Horrible travel stories: Having airline staff deny you entrance to your own country

This story is one that eventually got resolved and I know a lot about it because it happened to someone I know extremely well because he's me.

I was traveling around South East Asia going from country to country and did something that I actually wouldn't advise other people to do and that was to arrive in Singapore, have a rigid schedule, and then be scheduled ahead of time to travel out of a different country which in my situation was to depart for my international flight back home from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

While I will save the details for another time, my rigid schedule that was planned down to the exact day and all the things I was going to see along the way, including a boat journey down to Sulawesi that never happened, well let's just say that almost none of my plan actually happened because at that point in my life I was inexperienced and as I like to say, I "still had one foot in USA" and didn't realize that these sorts of things fall apart very quickly and it was about day 2 of this trip that I had to throw out my carefully manicured itinerary and just go with the flow.

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The trip overall was actually really nice and I learned a lot about backpacking on that trip, but what I encountered at Saigon International airport was something I had never come even close to experiencing as far as airline staff are concerned and at one point I thought I was going to miss my expensive flight all because someone behind the counter was completely wrong about what she was talking about and refused to see the illogical way that she was handling it.

I turned up many hours early because as it turns out I didn't care much for Ho Chi Minh City and went over to the counter expecting very little in the way of trouble because I was flying to the United States and I am from the United States and my passport says "The United States" on it. I am American. There was never any doubt about this at any point in the next hour or so that followed.

The woman behind the counter that was working for I think it was China Airlines, was working from a script no doubt, but was completely wrong with how to read it, so to speak.

She asked me for my visa to the United States because that is required as she was flipping through my passport looking for one. Obviously, I do not have a visa because I don't need permission to enter my own country. I laughed at first because I thought she was joking but unfortunately, she was no joking. She said she cannot issue me a boarding pass without a visa to the United States.

It didn't matter how I tried to explain this to her that citizens of a country not only don't NEED a visa to that country but they couldn't get one if they tried to. I was still remaining calm at this point but even when I asked her if she needs a visa to go return to Vietnam she said something along the lines of "the rules are different for Vietnam and USA."

I was starting to feel as though I was on some sort of hidden camera show at this point but she seriously wasn't going to give me a boarding pass. She would turn and say things in Vietnamese and someone who appeared to be in charge came over and agreed with her that I needed a visa to enter my own country.

I did remain calm the entire time but eventually someone with actual governmental authority came over and listened to what they were saying, perhaps hoping to land me on some sort of no fly list for not immediately comply with their instructions, but the official kind of gave them a telling off even though it wasn't in a language that I understand.

I was offered no apology and was almost immediately given my boarding pass with that usual robotic way that airline staff interact with customers.

This took more than an hour out of my day though and I have to say at one point in time I thought I was going to have to get my embassy involved to give these people the information they need in order to understand what is basically "international travel 101" lessons.

To this day I can't believe that this actually happened but it is something that I have never forgotten. The people at those counters do have a responsibility to some degree in order to make sure that passengers don't get trapped on the other side without the ability to get into that country, but at the same time airline staff actually have what I consider to be a bit too much power.

I never did complain to higher management about this because I am not a "Karen" but that was just unbelievable and I question what the hiring practices/ qualifications of airline staff must be: It can't be very high.

Nothing even remotely similar to this has ever happened to me afterwards but seeing as how a great many of he people flying to USA actually are Americans, I wonder how many other people this person has done that to before finally getting it right?