Despite Germany Accepting Covishield, Indians Face Travel Issues Because Of No DoB On CoWin
Apparently, the issue of no 'Date of Birth' on the vaccine certificate is why the travellers were not allowed to board the flights. However, the certificate issued by CoWin does not have any category for DoB.
Despite Germany accepting Covishield and allowing travellers who have gotten both jabs of the Indian-made vaccine to enter the country, some people are allegedly facing trouble doing so.
Several tweets have emerged where people have claimed that they were disbarred from boarding flights of Lufthansa, the largest German airline, depsite having vaccine certificates.
Apparently, the issue of no date of birth on the vaccine certificate is why the travellers were not allowed to board the flights. However, the certificate issued by CoWin does not have any category for DoB.
BMI
On the other hand, the guidelines set in place by German authorities state that the traveller's vaccine certificate should have 'the personal data of the vaccinated person (at least first and last name and date of birth)'.
Now, since the provision does not exist on the CoWin certificate, a plethora of confusion has been created due to which some passengers had to suffer along with spending more time and money to get to their destination.
Indiatimes got in touch with Sammedh Jain who had taken to Twitter to express his unfortunate experience with Lufthansa and the events that followed.
According to Mr Jain, a resident of Stuttgart, Germany, his in-laws had plans to travel to the European country by Lufthansa. However, when they reached Bangalore airport after driving for eight hours from Mangalore, the couple was informed during check-in that their documents were inadequate.
It¡¯s very disgusting and shameful by Lufthansa for not accepting Covid vaccine certificate (Covishield)which has been issued by government of India. Anyone can help? .@AmitShahOffice @DrSJaishankar @Tejasvi_Surya @annamalai_k @BSYBJP @RAshokaBJP @Lufthansa_India
¡ª Sammedh Jain (@jainsammedhgma1) July 15, 2021
Having their visas in place along with their vaccination certificates, the couple was made to wait at the airport for seven hours while the airline authorities demanded more documents. Their boarding was at 3am and the elderly couple was denied entry at 1.30am.
"During check in at the Lufthansa counter, the ground staff asked for unnecessary documents which aren¡¯t required for check in," Mr Jain told Indiatimes.
"I live in Germany and instantly we provided all the documents, whatever they needed but simply they wasted 2.5 hours. Finally, Lufthansa denied boarding by saying no DoB on vaccine certificate," he added.
He also said, "They blamed German police. Then we called German police here and they said they don¡¯t have any rules like that."
Why Covishield vaccine certificate is not valid to travel and why Lufthansa is insisting DOB on vaccine certificate? Lufthansa denied my parents to board the flight at the last moment for this reason. Can anyone help? @Lufthansa_India @GermanCG_BLR @JM_Scindia @PMOIndia
¡ª Sammedh Jain (@jainsammedhgma1) July 16, 2021
Apparently, the ground staff member asked Mr Jain's in-laws to produce their grandchildren's passport copies among other documents.
"We had submitted all these to get the visa but she (ground staff member) started to ask for all this to waste time."
Sammedh Jain (Lufthansa ground staff member)
What is fishy here is that after the couple was turned away boarding the flight, they were informed by the airlines to take the same flight two days later. Mr Jain believes that the flight was over-booked and this was a way to deny passengers from boarding.
The same tickets were transferred and the couple managed to successfully fly to Germany while the same ground staff was on duty but without any extra questions about vaccine certificates and date of birth this time.
Mr Jain's in-laws had to spend more money and time to book a place for two days to stay while they waited for their next flight.
There are many legitimate documents that have the date of birth; the CoWin certificate has no such category but it has one for passport number which further has your date of birth mentioned in it.
Indiatimes
A few others tweeted along the same lines as Mr Jain on the microblogging website.
Hey @lufthansa @Lufthansa_India
¡ª Shayamal (@shayamalv) July 17, 2021
I was de-boarded last night cos my India CoviShield Certificate didn¡¯t have a DOB on it. This isn¡¯t listed as a requirement anywhere.
I had a Digital Entry Pass, Valid Schengen Visa, -Ve Covid Test, COVID Certificate, Quarantine Add.
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Despite meeting all requirements, a German Police Officer at @Lufthansa_India desk denied me entry. I was on contact with the Embassy who gave me no info.
¡ª Shayamal (@shayamalv) July 17, 2021
Now the airline refuses to refund or give me a voucher credit.
Deeply disappointed ?
@AmbLindnerIndia Please help.
¡ª Shayamal (@shayamalv) July 17, 2021
This is happening to far to many people. @airfrance Have been kind enough to offer credit vouchers knowing full well that the situation is sensitive & ppl are stranded. I feel the German National Carrier @lufthansa is taking advantage of ppl.
Dear sir @AmbLindnerIndia
¡ª Arun Kumar (@ArunKum10024654) July 16, 2021
Hope you are doing well. There is a small issue while flight Onboarding @lufthansa is asking for COVID certificate(Covishield) with DOB mentioned in it. Hope this confusion would be resolved earliest.
Thank you so much in advance & Have a great day.
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