or State Dept., good luck with that one.

If you're hoping to recoup the losses from the airline---they were not the ones who cancelled the visa, so can't be held responsible for that.  Travel insurance likely isn't going to cover being refused boarding due to a passenger not having valid documents.

 

Edited to add:  The only thing I can think of is maybe appealing to the airline, based on the information you knew at the time that the visa was valid, and perhaps someone higher up on their own benevolence may be willing to issue a voucher/credit towards future travel with them.  But that's also a long-shot.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Going through

[FauxExtrovert 9]

4 minutes ago, Going through said:

If you're hoping to get the losses recouped from the consulate or State Dept., good luck with that one.

If you're hoping to recoup the losses from the airline---they were not the ones who cancelled the visa, so can't be held responsible for that.  Travel insurance likely isn't going to cover being refused boarding due to a passenger not having valid documents.

 

Edited to add:  The only thing I can think of is maybe appealing to the airline, based on the information you knew at the time that the visa was valid, and perhaps someone higher up on their own benevolence may be willing to issue a voucher/credit towards future travel with them.  But that's also a long-shot.

Yes, the travel insurance already told me they don’t insure anything visa related. 

 

[FauxExtrovert 9]

Yes, the travel insurance already told me they don’t insure anything visa related. 

[Going through 5,671]

Can't see much you can really do in this situation, sadly.

As I suggested, you can try reaching out to a higher-up with the airline and maybe plead for a travel credit out of them...but honestly the buck is probably going to stop as soon as you say "the visa was cancelled" to them.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

48 minutes ago, LesP said:

Hi guys,

 

My mother, who holds a B2 visa (expiring 2021) was in transit from Johannesburg to Chicago to come see me. Her connection was in Frankfurt Germany. When she it was time to board her flight from Frankfurt to Germany she was told her visa was cancelled and they said they didn't know the reason. A CBP officer called me asking if there could be any reason I could think of that my mother's ticket got cancelled, I told them nothing i could think of. The ran a background check on both me and my mom and nothing came back. 

She took the next flight back to Johannesburg, made an appointment for a new visa application and it was approved. The consular said she doesn't know why/when the visa was cancelled.

This was obviously a very expensive trip and I am trying to find out where i can file a claim for all the expenses, if at all possible (travel insurance, airline both failed).

 

Your input will be appreciated. 

I’m confused, as you say the visa was cancelled and then that the ticket was cancelled. What exactly happened - did the airline tell her her visa was cancelled and refused her boarding? Had the airline staff (I presume this is Lufthansa) checked her visa in Johannesburg before allowing her to fly? 

A CBP officer called you? Unsolicited? From where, Frankfurt or here in the US?

and the joburg consulate confirmed her previous visa had been cancelled  - so it wasn’t an error on the airline’s part?

 

Edited October 7, 2019 by SusieQQQ

[FauxExtrovert 9]

8 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

I’m confused, as you say the visa was cancelled and then that the ticket was cancelled. What exactly happened - did the airline tell her her visa was cancelled and refused her boarding? Had the airline staff (I presume this is Lufthansa) checked her visa in Johannesburg before allowing her to fly? 

A CBP officer called you? Unsolicited? From where, Frankfurt or here in the US?

and the joburg consulate confirmed her previous visa had been cancelled  - so it wasn’t an error on the airline’s part?

 

I meant to say visa on that second part. The CPB Officer called from Frankfurt; I am concluding that Lufthansa didn’t check the visa in Johannesburg that’s how she was able to board the flight.

i called the consulate when this was going on and they got back to me saying, “there seem to be a problem with your mother’s visa and she will need to come back to the consulate.” The CPB Officer in Frankfurt said usually there’s a reason on file when a visa gets cancelled, but there was no reason this time.

when she went to get her visa re-issued, the consular said she didn’t know either why it was cancelled.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

14 minutes ago, LesP said:

I meant to say visa on that second part. The CPB Officer called from Frankfurt; I am concluding that Lufthansa didn’t check the visa in Johannesburg that’s how she was able to board the flight.

i called the consulate when this was going on and they got back to me saying, “there seem to be a problem with your mother’s visa and she will need to come back to the consulate.” The CPB Officer in Frankfurt said usually there’s a reason on file when a visa gets cancelled, but there was no reason this time.

when she went to get her visa re-issued, the consular said she didn’t know either why it was cancelled.

Wow that’s bizarre and infuriating. From my own experience on similar flights, the agent in SA will check the destination visa visually so if it looks good they’ll let you go. I am guessing the problem was only picked up when your mom was actually on the manifest on the leg to the US, and that was at boarding in Frankfurt, Unfortunately it doesn’t seem as there is anyone you can claim from -it doesn’t seem to be an airline mistake and you can’t sue DoS for cancelling a visa.  

[SalishSea 17,819]

2 hours ago, LesP said:

A CBP officer called me asking if there could be any reason I could think of that my mother's ticket got cancelled

Your post is unclear.  Was it the airline ticket or the visa that was cancelled?

 

If the visa, it is strange that CBP would call you when they would have access to the info.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Jorgedig

[FauxExtrovert 9]

23 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

Your post is unclear.  Was it the airline ticket or the visa that was cancelled?

 

If the visa, it is strange that CBP would call you when they would have access to the info.

That was an error. The visa was cancelled not ticket.

Yes, they called about 3 times. They were very empathetic and were trying to see if they could help. 

[Boiler 45,474]

Was this a through ticket.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

11 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Was this a through ticket.

I’m pretty sure it would have been, knowing the flights/routes from SA-US. And I know that every time we have travelled on through tickets from SA to the US, visas/green cards/passports have all been checked again from the transit point. 

[ineedadisplayname 496]

1 hour ago, SusieQQQ said:

I’m pretty sure it would have been, knowing the flights/routes from SA-US. And I know that every time we have travelled on through tickets from SA to the US, visas/green cards/passports have all been checked again from the transit point. 

They might check for Visa in passport/validity but the APIS check was most likely in Germany only.

The only airline i flew that checked my ESTA at the first flight (origin) was Austrian. 

The last couple of times Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines did the APIS check in Germany/Istanbul before boarding the USA bound flight. Ahh the agent updated my GC info in their system at the origin point because I screwed up the check in so needed to get a paper boarding pass and had the APIS check before boarding the USA bound flight. 

So this might be airline dependent when they actually check the system is you are allowed to board. Maybe they don't have access to the APIS system at every airport they fly from?

 

Edited October 8, 2019 by ineedadisplayname