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Jerry Yang wasn't allowed to board our flight because he doesn't have an American Passport or a Hong Kong Visa, thats one less world champ.

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The United Airlines supervisor at the check-in desk at San Francisco International Airport refused to issue Jerry Yang a boarding pass for the San Francisco to Hong Kong flight on Tuesday because Jerry did not have a Hong Kong transit visa.

I had to leave San Francisco on Tuesday morning on United Airlines for Hong Kong without Jerry.

After I arrived in Macau (early Thursday morning Macau time), I instructed Jerry to contact EVA Air to see whether he could fly from San Francisco to Macau via Taipei.

EVA Air officials in San Francisco told Jerry on Wednesday morning U.S. time that EVA Air could not sell Jerry a ticket and issue Jerry a boarding pass because Jerry did not have a Taiwan transit visa. The Taiwan transit visa is required for a stateless individual such as Jerry even though Jerry would not have to clear customs and immigration at Taipei International Airport to transfer to a connecting flight with the same airline.

Jerry further received confirmation from officials at the Chinese consulates in both Los Angeles and San Francisco that United Airlines acted correctly on Tuesday. Jerry was required to apply for a Hong Kong transit visa even though Jerry would not have to go through customs and immigration in Hong Kong in order to transfer from the plane to the ferry at Hong Kong International Airport.

Bottom line: Jerry, as a stateless individual who travels with a Refugee Travel Document and a U.S. Permanent Residency Card, needs to apply for transit visas for each country where he is scheduled to make a transfer connection even though he does not have to go through customs and immigration at each transfer point.

Without the transit visa, an airline check-in desk in the U.S. is not permitted by law from issuing a boarding pass to the individual for the first leg of the journey from the U.S. to the transfer point outside the U.S.

Result: Jerry Yang is unable to travel to Macau for the PokerStars.net APPT Macau - Asian Poker Open events.