"It was complete chaos for Emirates passengers at San Francisco Airport this Friday morning,"
"... As a result, I was stuck in the same spot for over three hours, waiting for the flight to depart."
"Due to the current circumstances, obviously they are unprecedented for us here at Emirates, we are aware that a number of passengers do not wish to travel with us and that is perfectly fine. All we ask is that if you wish to offload yourself, you do so."
Emirates flight EK226 from San Francisco to Dubai faced passenger disruption after a presidential proclamation introduced a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas. News of the visa change spread onboard and prompted a rush of passengers demanding to deboard. The captain permitted passengers to offload themselves, acknowledging the unprecedented circumstances. Some passengers who stayed experienced delays of more than three hours; the flight finally departed at 8:20 p.m. The H-1B visa is commonly held by immigrants with specialized skills, and a Silicon Valley report found 66% of tech workers were born outside the United States. The proclamation was later clarified to exempt existing H-1B holders. Emirates declined to comment.
Read at SFGATE
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