Money Can't Buy You In: American Colleagues Face Delhi Airport Rules
Continuing from my previous discussion about my flight from New Delhi on October 1st to Seoul, after obtaining my passport at the airport, my two American colleagues and I were ready to head to the waiting area to complete check-in procedures.
Before we proceed formally, let's add a supplementary piece of knowledge. To enter the waiting hall at Delhi Airport, you absolutely need a travel itinerary to prove you are departing from Delhi Airport at this time. A travel itinerary is quite simple; usually, after you book your flight through Ctrip or via an agent, they will print one for you. However, as most people don't usually pay attention to this when using Ctrip, it's something you can easily print. This appears to be a unique feature of Delhi Airport, as I haven't visited other Indian airports, so I don't know if this applies to all Indian airports. But having visited numerous countries and airports, I've only encountered this requirement in Delhi.
Because I've been there many times, a colleague told me about this requirement during my first visit. So, I always print one before each trip.
However, we ran into some trouble this time. My American colleagues didn't know about this rule, and they didn't have a travel itinerary. When they tried to enter, they were stopped. Delhi Airport has armed guards at all its entrances, along with security personnel.
Delhi Airport has armed security guards both upon arrival and departure,
When the security guards asked for the itinerary, I presented mine, and they verified the flight details and passport information before allowing me to proceed,
I only found one online, and I couldn't find my own.
My American colleague only had his passport and no itinerary, so he was stopped. Then I asked if there was anywhere to print one. Apparently, because of the passport issue, he got flustered. He should have opened his computer, and my American colleague should have had the itinerary in his emails,
This was stopped, and my American colleague said we should try another one. As a result, trying a different one didn't work. So, I suggested we print one.
My American colleague was quite stubborn and said, 'I want to go in this way today.' I was sweating profusely; Americans are known for their assertive behavior. So, we tried another gate, but it was still no use,
Not far away was another gate, which was the last one. The unbelievable happened: my American colleague pulled out his wallet and, with a goofy smile, inserted a 10-dollar bill into his passport and said, 'This time, I'm sure it will work.'
The 10 dollars approximately corresponds to 65 RMB. Considering the exchange rate between RMB and Indian Rupees is roughly 1 to 10, this equates to 650 Rupees. An average Indian worker earns around 8000 Rupees, so 650 Rupees was a significant amount for a typical Indian person.
So, I followed him to the last entrance. He handed his passport to the security guard, who, while examining the passport, gestured that they needed an itinerary. After opening it, he quietly took the money and indicated to the American that he could enter,
The principle that money can grease the wheels seems to hold true everywhere. Not only do Chinese people offer gifts, they also receive them. Americans are equally adept at this practice, and, of course, the Indian security guard benefited from it. Haha.
