She filed the complaint on Aug. 4 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Newsis reported, citing Asiana's filing with South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service on Aug. 19.

She had boarded an Asiana flight to Vietnam without the visa required for entry and is seeking damages for emotional and material harm suffered after immigration officers refused her admission.

The filing named the plaintiff as Denise Mai without giving her nationality and put the claim at KRW141.1 billion ($101.86 million), HuffPost Korea reported.

That is 13.7% of Asiana's shareholders' equity of KRW1.03 trillion at the end of 2025. South Korean rules require listed companies to disclose lawsuits worth more than 5% of equity.

Securing a visa and the documents needed to enter a foreign country is ordinarily the traveler's own responsibility. The decision to admit or refuse a foreign national rests with immigration authorities at the destination.

An Asiana Airlines plane. Photo courtesy of N509FZ

Passengers blocked over visa problems have sought damages from airlines before and lost, Seoul Economic Daily reported, with judges holding that admission is a sovereign decision of the destination state and that document preparation falls to the passenger.

Asiana said it will respond through its legal representatives in accordance with legal procedure, according to Newsis.

The Asiana brand disappears on Dec. 17, when Korean Air launches its integrated flag carrier and absorbs all of Asiana's assets, liabilities, rights, obligations and personnel, under a merger shareholders approved on Aug. 12.