Tourist Denied Entry To Bali Flight As Airline Staff Say Passports Must Be Immaculate

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Preparing to go on vacation can be a little stressful; there is a lot to think about and a lot to be easily distracted by. Have you got travel insurance? Have you arranged an airport pick-up? Does the dog sitter know where the spare key is?!

Of all the checks and considerations tourists must complete before jetting off to Bali, it is often the most simple that gets overlooked. Naturally, simple mistakes, errors, and oversights are often the worst. 

Renee Reader, a 30-year-old Bali-bound tourist, has had her vacation plans turned upside down after a tiny error became a major problem.

Virgin Australia denied Reader boarding her flight to Denpasar after finding a ‘tiny’ amount of damage to her passport.

To add insult to injury, Reader’s passport was flagged as she was about to board her flight, during the third and final check of her passport by airline staff before take off. 

Reader was subsequently escorted out of the airport by security staff and spoke to the press after saying she would “never want this to happen to anyone else.”

Yet, this is becoming an increasingly frequent problem hitting headlines both in Bali and Australia. 

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Reader told reporters, “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 was asked to step to the side as airline staff assessed her passport more thoroughly and confirmed that the yellow stain on her passport ID page would be flagged by Indonesian Immigration officials as passport damage and she would be denied entry to the country upon arrival. 

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Reader was told in no uncertain terms, “You’re not going to Bali,” and was left heartbroken by the last-minute decision that brought her dream vacation plans crashing down around her. Despite pleading her case, there was no going back on the decision.

Reader told reporters, “I said, ‘I don’t think that’s quite necessary. I’m not a criminal — It’s a passport with a watermark on it.”

However, it may not feel criminal, but it is illegal to travel on a damaged passport since damage to a passport makes the travel document invalid, and therefore, the passport holder is attempting to travel on an invalid and, therefore, illegal travel document. 

Reader’s advice to fellow travelers was clear, “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.”

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He added, “I’ve traveled all over Europe, I’ve been to Bali with it [the mark] twice… I was in Bali just in July… it was absolutely heartbreaking.”

Tourists are reminded that even if their passport has been accepted with mild or even undetected damage by other immigration officers elsewhere in the world, in Indonesia, there is a zero-tolerance approach to damaged passports. 

As a result of the saga, Virgin Australia did pay for Reader’s flight back to the Gold Coast from Melbourne, as staff acknowledged the damaged passport should have been detected earlier in her journey.

Nevertheless, she lost the money she spent on her return Bali flights, amounting to $2000. 

A statement issued by Virgin Australia explained, “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 a suitable condition.”

It is also in the interest of the airlines to be ultra-thorough in their checks since airlines can issue fines to airlines found to have permitted passengers to travel on damaged passports.

Indonesian authorities have previously issued fines of up to $5,000 in these cases. 

With the Christmas and New Year holidays coming up and tens of thousands of tourists preparing to travel to Bali for the festive season, travelers are advised to check their passports in good lighting and check over every millimeter of the passport book.

Special attention should be given to any folds or tears in the spine of the book and any watermarks, stains, or ink marks on any pages.