Having got the US visa like a breeze, I asked our travel agent to book our tickets. We got a very good deal 126000/- for Mumbai - Boston- Mumbai with transit at London. I said "Yes"; Well, almost. I had second thoughts when I saw UK border agency web page which states that anyone who transits through UK, will require air side transit visa (which means that he does not pass through immigration, but lands from one flight and boards another flight passing through arrival-departure lounges) if he is from a country on which UK has a DATV system. (What DATV means, I have no idea). Unfortunately, India is in the list of countries on which UK operates DATV system. However, there is a exemption clause for DATV hidden in the web page, which says that if we stayed in UK for less than 24 hours and had a valid onward ticket and US visa, we did not require transit visa.
To be fair, the travel agent checked with one of his seniors who was an ex-BA guy who confirmed that we did not need the visa. But I was not convinced and asked him to check with BA which he could do only next day.
By that time ticket cost had jumped to 1,34,000 which meant a loss of INR 8000/- !
So much for the "info on web"...
To be fair, the travel agent checked with one of his seniors who was an ex-BA guy who confirmed that we did not need the visa. But I was not convinced and asked him to check with BA which he could do only next day.
By that time ticket cost had jumped to 1,34,000 which meant a loss of INR 8000/- !
So much for the "info on web"...
1 comment:
Hi there!
My travel agent tells me I need a transit visa for pretty much the same thing- a stopover of less than 24 hours on my way to DC.
Did you manage to get out and see London for a couple hours without one?
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