Passport 101: Five things about your passport you need to check to avoid losing your flight12/7/2014 Traveling to your next destination? Reading this might just save you from losing your flight.
We normally take out our passports from the cabinet only prior to a flight. And then comes an unexpected problem with our passport and we end up missing the flight. Here are five things about your passport you need to check to avoid losing your next flight. 1. Does your passport have the required period of validity? Passport validity requirement of countries can differ but the usual rule is to have it at least six months valid from your departure date. This is one thing that travelers tend to overlook as I have seen a lot of passengers who have been refused to check-in for their flight at the airport for this reason. 2. Is your passport totally intact or is the cover slightly detached? This is probably the last thing that would enter your mind as a reason to lose your flight, as passports are expected to be produced under stringent security control. In the Philippines for example, it is the Bangko Central ng Pilipinas who takes care of the production of the Philippine passport, as it has to undergo strict scrutiny just like the production of our currency. The Department of Foreign Affairs apparently issued an announcement on a technical glitch in the production of e-passports with serial numbers EB0000001 to EB1267350. The cover easily detaches from the rest of the passport and even a slight detachment can give you a big problem at the airport. While around 10 million passports are affected, less than 10,000 have gone to DFA to have their passports changed. With insufficient information dissemination, travelers who end up having a damaged passport are caught in a problematic situation they did not anticipate and they do not know how to handle. A Google search on usual passport problems actually shows cases of this only in the Philippines. There are inconsistencies on how the issue is handled. In some cases a person gets to pass until the immigration counter and signs a waiver that he or she is aware of the condition of his or her passport. There are cases wherein the airline refuses the person to check-in and considers his or her flight as forfeited for failure to present the required travel document (passport). This happened with a boy going to Vietnam for a medical operation. The case actually became viral as he was attended to by an ill-mannered manager of the airline Cebu Pacific Air. The airline did not allow him to check-in saying that his passport was damaged and even forfeited his ticket. They filed a complaint and he was able to fly with a temporary passport issued by DFA (who said in the end that his passport was not damaged). The airline waived the rebooking charges for the rest of his company who also ended up losing the flight. However, this case of getting a temporary passport and the airline waiving fees is exceptional, as just yesterday there was another case wherein the same airline, after checking-in the other passengers of a group of four traveling, refused to check-in the forth passenger saying that her passport was damaged, forfeited her flight, gave inconsistent information to the passengers who ended up staying at the airport seven hours to fix the issue and ending up not getting sufficient help, and the airline agent who handled them in the counter was just as ill-mannered as the manager who handled the boy going to Vietnam. The rest of the group also had to rebook their flight with charges of PhP2,000 per flight (or PhP4,000 round-trip per person) plus the flight price difference. 3. Does it have enough remaining blank pages? Frequent travelers encounter this problem. If you have traveled a lot with your passport, regardless of its expiration date, check if it has blank pages left weeks before your next flight. 4. Is the name indicated in your passport exactly the same as what is in your plane ticket and other documents? Make sure that the name in your passport is consistent with how it is written in the other documents you will be presenting such as your flight ticket, other travel documents and ID. Check if you correctly spelled your name while booking your flight. This can also be an issue for those who have had their name changed, e.g., after getting married. Consider this if you end up renewing your passport but you have already purchased your flight using your old name. Aside from your name, some airline companies ask for other information (e.., your birth date, passport number) when you are booking your flight which reflect later on in your flight ticket. Make sure that those are also consistent with what is in your passport and other documents you will present. 5. Doesn't your passport show any other form of damage (e.g., ripped page, water-damaged)? A rip on a passport page, especially the one which has your photo and details, might be a problem as they might question its authenticity. If your passport has been wet, you may want to consider changing it as well. If you answered at least one "no", ask the Department of Foreign Affairs or your respective consulate office right away regarding your concern to prevent yourself from having problems at the airport. If the only solution is renewing your passport, check how much time it will take to have it ready before your flight. Especially if you have your flight with the same airline referred to in this article, you will just end up losing your flight and wasting your effort, time and money for nothing.
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About the AuthorA psychologist who loves to observe people and sometimes eavesdrop on them during her trips. ArchivesCategories |