Airliners-India

learning to fly · Member Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 8 Location: England

Hello.

A friend tried to book a Spice Jet Delhi-Bagdogra flight and the following message was displayed....

deaphen · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 933 Location: India

Maybe there are sone security issues pertaining to using a foreign credit card to book flights to the airport online?

Just a wild guess though, they cant really dis-allow foreigners from any particular route.

Regards
Nitin

sammyk · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:07 pm Post subject:

If it was credit card related then wouldn't they be restricted from booking any flight?

HamiltonAir · Member Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 937 Location: Bangalore

Try calling them up, you might get more details on it.

Regards,
_________________
HamiltonAir

The_Goat · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject:

Don't foreigners require a RAP for places like Bagdogra?

RAP stands for ''Restricted Area Permit''.
_________________
I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl

wingspan · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 56

I believe foreigners need a permit and even Indians from outside east India need something called Inner Line Permit. The stated purpose is to protect the culture of Arunachal Pradesh. The Restricted Area Permit (for foreigners) is a pain in the butt for people from that region who have taken another nationality. Those permits are limited to a short period of time, so they can never really be at home for long.

Imagine if Keralite NRIs could not stay in Thiruvananthapuram for more than 2 weeks...
But Bagdogra is in West Bengal, so none of htat should apply. It is a military area, so that could be it. But there are other military areas (BLR comes to mind!) that let everyone go through.

learning to fly · Member Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 8 Location: England

Thanks everyone for the replies.

It's certainly confusing, Bagdogra is in West Bengal, so there should be no restrictions or inner line permits needed.

A friend suggested that the recent troubles in Tibet may be to blame, and with Bagdogra being close to a border crossing with Nepal, this may be the reason, all very confusing.

Thanks again.

karatecatman · Guest

Supposed to be a specific DGCA directive. No more info on this.

karatecatman · Guest

More info

SpiceJet maintains that it is acting on a specific DGCA directive/instruction, but was unable to give any link for this. Went on repeating it parrot-like.

The DGCA has in turn refused to answer this and instructions were to contact the MoCA.

The MoCA official was "surprised" and asked if it was confirmed with the Spicejet top management". When the MoCA official was told that SpiceJet says that it appears as a pop-up when the website is accessed outside India, informing the person making the booking that "foreigners are not allowed to fly to Bagdogra", the official expressed surprise again.

Tried to dismiss it as "maybe an issue with the person's passport", but when it was repeated that Spicejet says that it is a general message that appears eveytime the booking is made for this specific sector, the MoCA official had no answer.

The official has promised to check this out with the DGCA.

(To be continued)
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Nimish · Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject:

learning to fly · Member Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 8 Location: England

Wow karatecatman

Thanks for the info and for all your efforts, very much appreciated.

Looking forward to any updates.

karatecatman · Guest

MoCA and DGCA work five days a week. So have been asked to get in touch on Monday.

(To be continued)

gp3 trainee · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

Hi

I flew into and out of Bagdogra last week.

In from Delhi by Indian Airlines with no problem, ticket booked on the web a few days earlier.

When I pitched up at Bagdogra airport for my SpiceJet flight out (booked on the web about three months earlier) I was told by the SpiceJet local management that they did not yet have their licence to carry non-Indian nationals to or from Bagdogra. They expect to get it by July at the latest.

They then refunded my fare and worked extremely hard to get me on the next Deccan flight out.

They told me it doesn't affect SpiceJet elsewhere, nor does it affect other airlines flying to or from Bagdogra.

Hope this helps.

Nimish · Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:38 am Post subject:

HAWK21M · Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:26 pm Post subject:

gp3 trainee · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

HAWK21M · Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject: