ETA(Visa)/Passport/Holiday/Law issue..

[XA04]

I know you guys are the kinda people to ask for this kinda stuff so here I go..

Basically me and my girlfriend are going on holiday to Australia in September. We booked the flights with netflights, and needed to sort out some travel visas/ETA's and so bought those from netflights too (which we did over the phone seperately).

Now basically, my girlfriends passport expires in December, and some countries don't allow you to travel there if it's under 6 months of validity left. Australia do let you, which is good. However, we are flying via Abu Dhabi... obviously to refuel, and Abu Dhabi require 6 months minimum.

My issue is, I bought the ETA's from netflights, and they knew all the flight details etc due to them asking for my invoice number, and I gave them the passport details including the passport expiry dates. However we can't use my girlfriends as she has to apply for a new passport and the ETA can't be transferred. I called them today and they said they're going to have to ring me back in 48 hours to see if the guy who sold them to me actually knew we were going to Abu Dhabi, but surely this is something he should have informed us about, knowing that we were flying via Abu Dhabi and fully knowing when my girlfriends passport expires?

Where do I stand legally? Surely they're in the wrong as they just shafted us out of some cash! It's not mega money or anything for the ETA's but it's very frustrating and makes me feel ripped off.

Thanks in advance!

[TAKTAK]

I'm not sure how it works, as you don't actually enter the country do you?

You enter the border control (if that?), which send you packing on to the rest of your flight?

[XA04]

I'm not sure how it works either really. I've never travelled on a flight that has to stop to refuel.. but you stop in their county so I guess you still have to abide by their rules?

[duc]

Which was my thoughts too, you're not actually entering Abu Dhabi - as you don't leave the airport, you're there just for the transfer. As in The Terminal.

[TAKTAK]

I think you're fine because you're not actually entering the country, only the airport, you're only in-transit, therefore you never pass through border control, thus never entering the country proper, or passing through security.

If it was a stop over, then i think it would cause issues, but a straight pass-through, i can't see any logical reason for a problem...

[XA04]

Well there is a 3 hour wait between.. is this bound to cause any issues? I thought it might kinda be like a separate flight or something.

[Rave]

I would have thought it would be fine. You don't need a visa for Abu Dhabi do you? So what does it matter what your passport says? You're just going to be sitting in their airport for a couple of hours. When I flew to Japan with Swissair my flight (predictably enough) departed from Zurich, with a transfer flight from Heathrow. I just got off one plane and on the other, no border control or anything required.

[XA04]

Ah that's great then. Thanks very much!