Aeroflot Deports US Citizens To India Because Of How They Look

Personally i will never take a flight on a russian plane or which lands in russia...
But the problem here has to do with dual citizenship:
They boarded that plane in India as INDIAN CITIZENS... and therefor they remain as such for the russian company regardless of how many different passports they carry...
So. in the event they are not welcome at any airport... the airline is obliged to take them back to the place where they boarded that airplane. PERIOD.

That's the way it goes with any airplane landing at any international airport, where passengers are not welcome, even if they have a visa to visit.

There is nothing sinister or racist. Aeroflot had to dispatch a planeful of people within hours, to avoid the immigration-related consequences(incidentally, nothing tragic in that also, they don't send people to camps for overstaying visa). Rules require routing to port of origin, or port of destination. With flights to US in a state of funk all over Europe, they returned those returnable to India to India. These are the risks of flying via countries you can't get into, and one takes them consiously, to save money, and that is that. As for the rest of it: political correctness did not take root in Russia, and Russians routinely refer to people by ethnicity, race, body type, etc.,without being actually being racist. It may indeed sound abrasive, but you can't quite expect the whole world to subscribe to American sensitivities and verbal equivocation. Hence, it will be Indian, or Turkish, and not "Indian-American", or "holder of Indian passport" in Russia, so get over this- no offence meant. Finally, Aeroflot: reading silly comments from those who never flew them is funny. At this point , it is the best airline in Sky Team, newest planes, best food, at least in business, professional and courteous service. Falls short of premium Asian airlines (although food in Aeroflot business is better than Singapore business, for example), but not by much , and is certainly better than any US carrier. Intra-european flights in business is actually business seat, and not an expensive joke offered by, say, Lufthanza or BA. It is all consequent to gigantic infusion of money into equipment, airports, and training during the oil peak, and is likely to deteriorate, but for now - enjoy.

Steve,

It’s racists who try to explain away racism that does indeed exist and try to pin accusations of racism on those who rightfully consider its existence in circumstances such as this.

Failing to acknowledge a logical explanation of racism as being a factor in events such as this is something I’d expect of racists. It seems to be what you’ve done above by entertaining various possibilities while being biased against acknowledging the possibility of racism being a factor in this travel situation. Who’s the racist? ;)

@GUWonder

It would be discrimination if all things were equal, but they weren't. If there were white Americans and Asian Americans on the same flight, and one was allowed through and the other wasn't, due to no other fact other than skin colour, then sure it's discrimination. However that isn't true in this case...there were a huge number of variables:

- Christmas in Russia
- Exceptionally rare weather in NYC closed down airports
- Americans cannot be deported back to Vietnam as they would not have a visa to re-enter.
-Language barrier
- These Asian American passengers were in economy, on the cheapest tickets most likely and had no priority with the airline. Other passengers with status, or in premium cabins would have priority over any flights to US.

What you are doing is being a racist yourself by failing to acknowledge the logical explanations which could give rise to these events.

armpeet,

It’s mainly racists and the apologists for racism of sorts that talk about and berate a claim of bigotry as being “the race card” most every time someone appropriately recognizes racism in action. The fact that multiple US citizens of ethnic European appearance were allowed to remain in Moscow to make an IRROPs connection to the US while US citizens of ethnic South Asian background on the same route were being rejected from being treated the same and instead sent to India speaks volumes about ethnicity-based discrimination.

This wasn’t a situation of discrimination based on passengers’ passport ; it was a situation of discrimination based on something beside passenger’s passport. Discrimination based on ethnic appearance? Many would see that as racism, but racists and the apologists for government and big business often try to write off due criticism by using undue means and lousy excuses. This situation is no exception, and racism needs to be addressed. Crying about “the race card” won’t disappear the due criticisms of racism, but better luck next time in trying to squelch criticism of unseemly discrimination. ;)

@Animesh

Don't forget QR uses 787, ANA uses 787, LH uses 747-8 also and BA with their A380, 787s.

The market for travel from India is strong and growing. Airlines know this and are increasing flights at a pace greater than DEAL can accommodate. No wonder I read about expansion if DEL and the ground breaking ceremony for another international airport.

The treatment of passengers in this article is sad. That is why it's best to avoid airlines not operating from well known hubs.

The Indian authorities at exit immigration and customs control have a long history of checking Indian passport passengers for their travel documents to transit/enter the transit and/or destination country. This included looking for visas and residency permits. How does an Indian citizen headed to the US via SVO on SU show Indian authorities entry allowance for the US without showing a US document of sort that isn’t a US passport? They don’t, unless they want to incriminate themselves on the spot.;)

Back to the drawing board, Exilschwab and Steve. This ain’t kindergarten any longer, so expect to be called out for poor excuses to try to justify this service blunder. Or is it that some consider racism in business to not be a service blunder?

