Check before you fly: Woman warns others after tiny passport detail causes nightmare
An Aussie woman has issued a warning to fellow travellers after a tiny detail on her passport stopped her from moving to New Zealand and made for an upsetting and expensive experience.
Lindsey Gray planned to relocate from Sydney in March with her partner and one-year-old son, who are already New Zealand citizens.
After months of waiting for a travel permit, Ms Gray was finally allowed to move - but she only made it to Sydney’s international airport before the problems started.
Immigration officials noticed that a couple of pages in Ms Gray’s passport had some minor damage that prevented her from boarding the plane.
Speaking to Yahoo News, Ms Gray said her young toddler must have found her passport and chewed the edges at some point during the chaos of moving country.
“When [New Zealand immigration officials] saw the nibble on my passport, they were 100 percent unimpressed,” she told the outlet.
“They told me it could have been tampered with and therefore I would not be allowed to travel.”
She explained that since New Zealand borders were closed at the time, her passport had to be checked over by an immigration official “rather than just scanned by the Qantas staff”, and that’s when the damage was noticed.
After rushing to secure an emergency appointment to obtain a new passport - costing a hefty $533 - and undergoing more Covid testing, Ms Gray and her family were able to book new flights and fly out the next day.
Lindsey Gray, her partner Matt, and her son Douglas successfully made the move to New Zealand. Image: Yahoo News
The Aussie mum praised Qantas staff and the passport office staff for their compassion while helping with her case, but said the experience was still incredibly upsetting.
“We had our house on the market and all our possessions already shipped to New Zealand and therefore we were effectively homeless in Australia,” she told Yahoo News.
Ms Gray also joked that as a result of the experience, “my puffy, distressed, cry-face is now my passport image for the next 10 years”.
“The story is immortalised and commemorated in this way,” she added.
She warned other “out-of-practice travellers” to take care of their passports to avoid having the same experience as her.
“Please don’t get the photo page of your passport damaged in any way, people,” she said.
“Big lesson for out-of-practice travellers here - check that puppy for damage before flying.”
Image: Yahoo News