Story from DynamicDrifter51140

My wife and I booked a trip to Stockholm and Copenhagen in July of 2025 (thanks to Jack’s e-mails we got an amazing deal!!) for travel dates during the US Thanksgiving holiday later that year. I am a US citizen and my wife is a US permanent legal resident with a Russian passport. We were to fly Finnair from Los Angeles, CA to Helsinki, Finland and then to Stockholm, Sweden, to start our vacation. I did not need a visa and my wife received her Schengen visa literally the day before our travel was set to begin. We got to Los Angeles International airport three hours before our flight and headed to the check-in counter. The check-in personnel was taking way too long to process my wife’s check-in. After about 10 minutes we were told that my wife was not allowed to board the plane to Helsinki (regardless of her valid visa) because Finland does not allow Russian citizens to enter the country for tourism purposes, even if you are simply transiting!!! This was not flagged by the Swedish embassy during visa application (they require a copy of the iteninary) or the travel agent!! We had been planning for this trip for over 6 months and couldn’t believe this was happening. Fortunately, right at the airport, we were able to book a flight to Stockholm through London via British Air that was leaving a couple of hours after our Finnair flight (and it was below $600). So, I flew via Helsinki and my wife flew via London. We reunited in Stockholm about 19 hours later, both tired but happy that our vacation was still on. This was not the only odd thing that happened that day, however. Turns out, at the end of her flight to London, the plane was held up at the arrival gate because there was a fugitive from law on board that plane! Sitting across the aisle from my wife!! But that’s another story altogether