Just contemplate how devastating it might be to show up at Dublin Airport, buzzing with anticipation for a sensational, once in a lifetime (and notoriously costly) vacation, only to be rejected at the check-in counter by airline personnel due to a tiny flaw on your passport they or their equipment found objectionable. This nightmare turned reality for a pair who reached out to Pricewatch last week after enduring this ordeal earlier this month, thanks to Emirates.
According to an email from a man named Paul, he and his wife had earlier planned and paid €6,498 for the trip, a post-retirement dream journey to India, with flights coordinated by Emirates. Unfortunately, when they got to the Emirates’ check-in counter on the evening of October 14th, an insignificant defect on Paul’s wife, Aileen’s passport, was flagged. The airline staff promptly denied them the issuance of their boarding passes.
Paul supplied a jpeg of the passport, which reveals the minor defect located in the bottom left corner. They had tried to lay out the situation to the supervisor on duty. The flaw had been present for over three years and never posed an issue prior to this. Aileen had even travelled several times in the past year including two round trips to the US, Australia and Lanzarote, plus one to Rome, on the very same passport. By their estimates, the passport would have been examined and approved at least 36 times in the past year by airlines as well as by immigration officials. Even Emirates seemingly had no qualms about her passport during her Dublin to Australia round trip in March/April 2024. Recently, it passed the Indian authorities’ scrutiny when Aileen was granted an Indian visa for her trip. All their points, however, fell on deaf ears that fateful Monday evening.
The couple has made attempts to seek a refund from their travel insurance company for their cancelled holiday. They found the rate at which travel insurance protection dwindles alarming. They need to present a formal notice from Emirates explaining the reasoning behind their rejection to fly, to enforce their claim.
However, despite their prompt appearance at the check-in desk at 18:20 for a flight scheduled to leave at 22:10, they were listed as ‘no shows’ in the Emirates’ computer system. This suggests they missed their check-in or arrived after the gate had closed.
Paul says they are now in the process of reaching out to the Data Protection Commissioner’s office. They hope the office can compel Emirates to correct the misinformation in its database. They are also trying to contact DAA to verify their check-in presence on the evening in question through CCTV or other evidence from Terminal 2.
Paul conveys their escalating frustration and annoyance at this situation. He firmly believes that the poor decision made by the Emirates check-in staff led to this dilemma, and their infuriation has been magnified by the following treatment.
When their story was provided to Emirates, the response received was curt and unsatisfactory. They stated clearly that damaged or non-machine readable passports were not allowed for travel. However, they failed to examine an image of the disputed passport. They also didn’t acknowledge how the passenger was able to fly earlier to Australia on the same passport with Emirates despite the perceived damage.
Moreover, they did not confront the key concern of the reader – to rectify their attendance record. No matter the state of the passport, tagging the couple as a ‘no show’ was a misrepresentation of the event, as observed.
The airline issued a subsequent statement reaffirming the comments made in its first. It clarified: “The passenger previously utilised their defaced passport. However, we have no means of verifying if its condition has worsened, or the damage has become more severe in the previous months. What we can attest to is that on the day of travel, October 14th, the passport was unscannable and was thus declined.”
The airline underscored advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs which states that: ‘If your passport is impaired, you need to surrender it when applying for a replacement. Don’t use a damaged passport for travel. It might complicate things whilst crossing international borders.’
The final statement from Emirates was that they will provide the passenger with a letter stating that their passport was not able to be scanned at check-in. Through this incident, listeners should be reminded to thoroughly inspect their passports and avoid risking complications at check-in with any imperfections, even minor ones.