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Question: Asked by Mrs white from france | Dec. 31, 2017 09:03

About:72-Hour Visa-Free Transit FAQ

Travelling from Sydney Australia to Paris via Beijing. Why were we not allowed to board our flight

We were travelling from Australia to Paris via Beijing. Our flight was to have a technical stop at Shanghai and then we would be 25 hours at Beijing where we had booked a hotel for the night. I checked before leaving and was told that we could get a 72 hour visa at Beijing airport. We were not allowed on the flight and were told it was because of the technical stop at Shanghai (which was not actually mentioned on our itinerary).
We contacted our travel agent who said there was nothing they could do so we had to pay 2400 Australian dollars for a different flight it get us home.

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Answers (5): Answered by Rob | Dec. 31, 2017 09:13

1 0 Reply

You were correctly denied boarding. Two stops in China (Shanghai and Beijing) immediately limits you to 24 hours direct transit in China.

1 0 Reply; Answered by Mrs white | Jan. 02, 2018 00:14

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Yes but how were we to know that there would be 2 stops if it was not mentioned on our itinerary?

1 0 Reply; Answered by John Doe | Jan. 02, 2018 09:17

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That was never a technical stop, it was intended for passengers to switch planes while keeping the same flight number. Most "technical stops" today are like that.

1 0 Reply; Answered by Mrs white | Jan. 03, 2018 00:58

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Whatever it was called it was not on our itinerary so how were we to know a 72 hour visa would not suffice. How do we get our money back when all the travel agent says is that the visas were our responsibility. Our original flight itinerary said there was a 'technical stop' but the travel agent changed the itinerary so we were leaving Beijing a day later but didn't say, on the new itinerary, that there was a stop at Shanghai. Just for info, what visa would we have needed.

We cannot afford the 2400 Australian dollars we had to pay for a new flight so any tips on how to aproach the travel agent to get a refund?

1 0 Reply; Answered by John Doe | Jan. 03, 2018 09:22

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You'll have to settle this through small claims court or report this to your local news agency.

1 0 Reply

Travelling from Sydney Australia to Paris via Beijing. Why were we not allowed to board our flight