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 scheduled to travel there Bali for an unforgettable vacation when she was cruelly rejected during her layover.

Reader, who flew in from Queensland Australia hadn’t even left the country when she stopped in Melbourne.

It was there that Virgin Australia staff stood in the way of her dream vacation.

After going through security, she was about to board the plane when the staff questioned her passport and even started taking photos of it.

Stunned, she was led to security where she was told she would not be going to Bali. In fact, she didn’t even get on the plane.

This is due to a passport rule that she was completely unaware of: it was damaged.

Reader said in a message uploaded to TikTok: “(The staff member) said, ‘Just letting you know, you are not going to Bali today. You are not getting on this flight.'”

She said the passport damage was a small yellow spot on the page where her photo was, right next to the expiration date. There would also be some small black spots on the same page.

This left her ‘devastated and heartbroken’.

Ultimately, she was unable to go on holiday and was also shortchanged by AUD$2,000 (£1,020) because she was not given a refund.

She said: “I felt like I was a criminal. I was excited about this trip to stay at a retreat in Bali. This was time for me. If I thought it would have been a problem, obviously I would have gotten a new passport.”

According to the official UK Government websitea damaged passport may appear as if laminate is peeling, the personal information or observation page is unreadable, missing or detached pages, or unreadable security information.

It may also be that the front, back or personal data page has been cut off, or any part of the passport has been damaged or discolored due to water, chemicals, ink, tears, tears, bite marks and so on.

On a blue e-passport if the perforated passport numbers are torn, the personal data page is broken or the chip or antenna is visible through the cover on the back of a burgundy e-passport.

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

But Bali has incredibly strict rules when it comes to damaged passports, with airlines even facing thousands of fines per passenger if they allow them to arrive in Bali with a damaged passport.

So if you are thinking of traveling somewhere, especially to Bali, it is time to check your passport or order a new one.

LADbible has contacted Virgin Australia for comment.