AI bars US-bound students from boarding flight in Hyd
HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: Air India barred 19 Indian students from boarding its flight to San Fransisco on Sunday night so that they were not “inconvenienced” after being told by US authorities that the two universities to which they had secured admission were under “scrutiny”.
The national carrier, which did not allow these students to board the flight at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, has decided not to accept students headed to these universities till the time it got clearance from Air India’s US office.
“Air India received communication on December 19, 2015, from the US Customs and Border Protection agency that two universities namely Silicon Valley, San Jose, California; and North Western Polytechnic College, Fremont, CA; are under scru- tiny and students who arrived into San Francisco were not allowed to enter the US and were deported back to India,” an Air India statement said.
“In the past, we have witnessed that students who secured admission in those institutions have been deported to India as soon as they land there. To avoid embarrassment to them and save their money, we prevented them from boarding the flight,” an AI official said in Hyderabad.
Air India has offered full refund and waived all charges such as cancellation and rescheduling fee. It said it will start accepting students travelling to join these universities, at no additional cost, as soon as it receives the clearance.