I got to ask who should of alerted the old lady in regard of documents required. Usually, it would be the individual's responsiblty to look up the rules. However, in the case of an elderly person, shouldn't her relatives and/or booking agent be letting her know that a passport is required? Please don't blame the airline for enforcing rules. If they start benting them, they could face problems from the authorities. Also, why should anyone risk losing their job by benting the rules? Benting or breaking company policy is just cause for termination. Just because it seem to be the right thing to do doesn't mean it always have a good result.