Anyone who has missed a flight knows that sinking sweaty-palm frantic feeling. But missing a flight at the airport in Delhi takes that fear to a whole new level.

By Heather Newgen

Even the most seasoned traveler can miss a flight. It recently happened to me in Delhi, India and it caused so much unexpected chaos that the American Embassy got involved.

After a month of traveling I was ready to go home. It was my second time in India and I was hoping for a better experience. In 2009, I went to Delhi to volunteer with an organization called Volunteering Solutions, which turned out to be an unethical and shady program.  It was so terrible several volunteers left, including myself.

RELATED: Beware of Volunteering Solutions–Awful Experience

I couldn’t afford to change my return flight, so I stayed in India. I was alone and encountered multiple issues like relentless sexual harassment from the owner of the hotel where I was staying. It was no longer safe for me there, so a volunteer I met was living in Delhi for the summer with her family and they came to my rescue.

I crashed with them for the rest of my time in India and we became great friends. In fact, she was the reason I returned to India. She  invited me to her wedding and although my first experience in India wasn’t so amazing, I didn’t hesitate to visit again.

I was so elated for my friend and wanted to be there for her, plus who doesn’t want to attend a traditional Indian wedding?

So I went with a renewed excitement and open mind. The trip started off really well. I arrived a week before the wedding, spent a lot of time with my friend and enjoyed seeing Delhi again.

The wedding was beyond anything I could imagine. For two days I ate incredible food, danced all night, made wonderful new friends and wore the most beautiful Indian dresses. It was an unforgettable weekend and I’ll always be happy I went, but it came at a price.

After traveling to Nepal and other cities in India it was finally time to head home. I had dealt with severe food poisoning, lost luggage, sexism and a slew of other issues after the wedding, so I couldn’t wait to go home. My flight was scheduled to depart at 3:20AM on December 7th, 2019 on British Airways. I should have arrived the night before, but I was confused by the time and I didn’t show up until 11:30pm on the 7th. So I missed my flight by an entire day. Totally my fault.

Indira Gandhi International Airport

Here’s the thing about the Delhi airport. You can’t enter unless you’re a ticketed passenger. There’s armed men at the entrances checking boarding passes and passports.  One of the guards told me I had missed my flight and he directed me to an area that was connected to the airport.

There I could buy a new ticket home from a ticket counter or call the airlines to book a new flight. There was limited seating, no places to grab food or drinks and there were no bathrooms.

No Airline Agents

There are no agents to speak with. The ticket counter in the area I was at wasn’t for any specific airline. One person mans the counter and you can purchase the first flight out, but that’s it.

Inside the airport there are ticket counters with agents, but they check you in for your flight. Nothing more. In addition, there are only smaller airlines like SpiceJet that have Air India that have permanent counters.  Larger international airlines like British Airways only have agents there when they have a flight leaving from Delhi.

By this point it’s 1:00am. I had free international data and texting with T-Mobile, but not calling. It was .25 cents a minute and I knew a call to the airlines would be lengthy. So I quickly called a friend and explained the situation. I asked him to call the airlines and arrange a new flight. An hour later I was booked on a 4am flight on Etihad Airways by American Airlines, who I booked my original flight through. I was on BA because that’s one of AA’s partners. It’s now 2:30am and didn’t have long to catch this flight, but I was determined to do it.

Armed Men Physically Block Me From Leaving the Airport

I received an email confirmation and was allowed to enter the airport. I ran to the ticket counter to get my boarding pass and was told that AA didn’t process my flight correctly so they refused to issue me a boarding pass. As a result I missed the flight. I called my friend again and was booked on a Cathay Pacific flight at 10:30pm, which was 18 hours later.

It was frustrating, but it was my fault that I missed the first flight and everything finally seemed sorted so I didn’t care. At this point I just wanted to sleep and go back to my friend’s house, who lived in Delhi, until my new flight. As I tried to exit the airport, men with guns stopped me. They screamed at me in Hindi and wouldn’t allow me to leave. I had no idea what was happening.

I called my friend and she didn’t understand why I couldn’t leave. She asked to speak to the guard, but he refused to talk to her on the phone. We were both utterly confused.

Airport Rule–Can’t Leave Once you Enter

I  went to the information desk and they also said I couldn’t leave.  They told me once someone enters the airport, they can’t leave unless it’s on their departed flight. That was all they’d say. Neither my friend nor her husband had heard of this rule before and we weren’t sure what to make of it.

American Embassy was Amazing

By now it’s 6:00AM. I can’t leave the airport, I can’t go through security where there are restaurants and a hotel since I can’t get my boarding pass. Agents for your flight don’t arrive until three hours beforehand so I was stuck. I started posting videos of what was happening on Facebook and friends called the American Embassy on my behalf.

