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My flight was supposed to be from Ho Chi Minh city (Vietnam) to Toronto, transiting In Dublin Doha.

Upon buying the ticket I googled if I need a transit visa and the answer was NO for my nationality. However, upon check-in for my flight I was denied to aboard because Dublin airport has two terminals. Terminal 1 requires a valid visa (not transit visa) and terminal 2 is for transiting passengers who may or may not need a transiting visa depending on the nationality. My first flight would land in terminal 2, which is good but my connecting flight would depart at terminal 1 which requires me to get out from terminal 2 and I am not allowed to unless I have a valid visa to enter this country. I was upset because when I bought the ticket, they tried to sell me connecting flights which made no sense and now saying that it is my responsibility to know about visa requirements. I was denied to check-in and missed my flight, and they refused to help.

Is there anyway I could fight for this, and make them responsible for my loss?

P/S: I did not know the terminals on my ticket after I paid for it and they sent me the ticket info. The ticket only less than 3 weeks, there was no time to work on the visa anyways. The site I bought the ticket from does not offer 24 hours cancellation policy, if I had canceled it, I would be charged nearly $1000 for fee. I mean how it be my fault when they put me in the situation like this?

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    Your googled result was wrong. Transit (including Transfer Visa) Advice - Immigration Service Delivery: When do I pass through border control? Leaving the terminal building for any purpose, including in some cases having to transfer between terminals for a connecting flight
    – Mark Johnson
    Dec 25, 2022 at 22:31
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    What is your citizenship and where is the travel agency based? Did you buy flights only or a package (e.g. flights+hotel)? Did you buy online on it a store? Local legislation probably varies a lot. A decent travel agent would (should?) have found out about this in a minute, Timatic is very clear about the rules. In many countries even if there’s no specific obligation for a travel agent to check this, professional have a duty towards consumers to provide advice, this may or may not apply in your case.
    – jcaron
    Dec 25, 2022 at 23:13
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    How is it possible that when you google you got "no" for your nationality? If I just google "Ireland transit visa", the first result I get is the official Irish Immigration website which explains everything very clearly. Anyway, airlines is not at all responsible here. As far as the travel agency goes, it depends on the agreement between you and possibly also the local laws (including consumer case law) where you and the agency are situated.
    – Thomas Cruise
    Dec 26, 2022 at 12:20
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    @user71659 If both conditions are met, and the traveler is from Vietnam, then they don't need a transit visa. The info on the webpage is as clear as it gets. The questioner here had their departing flight from terminal 1, so a transit visa is not relevant here. A tourist visa is required. (The flights should also be on the same PNR, else the airline operating the flight to Ireland will not consider the passenger to be a transit passenger)
    – Thomas Cruise
    Dec 29, 2022 at 10:05
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    @user71659 It is as clear as glass, I am not sure where your confusion is. If you meet the T2 requirement and timing requirement and are from Vietnam, you DON'T need ANY visa. Transit visa is only relevant for airside transits and not when the person has to enter the country. That is how it is in all of the EU. The T2 and timing conditions determine whether you can make an airside transit. A transit visa will not be issued to a Vietnam citizen because it is irrelevant to them.
    – Thomas Cruise
    Dec 30, 2022 at 0:48

2 Answers 2

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Is there anyway I could fight for this, and make them responsible for my loss?

Unlikely. Knowing the visa rules and having the required documents is in fact your responsibility. The terminals should have been listed on your itinerary. Unless this information was unavailable to you until check-in (unlikely), you're out of luck.

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    Well, it comes down to the agreement between the travel agency and the individual. I could easily imagine some premium travel agencies will organise this stuff for you, or be very explicit about the stuff it was not able to organise.
    – Gregory Currie
    Dec 26, 2022 at 12:16
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Generally, no.

  • The final decision to let someone in is with the immigration official on the spot. (Example: A visitor claims to be on holiday, but there are family documents and education diplomas rather than beach clothes in the luggage.) There is no way for the airline or travel agent to know if that will happen.
  • Airlines are getting fined for carrying passengers who are denied entry have insufficient documentation. This is a way of governments to reduce asylum claims and the possibility of people in legal limbo. That leads to some airlines erring on the side of caution, leading to complaints that people who should have been allowed entry were denied travel by the airline. Generally, the industry tries to find a balance between passengers who got turned down too early and those who got turned down too late.

So putting a duty to check visa on the airline or travel agent would force them to be much more careful in what they sell to whom. Either prices go up as they figure the cost of problematic sales into their business case, or people with less-than-perfect papers will not get tickets, or both.

It would have to be something in domestic Vietnamese business regulations to support your claim, not in international air travel regulations.

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  • "Airlines are getting fined for carrying passengers who are denied entry": this is incorrect. Airlines are fined for transporting passengers who do not have adequate documents. If they were fined for passengers being denied entry then they would be searching passengers' luggage, subjecting them to criminal background checks, and examining their travel history to ensure they haven't committed immigration violations. That's simply not how these fines work.
    – phoog
    Dec 31, 2022 at 17:55

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