A Sverdlovsk resident spent nearly half a million on a vacation, but was denied boarding.

      Yekaterinburg resident Dmitry had long dreamed of seeing the southernmost city on the planet — Ushuaia in Argentina. To make the dream come true he had to save for a long time: he set aside about half a million rubles for the trip. However, a journey that began with excitement ended in disappointment — the man was not allowed to board the flight to Argentina.

      Dmitry's route was carefully planned: he flew from Yekaterinburg to Istanbul, from where he intended to go to São Paulo, then to Buenos Aires and finally to Ushuaia. On the return trip he planned to stop in Casablanca, then return home via Istanbul. In all the cities where a stop of more than a day was planned, Dmitry booked hotels in advance.

      The first stages went without problems: the traveler flew to Istanbul calmly, spent two days there and arrived at the airport for the next flight. He asked Turkish Airlines staff whether there were any restrictions on his route and received assurances that everything was in order. Dmitry completed check-in and security, but just before boarding he was stopped by airline representatives.

      "They looked through my passport, checked the data and, through an interpreter, told me that they could not board me on the flight because of the lack of a return ticket," Dmitry told E1. "I showed a printout of the return ticket and hotel bookings, but that did not convince them."

      The traveler was denied boarding without being given any official documents. According to him, the company's representatives shifted responsibility onto each other — sometimes citing internal rules, sometimes Brazilian requirements. Dmitry was not offered a refund for the canceled flight; instead he was offered a ticket to Moscow for $800.

      In the end the tourist turned to the support services of the aggregators through which he had bought the tickets. They promised a partial refund, but his loss still amounted to about 250,000 rubles. Of the nine planned flights totaling more than 320,000 rubles, only one was completed.

      Dmitry supposes that the airline staff may have suspected him of intending to stay abroad illegally.

      "Of course, I had no such plans. It's just upsetting — I saved for a vacation for more than a year, and it all ended in stress and a loss of money," he says.

      Later Dmitry found out that some airlines do indeed restrict Russians from flying to Latin American countries, fearing violations of immigration rules. In such cases the carrier has to pay for the passenger's deportation, so companies prefer to be cautious.

      "The Russian embassy in Turkey advises filing a lawsuit, but that is a lengthy and expensive process," Dmitry adds. "That's why airlines often go unpunished."

      Mikhail Maltsev, president of the Ural Association of Tourism, confirmed to the media that similar incidents are not uncommon.

      "Information about entry and transit rules can change very quickly, so it is important to monitor current data, especially for complex routes," the expert noted.

      According to him, problems more often arise on flights to Argentina rather than to Brazil, as in Dmitry's case.

      "Difficulties occur especially often among women, since airlines fear that some female passengers are going there to give birth."