They contacted me immediately and were also perplexed as to why I couldn’t leave.  They didn’t know anything about this rule either. They asked if I was being held at gunpoint and I said no, but the armed men were trying to intimidate me by showing me their guns while yelling at me. The woman from the embassy then asked if I was allowed to use the restroom and I said I was.

Because guns weren’t drawn on me and I could use the bathroom freely, the embassy couldn’t send a representative, which I understood. I felt safe enough, so the support from the embassy should go to people in dangerous circumstances.

That said, they did stay with me on the phone for over an hour, they found a way around this rule and talked to employees at the airport  that helped me leave.

Loophole

So here’s the one way to get out of the airport if you’re in this situation. You have to prove you missed your flight. I had the email confirmation on my phone from BA and obviously I wasn’t on that flight, but that isn’t enough. An airline employee has to confirm you’re not on their manifest and they have to walk you out of the airport.

As mentioned previously, there aren’t agents from major international airlines at the airport except  when there is a flight leaving Delhi on that airline. I was lucky and there was a BA flight departing, so agents were there. At the suggestion of the embassy, I started approaching any employee I could find. Finally, someone from another airline helped me find where BA was checking passengers in for a flight and told them what happened to me. An employee took me to a side exit, showed her badge, told the guard I was okay to leave and signed me out.

I came back to the airport hours later for my new flight without incident.

Things to Note

–A local Indian man also missed his flight. He was directed to the area I was at and rebooked his flight. He was able to leave the airport and I wasn’t. He happened to be on my flight to Hong Kong, where we both caught connecting flights to our final destinations. I told him what happened to me and asked how he left. He said, “Being a local Indian man has its advantages.”

-Most people at the airport aren’t helpful. The armed guards won’t give you the time of day and the information desk is hit or miss. One guy told me to wait near the desk and he would have a BA agent help me. I waited for over an hour and when I asked him if I should keep waiting he ignored me. It was like he didn’t want to deal with me and so he told me whatever he felt like get me to leave him alone for awhile.  So I walked around and went up to a guy who worked for an airline I’d never heard of before. The embassy talked to him and he helped me find the BA agents.

–The employees  at the information desk rotate on a regular basis, so the trick is to keep going back and ask someone new for assistance.

–It’s an unfortunate fact that many men are hostile towards women in India and view females as their property. Women are degraded, abused and grossly mistreated. My encounter with a lot of the male employees wasn’t pleasant. They yelled at me when  I politely asked for assistance and treated me like a criminal. Not all men of course. The Cathay Pacific agent who checked me in was very kind, as was the guy who showed me where to find British Airways agents. But, be prepared, especially as a solo female traveler. You will encounter a level of sexism that’s pretty unbelievable.

–Arrive at least three hours before your flight. The lines to get inside the airport can be long. Once you’re in, the lines at the ticket counter can be up to an hour wait, if not longer. Then you go immigration and then security. It’s a process, so the earlier the better.

–Be mindful of when your visa expires. You won’t be allowed to board your flight if it has expired. So if you miss your flight and your visa is about to expire, apply for another one quickly. You can’t get it approved on the spot. It takes at least two days. Click here to apply.  Also call the American Embassy and have them give you advice on what to do.

What to do if you Miss your Flight

–Don’t go to the airport if you know you’ve missed your flight. Instead call the airline and talk to them directly since you can’t talk to agents at the airport. Plus, the cell and Wi-Fi service there is spotty at best, so it’s better to handle the situation beforehand if possible.

–Make sure to have your email confirmation before you attempt to enter the airport, otherwise you won’t be allowed in.

–If you miss your flight from Delhi while you’re at the airport, don’t try to leave. You still be stopped. You will have to figure it out while you’re there. Call your airline ASAP or have someone do it on your behalf.

–If you go to the information desk and tell them you missed your flight, they will probably escort you out of the airport to the area where I initially was. You don’t want to be there because there are no bathrooms, restaurants or many places to sit. So try to stay in the ticket counter area as long as possible. There are clean restrooms and a couple coffee stands where you can get water and snacks.

–There is a Holiday Inn at the airpot in Delhi and passengers leaving from T3 can in theory stay there. However, you need a boarding pass to access the hotel and once you enter the hotel  you can’t leave until your flight.  I didn’t have a boarding pass since my next flight wasn’t for another 18 hours. So I couldn’t access the hotel–or at least that’s what I was told. It’s definitely worth trying while you’re there. All they can do is tell you no.

–If you find yourself in a similar situation to mine, don’t panic. It doesn’t help. Take a deep breath, know it will take some time, but you will be okay.