The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Get to Bhutan
All stoked to head out into my next great adventure – leaving New York City for Thimphu, Bhutan, to live for at least a year to be a Professor of Creative and Prose Writing and Language at Royal Thimphu College.
I thought I had all of my ducks in a row, I’ve been traveling hardcore as a nomad for 21 years, there is rarely something that pops up that I haven’t encountered before. Then. New Delhi comes up. I was flying out of JFK, stopping over in New Delhi, India, and then venturing forward to Paro, Bhutan. Supposed to be doing all of that. Instead, I get to the airport at 12:30pm for an 8:45pm flight. Yes. I like an easy check- in and security check, and, to be there if any complications should arise. First complication came fast and furiously. American Airlines asked for my visa to India. “I’m not going to India. I just have a layover there and then I am heading to Paro, Bhutan.” “You need a visa for your layover in India.” “I don’t have one. Here is my Bhutanese 1-year Work Visa.” “That doesn’t mean anything to us. You need an Indian visa to fly.”
You see, I paid for the first leg to Delhi and then the College paid for the second leg from Delhi to Paro. Difficulties arise when you have two separate tickets with different airlines for one trip. I have learned that the hard way. So, my heart began to sink slowly, as I sat on the floor and tried to apply for a visa for India. The whole time, feeling that India is riDICulous for making people do this. It was Saturday the 13th, the first thing I read on my first attempt was that the earliest I could get a visa would be on Wednesday the 17th. This meant I would certainly miss the connection to Bhutan on Monday July 15th. Freaking out, already messaging a friend to be on standby for a potential airport pickup.
Then I went over to staff and begged for assistance. “Has anyone encountered this before and can you help?” The first staff member tried to help me navigate another attempt at a visa, now learning of something called a transit visa. No luck. He then went and got another staff member who was good with computers and we made a third attempt by that point, to get a visa online. Had to upload a photo, everything…didn’t work. Tried again…had to fill out ALL of the information all over again, and then it said I had to set up a meeting with an office. The staff member was flummoxed, he had never heard of that before, and we tried yet again. Starting from scratch and doing it all over again, it still didn’t work. FIVE times. To no avail. I did have to honestly state that I had been in Pakistan in recent years and I was learning very quickly that that could be a potential problem. Maybe that is why the applications wouldn’t go through. After this fifth and final time, the staff member said “Let me go see what I can do.” He comes back and says “I’m very sorry but you have been given the wrong information from our staff. I can check you in and authorize you to travel without a visa, I just need to see your Bhutan work visa.” I felt instant relief, and as always, I had been feeling like there had to be some way that this could be worked out. He then takes my bag, checks me in, and says “You’re all set.” I was basically gliding on air with happiness, as I went through security to my gate.
Then. I got a message from my friend who is an emergency contact. His message says “American Airlines just called me and said you need to return to the ticket counter.” My initial reaction was, “Is this a prank?” He said “No, this isn’t a prank.” So I went back to the ticket counter and the staff says “Sorry, you need a visa if you check your bag in, but if you carry a bag on, you don’t need a visa. We’re very sorry, we were just reading the fine print and that’s what we have learned.” So, they gave me my suitcase back, and a staff member went with me to buy a duffel bag (an expense I didn’t need!) AND they were taking my suitcase. My beloved suitcase, peppered with stickers from the various places I have been in my life. It was really gutting and I was feeling a heavy loss from it, even though generally, I do not dwell on my possessions. My body and mind’s reaction to this surprised even me. I was sad and on the verge of tears. BUT. If this could get me to and through Delhi without a visa, I had to let it go.
So, I get the duffel, it is huge and unwieldy, so oversized, that there is extra room in it after I’ve transferred my things into it, and making it really uncomfortable to carry. So, then the staff member takes me back to security, the front of the line, and sends me back on my way to my gate. Phew. All done. Taken care of. Now, I can go. I trust the professionals.
Now, it’s time to board, I’ll be in Group 4, premium economy, so I’ll be able to carry my bag onto this overbooked, sold out flight. To get on the plane, they are doing biometrics, so you need to get your picture taken. I step up to the camera, it beeps, and a message flashes to see an agent at the counter. I go over to the counter, they are busy with so many other people, and then they finally look at me. I show them my boarding pass and let them know that I was sent over here, asking what’s going on. “How did you get this?” she asks, holding up my boarding pass. “From the ticket counter.” “You don’t have a visa. You need a visa for India.” “No, no. It all got taken care of at the ticket counter and that is why I have a carry-on now. I was told I don’t need a visa with a carry-on. Your staff has told me all of this.” “No, I am sorry, you cannot go without a visa.” “But, your staff said I can!” She passes my passport to her colleague, he looks at the boarding pass and says “This seat isn’t even available anymore.” They were so unhelpful, uncaring, and unwilling to listen to me or to even call their colleagues at the ticket counter to confirm all of this and they would not let me get on the plane. This now means that I cannot connect to that Bhutan flight scheduled for Monday July 15th and I am in so many ways screwed. Without one ounce of sympathy from the staff. They were much more interested in getting people on standby, seats. One of which, was clearly mine.
Dejected, gobsmacked, on the verge of tears, I took the walk of shame back to the ticket counter where the staff who helped me, asked “What are you doing here?” “They wouldn’t let me fly.” “Why not? You have a boarding pass. You are allowed to fly. Everything we said to you, is the rule. They were not supposed to do that.” Well, that doesn’t help me now, does it? What is going on? Staff apologized and issued me a new itinerary to try to fly out the next night, but only on the condition that I get a new Bhutan ticket as proof of final destination from Delhi…well, with a 10-hour time difference and confusion on their end as to what happened, I could not get a new ticket, so I couldn’t fly on the Sunday the 14th, either. Today, the morning of the 14th, I took an LIRR train from Ronkonkoma to Jamaica, caught the Air Train, and then saw the staff again to let them know that Bhutan did not give me a new ticket yet, can we try again for tomorrow night, Monday the 15th? This is all after I was on the phone with an unhelpful American Airlines from 8:01am – 9:58am… so that’s why physically I had to trek all the way back to the airport to try to sort the situation out. Now, they have re-issued a new itinerary for Monday the 15th departure, again, as long as I can get Bhutan to issue me a new connecting flight for Wednesday the 17th from Delhi to Paro.
So, here I wait in New York, feeling exhausted and semi-defeated, with a tightening jaw…for Bhutan, with its 10-hour time difference, to get me a new ticket by this evening, or tomorrow morning, or else I cannot fly out yet again, tomorrow night. And I can only wonder how many times American Airlines will allow me to push this non-refundable ticket to the next day and the next day…even though this is ALL of their fault. They were supposed to, by law, allow me to fly to Delhi on my original ticket on Saturday, July 13th.
Hoping for a good conclusion to this tempestuous saga…the clock is ticking.
Hotel Chelsea. Photographed in July 2024.