Turkish airline employee: “It’s too expensive to transport illegal immigrants back and forth”
The Turkish airline, which has been outraged by Russian tourists since March by not allowing them on the transfer in Istanbul for the second part of the flight to Mexico on a single basis ticket purchased in the Russian Federation, stopped sales of such connecting flights. For those who already have such tickets in hand, the conditions for their return were explained, and Russian tour operators selling tours to Mexico offered alternative flight options.
We've made it clear the moments that most confuse Russian tourists about these innovations.
Let us remind you: since March, stories from Russian tourists began to regularly appear on social networks that, without explanation and at the last moment at the Istanbul connection, they were not allowed to take part in the second part of the flight to Mexico on tickets purchased under a single reservation — that is, in Istanbul only new transit passengers receive such boarding passes. In April, Russians began to be removed from Turkish planes flying to Mexico in such numbers that complaints spilled out beyond the RuNet and reached the official ears of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which intervened at the level of the Russian consulate in Turkey, demanding an explanation from the Turkish carrier. Clarification of the issue showed that the problem of removing our citizens from flights to Latin America at the stage of the Turkish air hub did not appear this spring, but has existed for the last two years; it’s just that in recent months such incidents have become more frequent and widespread. At the same time, the majority of removed Russians are sent not on a tour from a Russian tour operator, but on their own.
Based on the results of the intervention of domestic diplomats working in Istanbul, the Russian Foreign Ministry, at the level of its deputy head Sergei Ryabkov, explained the exclusion of Russians from Turkish carrier flights to Mexico by “US pressure.” To which the Turkish carrier has completely closed the single booking of connecting flights from the Russian Federation to Latin America on its website. In an unofficial field, employees of this carrier explained that on connecting flights from the Russian Federation there is a special security service that monitors potential asylum seekers in the United States. This service determines this probability through its own channels, but the main criterion is that this citizen of the Russian Federation applied for a US visa in a certain recent period and received a refusal.
In the official field, the Turkish airline, which today is receiving a record number of written complaints from Russians not allowed on board, having suspended the sale of connecting tickets, explained through its agencies in the Russian Federation what to do for citizens of the Russian Federation who have already purchased tickets to Mexico City and Cancun via Istanbul with departure from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan. For passengers with tickets issued before April 23, 2024 inclusive, for flights departing from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan and arriving in Mexico City and Cancun from April 23 to July 31, 2024 (inclusive), the following options are available: changing the route and flight dates, refund processing (for unused tickets, a forced refund is provided without penalty, provided that the money will be returned on July 31, 2024 inclusive). Simply put, purchased tickets will be cancelled, money will take a long time to be returned, and it will no longer be possible to fly to Mexico from the Russian Federation via Istanbul with a single booking.
Russian travel agents selling holidays on the Mexican coast immediately urged their compatriots not to be upset, because the Turkish carrier was not in a wedge. The list of options proposed by our tourism industry includes independent transit in Havana (direct flights of domestic airlines fly to Cuba) with a further flight to Mexico on Cuban airlines. Mexican cities can also be reached by Emirati air carriers through Dubai, as well as through Panama and Brazil. And here our tourists have legitimate questions.
“I saw news about the cancellation on the Turkish website,” shares a Muscovite who has tickets to Mexico City via Istanbul for June, “I’m writing to the support service on their website, what do they mean by the fact that “the airline itself can exchange your canceled tickets to Mexico for any other destination.” And I get an answer from the chatbot that at least for Brazil and Argentina, at least for Spain and Portugal. I’m flying right where I want! But if I change my vacation itinerary, for example, to Panama, where is my guarantee that in Istanbul I won’t be canceled in the same way, without explanation?! Since they say that the problem is that “potential refugees” who arrived from the Russian Federation are being removed from flights to the American continent?
Indeed, the speaker from our Foreign Ministry added that “Russian passengers flying not only to Mexico, but also to other Latin American countries face problems.” It turns out that tour operators only care about selling their Mexican product, while tourists, instead of a serene vacation, only need a new portion of stress? Again, a “call to a friend” helps out — a personal acquaintance from among the employees of the Turkish airline, today unpopular among Russians.
“No, we’re only talking about Mexico,” he answers in a private conversation when asked whether Russian citizens will be removed from any flights to the American continent. – This is not advertised, but illegal land corridors from Mexico to the United States are causing more and more headaches every day. In addition to the fact that the United States, for its part, is not ready to accept so much, in Mexico itself these “holes,” along with “helpers” and scammers who promise to transfer those who want them across the border for a fee, have become undying hotbeds of crime. And according to the internal agreement, if we brought an illegal immigrant to Mexico who does not have money for a return ticket to the Russian Federation, we are obliged to deport him at our own expense. But it’s so expensive to drive illegal immigrants back and forth that it’s easier to identify and remove them without waiting for it to start…