Beware – minor passport flaw could cost you thousands

Heading overseas in the near future? Better take a good look at your passport because even a small blemish can put the kibosh on your travel plans.

In a recent case widely reported by media outlets around the globe, Sean Ferres and his partner, Brooke, were stopped from boarding their Virgin Australia flight from the Gold Coast to Bali due to a coffee stain on the title page of Brooke’s passport. Virgin Australia’s check-in staff claimed the passport was “unreadable” but that the couple could take a later VA flight at no additional cost if they obtained an emergency passport. The couple demurred, forking out $3000 for a Jetstar flight to Bali.

Any damage to your passport, however minor, can cause issues at check-in.Credit: iStock

In a Facebook post, Ferres wrote, “Funnily enough, Jetstar didn’t have an issue with the passport, just like the 100+ other flights we’ve taken with it. Landed in Bali, all e-gates and straight through with no hassles. Absolutely blows my mind that 25 years after the invention of the internet – in an age where even a $500 phone has advanced facial recognition – we STILL rely on a flimsy ass piece of paper to leave the country.”

My daughter suffered a similar fate after she spilled a glass of water over her passport in a foreign hotel room. Leaving Sydney a few months later, she was denied boarding on the grounds that her passport was damaged, and possibly not valid for her destination.

It was only when she produced a second passport that she was finally allowed to board. Without that it’s likely she would have suffered the same fate as Ferres and Brooke. Just like the couple, she’d already used her water-damaged passport to travel around Europe, and had no problem with the scanner reading her e-passport when she came into Sydney.

It’s most often check-in staff who decide whether a passport is valid for travel, and they can be picky. A small tear, a stain, loose pages, bent covers, peeling plastic or damage to the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip are some of the reasons they might decide a passport is ineligible for travel. Attempts to repair damage with glue or tape are unlikely to pass muster.

There are good reasons for diligence since check-in staff act as de-facto gatekeepers for whichever country passengers are bound for. If an airline allows a passenger to board an aircraft with a defective passport and they are deemed an Inadmissible Passenger (INAD) at their destination, the airline is in hot water. It can be fined, and penalties range from $US1000 ($1450) to $US2500 ($3640) per case, although some countries charge as much as $US10,000 ($14,500) per violation.

The airline is also responsible for covering all associated costs related to INADs, including meals, accommodation, transportation, security, medical escorts, translation services and detention. The airline must also return INADs to wherever they came from. According to the International Air Travel Association, the countries most affected by INADs are the United States, Mexico, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Airlines commonly apply a six-month rule, i.e. your passport must be valid for six months beyond the date when you intend to return to Australia. That makes sense since that’s the most common requirement, but not all countries are the same. For example, New Zealand only requires a foreign passport to be valid for three months beyond the planned date of departure from the country yet there have been cases where passengers have been refused boarding a flight out of Australia to New Zealand when their passport expires in less than six months.

A passport becomes useless for overseas travel six months before it expires. That leads plenty of travellers to feel they’re being short-changed since Australia’s 10-year passport, one of the world’s most expensive, is effectively a 9½-year passport. However, that’s got nothing to do with Australia, it’s due to other countries’ entry requirements. The Australian passport is still valid for 10 years. Provided your Australian passport has not expired on the day you arrive in Australia you’re entitled to enter, even if it expires the following day.

Despite all the checks, mistakes happen both at the check-in desk and at immigration. I once entered Romania with an expired UK passport. After a cursory glance at my passport, the immigration officer waved me through, and it wasn’t until I exited that another officer noticed. My Aussie passport, still valid for several years, saved the day.

A sister-in-law who lives in Italy once flew into Australia on her daughter’s Australian passport. It wasn’t until she got to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport that she realised the error. Her husband, an Italian diplomat, said, “Just go,” as he dropped her off, and although the name on her passport didn’t match the flight booking, she was able to board the flight, no questions asked.

Although she looks younger than her age, the quarter-century difference between her and her daughter’s ages raised eyebrows at the immigration desk in Sydney but after some discussion she was allowed to enter. While in Australia, she applied for a new passport, in her own name, but leaving the country she was taken aside by a couple of suited gents and politely told never, ever to use her daughter’s passport to enter Australia again.