‘Was I blocked from a Ryanair flight because of racism?’

A London-based charity worker who was denied boarding a Ryanair flight while on a work trip to Montenegro has accused airport staff of “racism” and “making up their own immigration rules as they go along”. Neha Kagal, who has an Indian passport and a British visa and residence permit, says she was left angry and humiliated after boarding staff at Stansted airport refused to let her enter the flight last March on the basis that she did not have a visa for the Schengen area of Europe. Her case is the latest example of airlines wrongly banning people from flights to avoid potential fines from the destination country. The Embassy of Montenegro in London had categorically told Kagal that she didn’t need a Schengen visa – and has since confirmed this in writing – but ground handling staff refused to listen. She says she and a colleague were forced to stand aside as other passengers were allowed to board. To compound their frustration, she claims airport staff told her that they had to be very “wary of people with blue (Indian) passports” and told her that it didn’t matter what the embassy said as “there was no way she was going to Montenegro on a Ryanair flight”. She says: “Racist Ryanair apparently have their own immigration rules.” Only after the Guardian intervened would the airline admit it was wrong. Story has more details.<br/>