Virgin Australia passenger denied travel over tiny passport detail
Renee Reader, 30, flew to Melbourne from the Gold Coast on Monday and had her passport checked several times by Virgin Australia staff.
It wasn't until she was in the final boarding queue to Bali when staff spotted one tiny detail in her passport.
"I got through security and customs. It wasn't until I was actually boarding the flight and I handed over my boarding pass and passport that the staff weren't sure about my passport," she told Yahoo News Australia.
Staff then started taking photos of her passport and she was asked to step aside. When asked what the issue was, she was told there was a "yellow stain" on her passport identification page.
It wasn't long before she received the "heartbreaking" news, with staff telling her: "You're not going to Bali."
Although she tried to plead her case, airline staff stood firm on their decision, and said Renee would need to be escorted out of the airport by security.
"I said, 'I don't think that's quite necessary. I'm not a criminal — It's a passport with a watermark on it'," she recalled, but was she was escorted anyways.
While the airline paid for Renee's flight back to the Gold Coast, and acknowledged that they should've flagged the passport damage earlier into her journey, she still lost the money for her return flight tickets to Bali which cost around $200.
"My message to everyone is to triple-check your passport and make sure that it is in immaculate condition, because they are getting a lot stricter, and I would never want this to happen to anyone else," she said.
"I've travelled all over Europe, I've been to Bali with it [the mark] twice... I was in Bali just in July... it was absolutely heartbreaking," she said.
A Virgin Australia spokesperson told Yahoo News that staff are required to flag any passport issues to prevent passengers from being refused entry at their intended destination.
"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," the spokesperson said.
Image: TikTok/ Yahoo News