This simple mistake keeps costing travelers flights and vacations

As some travelers stumble on the demanding way and others through horror stories that circulate on social media, the degree to which a passport must be damaged that may still be accepted for return and forth will vary widely from airline to airline and even the us of a one plans to seek advice from.

Last June, 25-year-old traveler Laila March needed to spend £1,200 (roughly $1,600 USD) after TUI Group (TUIFY) denied her boarding on a booked flight from London to Cancun over what she described as a "slight mark" on the biodata page of her passport. The £1,000 (approximately $1,330 USD) she paid for her initial ticket turned into lost while British Airways accepted her on a same-day flight with the identical passport without issue.

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Probably probably the most up to date incident passed off to Australian DJ producer Sean Ferris and his female friend Brooke on a Virgin Australia flight from the us of a to the Indonesian island of Bali.

Travelers claim they were denied boarding over 'microscopic coffee stain'

"Virgin Australia determined that this microscopic coffee stain on Brooke’s passport made it 'unreadable' and denied us boarding our flight to Bali," Ferres wrote in a Facebook (META) post to his eleven,000 followers. "Which is the identical stained passport now we have got flown to 20+ counties with - including Bali TWICE."

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Ferres also connected a photo of the passport (the identifying information turned into censored out) with a dry water mark on the side. He said that an airline representative told them  they could be rescheduled but they sooner or later needed to pay for their own same-day flights — in step with Ferres, this added up to over $3,000 Australian dollars ($2,055 USD) on a flight with Qantas (QUBSF) -owned Jetstar for both of them.

"Often is named the number they gave me [and got] 'sorry, you were marked as a no show, that you possibly can well also should pay for a new airfare,'" Ferres explained further.

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While Ferres continued the post with complaints about why we want "a flimsy ass piece of paper" in an age of facial recognition, the commenters were less sympathetic and identified that every person airlines specify that anyone with a passport too damaged to be used will likely be refused boarding.

The latter is in general left to the interpretation of the person check-in agent. Some travelers spend years traveling with a well-worn passport and never get refused while others are denied boarding over a small mark or scratch.

The major reason airlines deny boarding over a less-than-pristine passport is the concern that the person will likely be refused by the arrival us of a's customs and the airline will likely be forced to cover the traveler's return back.

Low-cost airlines are likely to disclaim return and forth over passport condition more for all time, though every airline has a written condition that this is something they reserve the simplest to do. As a result fact, the recommendation is often to interchange one's passport if there will likely be any doubt as to its condition; the cost of doing so will always be lower than rebooking a flight and hotel accommodations on the last minute.

"Passports be kept in good condition, free of any damage beyond normal wear and tear, and subject matter alterations," American Airlines (AAL) writes on its webpage. "For you to be in a position to have the chance to be denied boarding when you return and forth with a passport that appears damaged or altered."

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