Woman heartbroken as 'unfair' passport rule forces her to miss holiday and lose £1,000

A woman has been left heartbroken after a passport rule left her £1,000 out of pocket and unable to catch her flight to her holiday destination.

Renee Reader, 30, was supposed to be travelling to Bali for an unforgettable holiday when she was cruelly turned away during her stopover.

Reader, who was flying out from Queensland in Australia hadn’t even left the country when she stopped off at Melbourne.

It was there when Virgin Australia staff stood in her way of her dream getaway.

After she passed through security, she was about to board when staff questioned her passport, and even began taking pictures of it.

Stunned, she was ushered to security, where she was told that she would not be going to Bali. In fact, she wasn’t even getting on the plane.

This is because of a passport rule that she was totally unaware of: It was damaged.

Reader said in a post uploaded to TikTok: "[The staff member] said 'I'm just going to let you know, you're not going to Bali today. You're not getting on this flight'."

According to her, the passport damage was a little yellow stain on the page where her photograph was, right next to the expiry date. There were also allegedly some small black marks on the same page.

Because of this, she was left ‘devastated and heartbroken’.

In the end, she couldn’t go on holiday, and she was also AUD$2,000 (£1,020) down in funds as she wasn’t refunded.

She said: "I felt like I was a criminal. I was excited for this trip to go and stay at a retreat in Bali. This was time for me. If I thought it would have been an issue I would have obviously gotten a new passport."

According to the official UK Government website, a damaged passport could look like laminate peeling away, the personal details or observation page are unreadable, there are missing or detached pages, or unreadable security details.

It could also be where the front, back or personal details page has been cut, damage or discolouration to any part of the passport cause by water, chemicals, ink, tears, rips, bite marks and so on.

On a blue e-Passport if the perforated passport numbers have been torn, personal details page is broken, or the chip or antenna shows through the endpaper on back cover of a burgundy e-Passport.

For Reader, she claims that her passport has had the stain since 2022, and she had used the same one to go to Bali twice before.

But Bali has incredibly strict rules when it comes to damaged passports, where airlines can actually be fined thousands per passenger if they let them arrive in Bali with a damaged passport.

So, if you’re thinking of travelling anywhere, particularly Bali, it’s time to check out your passport or order a new one.

In a statement to LADbible Group, a spokesperson for Virgin Australia said: "When a guest presents for check-in for an international flight, Virgin Australia team members are required to ensure they have the necessary travel documentation and that the documents are in suitable condition.

"We assess travel documentation in line with guidance provided by the Australian Government and various immigration departments."

They went on: "To assist our guests with preparation for travel we provide general guidance on damaged passports on the Virgin Australia website, in our Conditions of Carriage, and in pre-flight communication.

• Indonesia is known to enforce strict rules on the acceptance of damaged passports, and we are aware of instances when minor damage has resulted in passengers being denied entry.
• On this occasion, there was an evident yellow water stain across the photo page. The photo page is the primary page of concern for immigration.
• There were also black marks present across the machine readable zone (MRZ) at the bottom of the photo page.
• The Australian Passport Office advises travellers it is important that there are no marks across the photo or in the MRZ at the bottom of the photo page here.
• In addition to denial of entry for a damaged passport, there are other potential consequences for the guest and the airline. Indonesian authorities may issue an airline an IDR 50,000,000 fine (approx. AUD $5,000) for accepting a passenger with a damaged passport. The airline that has transported the person to Indonesia will generally be liable for all costs associated with removing them.

"In this instance, our team provided this guest with free-of-charge carriage back to the Gold Coast. The guest has also been advised they will be able to change their flight once at no cost, once a new passport has been obtained."