A family was forced to miss out on their once-in-a-lifetime £7,000 holiday to Thailand because of a tiny passport flaw.
Suzanne Senior was due to fly out to explore Phuket with her husband Steven, as well as their daughter Bethany and her boyfriend. However, when they arrived to check-in for their flight, a member of staff spotted a small rip on Bethany's photo ID page. They refused to accept the damaged document, meaning Bethany was not allowed to fly, reports the Manchester Evening News.
READ MORE: Man left £800 out of pocket after tiny passport mistake means he's barred from flight
Bethany's boyfriend travelled to Thailand alone, but the other three passengers stayed behind. Desperate to still go on holiday, the mum approached another airline desk and paid an extra £5,000 for the family to go to Turkey – and they were allowed to fly out the very same day.
Suzanne told the Manchester Evening News: "We're absolutely devastated. We had plans to go and see the elephants, the islands, everything. We’d looked forward to that holiday for 12 months.
"I’m fortunate that I could go to that desk in Manchester Airport and book another holiday. Not everyone is in that position, they’d have to go home. We couldn’t even see [the rip]. Loads of people said there was nothing wrong with it. It’s a tiny millimetre tear. We don’t know why it was turned away."
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She added: "We’ve forked out another £5,000 to come here. I’ve got £3,000 of Thailand baht currency in the luggage that I can’t even use. We’re going to try and claim it back on the insurance. It’s a nightmare. Honestly, you couldn’t write it."
According to the UK government website, a passport is classed as damaged when someone cannot use it as proof of identity.
While a little bit of wear and tear is unlikely to cause you any trouble at the airport, if there's damage on the personal details or observation pages, officials may stop you from travelling. This can include if personal details are unreadable, if the laminate is peeling or lifting away from the personal details page or your security details can't be made out.
Damage or discolouration to any part of the passport caused, for example, by water, chemical or ink spills, tears, rips or bite marks could also see you turned away, as well as missing or detached pages.
Woman claims she missed holiday after check-in staff ripped her passport
One woman recently revealed she'd been denied boarding because of her damaged passport – but when people saw the state of her document, they said it was completely her fault.
Amy Grundy was due to fly from Manchester to Thailand, but was turned away because of a rip in her passport. She took to TikTok to share her ordeal, admitting she had been "crying so much" out of stress. Ultimately she headed to Glasgow to get a new passport so she could go abroad.
However when she turned her camera to show the document, she lost people's sympathy.
One bemused commenter wrote: "At what point did you think you would be able to travel using that! It’s a mess."
Another added: "Why is your passport in that state anyway? It’s a precious document that should be cared for.."
Some people admitted they had also damaged their documents, but Amy's seemed to put their own damage to shame. "I washed my passport and thought mine was bad," quipped one person. "But that is so damaged!"
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