Ben, thanks for this awareness. I know this sounds improbable to many... But Russia is still a very long way from US sensibilliteis. Here is my story:

I was traveling through Russia, few years ago (YES to save money). It was about three in the morning, and a very cold night, it was minus 30F outside. I was waiting in the huge 240,000 sq ft. Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. I was busily chatting with a group of adventurers, all realizing some of their dreams. One British gentleman had just finished climbing a mountain in Pakistan, while his other fellow countryman was coming off a long exploration journey in Thailand.

One particularly interesting individual was from Bulgaria, with extensive knowledge of the Russian culture. We spoke at length about the long term negative effects of communism on society, with a very pessimistic view of the whole future outlook of the former Soviet Union state. He seemed to be very interested in what I had to say. Suddenly, I heard my name being announced on the loud speaker. I tore myself out of the crowd and reported to the counter.

When I asked about the nature of my call, I was told that my flight has been moved to a separate terminal, and I was to immediately board a shuttle, so I can meet my flight. I, of course, obliged, and found myself, after a very long and clunky shuttle ride in a much smaller and a rather archaic terminal. There was no sign of technology, and it felt like the pre World War II era environment. Just like any airport I was asked to go through security. This terminal had mostly local Russian passengers, and upon seeing my United States residency, I was asked to step aside and taken to a corner for further examination.

I was carrying about $800 in cash, and during the pat-down, it was discovered. The Russian looked at me inquiringly. I said, in the calmest way I could, “No problem, this is my money, no problem”. He simply said one word in thick Russian accent which made my hair stand up, “prrroblem”.

The guards escorted me to a huge unheated room, with only an old wooden table and one metal chair in the middle. I was asked to sit on that chair, and three uniformed guards surrounded me. They fired questions at me in Russian, the problem was that I did not speak any Russian, and they did not speak any English. Hours went by, without any resolution. I was getting a bit concerned, as I realized that nobody actually knew where I was. If something were to happen to me, my family and friends would never find out. As I was getting very discouraged indeed, things took an interesting turn. In walked the Bulgarian fellow that I was talking to earlier.

He spoke quickly to the guards in fluent Russian and started to walk toward me, expressionless. I was not sure if this was a good thing for me, or bad. I recalled all the bad things I had said to him about Russia, just a few hours ago. Was I being detained by the KGB for speaking against the state? That would be very bad, very bad indeed. I had a sudden feeling of deep disquiet. As he approached me, however, I detected a slight smirk around his mouth, which wholly threw a more positive light on the matter at hand.

“They are holding my friend from Australia in the next room.” He said, without wasting any time. “I was with him, interpreting.”

Misery loves company, I suppose. As I felt instantly better, at least, I was not alone in this thing. “What do they want?” I asked the most obviously question.

The Bulgarian seemed to be enjoying my suspense, and without any sense of urgency he simply said, “$25”.

“What?”

“$25”, He repeated. “They want 25 of your American Dollars.”

“They put me through this for @$#%@#* $25?”

“It goes a long way for them”, He said flatly.

Now, I absolutely loath any idea of giving bribes, as it is the biggest underlying catalyst for corruption, but in this case, I didn’t waste any time giving them the money, and within a few minutes I was out of there.

I truely believe, this discussion is way out of scope of this travel site.

GUWonder: the Indian government banned US passport holders of Indian decent for a reason from holding also an Indian passport. However this happened a mere 10 years ago. So far it has been easy for US passport holders to keep their Indian passport, if they only travel regularly to India, by using their Indian passport, and not their US passport, and regularly apply for a new one.

In order to conceal their US citizenship to the Indian authorities those passengers have to use their Indian nationality and passport for the airline registration.
And then they are Indians for the airline, self-declared Indians. Your argument that this was illegal does not contradict that in reality, and in effect this may be wide-spread practice. No any racism involved. Just following law, and Respecting passengers as what they have declared themselves to be.

Travel Dad,

India has a constitutional ban against its citizens holding dual-citizenship and the ban against dual-citizenship applies to all Indian citizens who are adults. In other words, valid users of regular US passport of Indian ethnic backgrounds have no inalienable right to be admissible to India. That is to say that even ethnic Indians with OCI (glorified visa) status have no guaranteed right to be admissible to India, but all such persons with US citizen passports have an inalienable right to be admissible to the US. And yet some nincompoops at SVO couldn’t see beyond the ethnicity of the US citizen passengers.

