Travel agent bungles, women’s hockey team returns from airport

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi, June 18, 2009

Mismanagement continues to haunt India hockey with the Russia-bound senior women’s team made to return from the airport for not having necessary travel documents.

The women’s team was scheduled to fly for Kazan, Russia from Delhi in a Lufthansa flight last night to take part in the Champions Challenge tournament, the first qualifying event for Champions Trophy, starting Sunday but they were denied permission to board the plane for not having transit visa to stop over at Frankfurt, Germany.

Apparently, the situation arose due to misunderstanding between the central government’s travel agency Balmer Lawrie Ltd and Lufthansa Airlines.

“The situation could have been avoided if both the travel agent and the airlines acted in a more professional manner. Since all government-financed foreign tours are handled by the travel agency, the Indian team’s tickets too were booked by them,” Hockey India secretary general Mohammad Aslam said.

“We had also sought all-travel related information in advance from them and the agency informed us that Lufthansa officials had told them that transit visas were not required for the Delhi-Kazan flight via Frankfurt. But they later retracted,” he said.