Sometimes travelling by plane can be a quite expensive adventure, either because you forgot your passport, or didn’t want to do some silly procedure, or the airline staff just wanted to be mean to you.
It is amazing how many problems you can encounter when willing to take off. Until now I have been denied boarding a flight in three different times.
The first time was on my way back from Barcelona to Alicante (where I was studying). Because I took the train to get to Barcelona I didn’t realize I did not have my passport with me. Of course they would not let me take the plane by just showing my university card! 🙁 and I lost the plane.
The second time I was flying from Girona to Santiago de Compostela with Ryanair (the Irish low cost company). Because there was no direct flight I had to do a stop-off in Madrid departing just one hour after arrival. According to the company’s policy I had to do a ‘visa checking’ (for non EU Citizens) at my departure point and on my stopover too. Unluckily for me I found this policy a little bit illogical, considering that it is the same company and I am the same passenger. Consequence: I had to take the train to reach Galicia.
The third time – and with any luck the last one – I was visiting my family in Israel and booked my round trip journey with an intermediate stop in Greece, where I had a fantastic Greek wedding. My European residence document was at that moment from Spain – and I must say it didn’t look like an official European Union document at all. The airline thought I might be entering illegally into Europe and didn’t want to acknowledge my Spanish resident document, equivalent to a Schengen visa for tourists. This was an expensive one and I had to book another flight to get back to Spain for € 500.
Until now I am not sure how does exactly the Schengen agreement works on, but apparently you can only flight outside the Schengen area from and to the country where you have your resident permit.