Lack of info on visa costs IT couple from Bengaluru Rs 60K

BENGALURU: A lack of awareness about transit visas has caused a huge financial loss to this Bengaluru IT couple and ruined their vacation plans. Milan Kumar Muni, an employee of HCL Technologies, and wife Seema, an engineer at Shell India Private Limited, got the shock of their lives when they went to collect their boarding passes for their British Airways flight to Hamburg in Germany via London (BA 118 and BA 966) at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA).

The reason: Seema required a transit visa for London as the flight will have a stopover at London Heathrow International Airport. The same was not necessary for Milan since he had a valid US visa was the response they got from the airline’s staff at KIA.