Bride left outraged after missing her honeymoon due to 'damaged' passport
An airport employee refused to let her fly due to 'damages' to her passport
If there's one way to rain on a newlywed's parade, it's by an airport employee banning her from flying to their honeymoon destination because her passport is deemed 'damaged'. When it isn't.
Bride Carly Baker has explained her outrage after she and husband Chris Fee were denied access onto the plane to their honeymoon destination after an airport employee told them her passport was unusable.
According to BuzzFeed News, the pair got married on Friday after dating for four years, and started saving for their honeymoon trip to a bunch of European destinations two years ago.
When they arrived at Philadelphia International Airport for their trip on Sunday, they were stopped by a U.S. Airways representative, who told Baker that her passport was too damaged to fly with due to a string hanging from the cover.
"[It was] her opinion that my passport was too damaged to be used," Baker explained. "Citing strings hanging off the sides and the seams 'splitting'.
Baker said she was shocked that her passport was being questioned due to it working fine 13 months ago, but that they were directed to a second employee for another opinion. That woman, who Baker believed was the manager, told the couple the passport seemed fine.
"I referenced the strings," Baker said. "She took my passport to the back room and snipped them off, and said I'd be fine."
At this point the manager learned that her colleague had already made a note in Baker's passport, saying she could not fly using it.
"She tried getting her boss to override my restrictions, but [her] boss clearly did not want to throw the first manager under [the] bus by putting an override on file over her first opinion," Baker said.
A spokesperson for American Airlines, which owns U.S. Airways, has since issued a statement explaining why the passport was deemed damage, commenting that the 'bio' page of the passport had been water damaged and that it was crucial for use.
As for Carly and Chris, she paid for a new passport and the pair are planning to leave for their now delated Honeymoon on Tuesday night - but have spoken of their $2,000 (about £1,300) rebooking and cancellation fee payment.
Baker said she wants to warn other travellers that the policies surrounding passports are "extremely subjective and you should err on the side of caution" - and that "a passport cover is clearly a good investment."
Happy honeymoon (second time round) Carly and Chris!