Not so amusingly, in some decades past, Indian airline/airport workers were also known to discriminate against people based on ethnic appearance rather than based on citizenship, and it was such that a European-American using a US passport would be treated better than a comparably-positioned Indian-American using a US passport by Indians working for Indian airlines/airports. It seems like Russia/Aeroflot are sticking to legacy Indian ways.

It does not matter how many passports you hold, or withhold in your suitcase.
Some people have 3 or 4 passports of different countries, often completely legal.
But as a passenger you Have to select one identity, I mean one nationality, and one passport, for the entirety of the flight booked. And for the Airline, it does not matter that you have a different passport, or a different name, if you do not use it when checking in.
For the airline, it matters only with which passport and nationality you booked the flight, and checked in.

If some passengers checked in as Indian Nationals, having a reason to withhold the information that they also carry a US passport, then the airline has no other means as treating them as nationals of the outgoing country, India.

Ben, you posted similar stories of people being denied travel before , usually their passport or visa status was not in line with their travel routes. And before you suggested racism behind Airline decisions, driven by administrative regulations. And now you jump on the Anti-Russia bandwagon, because it is mainstream and easy. This is sad.

You yourself, Ben would have been proactive in such a situation, would have used miles or some money to get a ticket to a nearby destination, like Vilnius, Warsaw, Riga, that do not require Visa for US citizen, and you would have waited and sorted it out from there, maybe flown on to the US, or back to Moscow, when Aeroflot would have given you a green light that now direct flights to the US resumed. And later you would have sorted the ticket cost or Hotel out with Aeroflot - or not, but gotta good story out of that re-routing. Passengers have a certain responsibility, for their route-planning, carrying and declaring the right IDs.

I'm honestly not surprised.
Here in Russia Aeroflot is widely known for very poor service, frequent delays or cancellations because of "the weather in Moscow" (so they don't have to provide anything to the passengers), when all the other airlines are departing the same sunny Moscow airport at the same time with no issues, and the "you could jump off a cliff and I still wouldn't care attitude", especially when it comes to domestic flights and even if the problems were caused by Aeroflot itself, not to mention usually rude or apathetic ground staff with very limited English knowledge. Onboard in economy is usually better, but nowhere near the Asian or Middle Eastern carriers, at least in my experience.
They try their best at PR though, so it's usually "Aeroflot is the best known brand and the most improved airline", and not all their shenanigans that gets out and gets published.
So I'm glad that this story got some attention and feel very sorry for those people.
I'm based in Moscow and I avoid Aeroflot like a plague, mostly because if anything goes wrong - you're completely on your own.

@karim I. Agree. Many ignorant people are quickly jumping on the bandwagon and blaming Aeroflot.
Airlines are not immigration police
They will only follow the orders of the immigration officers, whom may have stated they cannot stay > 24 hrs
Ok this sd be explained by SU or possibly immigration
@ Kent. They are not Indian ! However many races ( incl my own ) always cry racism without full knowledge of the events that unfolded nor what happened before and without actually seeing the customer’s documents. But hey the SU employee are Caucasian do it must be racism ?! Then they state all the staff in their company will boycott airline ABC.

Does not surprise me given my own experience with Aeroflot back in 2002 when I visited my brother who was studying in Russia at that time. I had planned a 7 day layover in Moscow en route to Bombay and when I checked in for the onward flight to BOM was told that I was offloaded due to overbookings. I was at the airport counter 3 hrs before the flight departure and no their website had not let me check in online. Was told I would be put on a flight 3 days later but I would be responsible for getting my Russia visa extended which would have costed me a couple of hundred bucks as it would need to be processed urgently. After a lot of argument I was asked to pay $50 (which probably was pocketed by the agent) and put on a charter flight operated by Aeroflot to Delhi. Was stressful to say the least.

If his spoken English is as bad as his written English, that could be a problem.
Plus, of course, there are ten thousand better routes for just a couple of hundred dollars more to go from India to the US.
That being said, my two worst flying experiences EVER in traveling to 125+ countries were at Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo in Moscow! Either they look for ways to shake all Americans down or they have terminal ( no pun intended) confusion and/or typical Russian paranoia about the authenticity of your boarding pass, whether email or paper.
Who in the H uses Moscow as a transit stop?

Hold your horses until more facts get out. Maybe the airline reps analyzed everyone’s passports and they concluded that they would only send people to the US if they had used up their single entry Indian visa and back to India if they had a multiple entry visa. Thise of Indian descent would have been more likely to have had multi-entry. Or maybe those US passengers of Indian extraction were dual passport holders—deduced if their US passport had no Indian visa in it or the IT system showed an additional Indian nationality--info gained from the questioning before boarding tbe original outbound flight.