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I recently was due to travel from London Heathrow airport to Mitiga, Libya, via Cairo. I had a valid tourist visa for Libya to cover the entire time of my stay and a return flight ticket. I was due to go on a 6 day tour of Libya and had the itinerary available.

However, I was turned away at the boarding gate, as I did not have a non-objection form from the Libyan immigration, which up until then I had never heard of.

I informed the tour company, who said that for the journey I was making, I did not need the form. The airline, Egyptair, said that they checked Timatic system, and that I did need the form. I tried to check myself, but the IATA form only relates to Libya as a whole rather than my specific destination.

I need to know who is right and who is wrong in order to pursue compensation, as it was an expensive trip.

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    Something is weird indeed; I checked Timatic and see the same warning as the airline did about the need for "a non-objection form issued by the Libyan Immigration Authorities." Usually Timatic is authoritative and airlines are required to deny boarding to people who don't comply with what it says. However, I can find no non-Timatic references to this form, what it is, or how one obtains it, so I am not sure how you should have proceeded.
    – mlc
    Commented Apr 10 at 6:11
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    For completeness, what is your citizenship, which tour company and what specific destination? I found an example here which states that after visa issuance Security clearance is still required but this is taken care of by us - could this be the document Timatic says you need?
    – Traveller
    Commented Apr 10 at 7:57
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    Is the tour company based in UK? In general you should never trust tour operators on entry requirements (too complex, too many exceptions, too many changes: so too much not to make sometime an error). Airline websites has better information: they link to Timatic, and when there are conflicting information, it is time to ask (official foreign affair or embassy).
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented Apr 10 at 10:02
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    @mlc Timatic frequently has errors and airlines are certainly not required to deny boarding to people who don't comply with what it says. That's exactly backwards! The way this goes is that airlines are required by destination countries to do some verification (they risk fines or at least having to carry the person if they fail to do that) and Timatic is a tool they use to fulfil that obligation.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Apr 11 at 19:01
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    @Relaxed TIMATIC or TravelDoc depending on the handling agent. And yeah, can't count the amount of corrections TIMATIC have made for the past decade as I've been telling them of errors I've spotted. In practice, though, many handling agents blindly go by TIMATIC especially for countries other than those for which they have dedicated contact points to the authorities (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US are the ones I'm aware of)
    – Crazydre
    Commented Apr 15 at 17:07

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Assuming you’re a UK citizen residing in the UK, inputting your trip details into the Egyptair plan your trip web page links to Timatic and provides the same answer regarding the non-objection form requirement. Therefore the airline seems to have acted correctly.

I’m guessing you relied on the travel document information given by the tour company when you booked, in which case responsibility for your ruined trip may rest with them. However that will depend on the T&C of the booking and you having complied with any advice/warnings they give about entry documentation. Based on this UK-based tour company example I’d expect your tour company to have obtained any necessary security clearance on your behalf after visa issuance.

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