Bhopal: A Bhopal student stuck in Ukraine was denied air travel on February 22 despite having a booking because the passenger assistance facility of his halt city rejected his vaccination certificate. Now, he cannot return to India until the airspace in Ukraine reopens, says his mother who practices law in Bhopal. It so happened as the mobile application of Doha's air passenger assistance facility, Aitraaz, did not approve of the vaccination certificate received in Ukraine, she says.
He incurred a financial loss, as Pegasus Airlines, through which he had booked the ticket paying Rs 27,000, did not refund a single penny, she adds.
The fifth year MBBS student Aabhas Parihar says he was with four of his friends who were carrying vaccination certificate issued from the same place and one of them is in India right now. "I live in Ternopil and had booked my journey from a safer route instead of running to Kyiv, which is way too far from here. My ticket was from Liviv, which is 120 km away from here near Poland border, to Doha via Istanbul. I had a stay in Doha before my next Indigo flight to Mumbai," he says.
"When we got our PCR results at 3 pm (UA time) on February 21, I uploaded them on the application Aitraaz along with required documents, including vaccination certificate and passport details. The app right away rejected vaccination certificates of four of us and accepted the certificate of our other friend," he adds.
"We contacted the help desk of Pegasus Airlines but the lady on the desk misbehaved with us. She abused us, showing her hatred towards Indians. We filed for the refund and they said they could return only Rs 200," says Parihar.
He told Free Press that the vaccination certificate did not have QR code.
"We asked our university management, who got us jabbed, to give us a certificate with QR code in it, but to no avail. We contacted Ternopil health ministry and got a new certificate and tried to get approved with that too. Nothing worked. We were scared and disappointed, adds Parihar.
His friend who was denied travel, Satyam Sabharwal, says, "I have emails that say we do not require Aitraaz's approval on vaccination certificate to travel."
"The situation here is dire. Banks are closed. ATMs and grocery shops are queued up. We had stocked up our flat with grocery items and emptied our bank accounts too. We should have been in India right now, but a technical glitch has stranded us here," adds Satyam.
