OMAAT reader Gabor shared a frustrating denied boarding story with me, and asked for my take. This is a mighty interesting one, and I’m surprised I’ve never addressed a situation like this on the blog…
HK Express denies passenger boarding due to transit
Long story short, Gabor’s fiancée (who has a Vietnamese passport and a Hungarian resident card), was booked to take a trip on October 20, 2025, on two separate tickets.
She was supposed to fly from Osaka (KIX) to Hong Kong (HKG) on one ticket, and from Hong Kong to Doha (DOH) to Budapest (BUD) on a separate ticket, on the same day, with a reasonable connection time. She managed to check-in online for both flights, and had boarding passes and no checked bags. Transiting Hong Kong on separate tickets isn’t an issue, as long as you stay airside.
Note that she would’ve needed a visa to enter Hong Kong, but she didn’t plan to enter Hong Kong (as is the case with a countless number of transit passengers around the world every day).
HK Express denied her boarding in Osaka, claiming she couldn’t fly because she didn’t have a visa to enter Hong Kong. As Gabor explains:
First they said they need a confirmed ticket for the onward journey from HKG. When we showed the ticket, they changed their stance and wanted a boarding pass, then from that they quickly changed to that they want a Cathay Pacific boarding pass. We didn’t have a CX boarding pass, but I was thinking of buying a ticket. However, ultimately they changed to that even with a Cathay boarding pass, my fiancée was not allowed to board. (To be clear, we had a confirmed ticket and we were also checked in (QR was looking for my fiancée on the HKG-DOH plane), and also we were careful with the checked in luggage: my fiancée didn’t have any.
I tried to explain to the agent that my fiancée is eligible to airside transfer which does not require a VISA at Hong Kong Airport (according to the Hong Kong Immigration services as well). We also offered to sign a document so that we take the responsibility of all finances in Hong Kong (not that their rule doesn’t exclude them anyways). Since we couldn’t resolve the issue in time, I had to buy a separate ticket to my fiancée then I used my original ticket. (Let me say that this happened in Japan, so even though HK Express is a HK airline, the agents were Japanese, and were nice and polite. They did everything based on the instructions which they got from the HK center.)
Gabor has been in touch with customer relations at HK Express, requesting a refund of the HK Express ticket, and compensation for the Qatar Airways ticket they had to buy because of the mistake, since they had no real grounds on which to deny the passenger boarding.
Most of the communication from HK Express doesn’t really address the concerns raised, though perhaps the closest thing to a defense that’s pointed to is in the carrier’s contract of carriage, where Article 12 Section 4 states the following, about travel requirements:
You alone are responsible for making all necessary arrangements for your travel and ensuring that your travel documents are valid and that you hold all necessary visas, travel documents, medical certificates and any other documents as may be required by relevant authorities from time to time for entry into the countries concerned (including countries through which you transit under the Booking), and to ensure that you are allowed entry to the port of entry.
Now, I think that can be interpreted in two different ways, but the airline seems to be suggesting that this allows the company to deny someone boarding if they don’t have the entry requirements for a point of transit, which seems completely unreasonable.
I’d interpret this to just mean that you need to meet the requirements for transit and/or entry, based on whether you intend to transit or enter a country. But I’ll let everyone decide how they interpret that?
My take on this frustrating denied boarding situation
As I interpret things, Gabor is 100% in the right here, and this transit shouldn’t have been an issue. Hong Kong Airport’s website even confirms this should be allowed, as it’s not at all unusual to transit in countries you don’t have the ability to enter.
Now, I will say, traveling on separate tickets when I don’t have the ability to enter an intermediate country always makes me a bit nervous. Don’t get me wrong, I still do it sometimes, but I always have a slightly elevated heart rate, and wonder if something will go wrong.
It’s definitely not a best practice, because you’re at the mercy of the person checking you in. What’s odd here is that it sounds like HK Express agents in Osaka were actually in touch with central employees in Hong Kong, so this wasn’t just a rogue agent making up rules (which would be very un-Japanese, in the first place).
It sounds like Gabor has gotten as far as he’s going to get when it comes to communicating directly with the airline. In light of that, reaching out to someone who can bring some attention to situations like this is probably the best way to proceed (hi!)
We all agree that this transit should’ve been possible, right? Yes, maybe it wasn’t a best practice, but no rules were being violated, or is there something we’re missing? If so, I’ll forward it to a contact at the airline. If that doesn’t get anywhere, I think the next best option is to file a complaint with the authorities in Hong Kong. I don’t have any firsthand experience with this in Hong Kong, so if anyone has any tips or experiences there, I’m sure Gabor would appreciate them.
Bottom line
A passenger attempted to fly from Osaka to Budapest on two separate tickets, connecting in Hong Kong, from HK Express to Qatar Airways. As I understand it, this transit shouldn’t have been an issue at all, as airside transit is totally normal. However, the airline insisted this wasn’t possible, so the traveler wasn’t able to take the flight.
It seems to me like the airline was in the wrong here, though customer relations at the airline insists the airline had the right to deny the passenger boarding. What a frustrating situation…
What do you make of this Hong Kong Airport transit mess?
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