bmibaby grounds pax with "tatty" passport!

[newswatcher]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2828471.stm

[redfield]

Nothing wrong with BMi's action over this passport. Anybody who turns up at check-in with a crumpled passport that looks like it's been washed in grey dye and stored in a bottle of Maxwell House deserves everything they get! :O

[MerchantVenturer]

Oh so the poor man says he wasn't warned about passport regulations.

This is a bit like a shoplifter saying he wasn't warned about the laws regarding theft as he is carted off to the nick.

I have no sympathy for this man, except to say that having watched some of the television series about easyJet, I remember a case of someone going to Spain who presented a tatty passport and was not allowed to fly with EZY. We were told later that the person concerned had been to allowed to fly with another UK airline to Spain still using the same tatty passport.

There would appear to be a variation in standards in what different airlines will accept and I suppose it may well come down to the opinion of the check-in agent on the day.

[donder10]

Oh so the poor man says he wasn't warned about passport regulations.

This is a bit like a shoplifter saying he wasn't warned about the laws regarding theft as he is carted off to the nick

Great quote.Also reminds me of an episode of Airport where a bloke travelling to Nigeria had a passport that looked like it had just made a visit to a Anderson Consulting Office.After being checked by security,he was cleared to fly.

[newswatcher]

I think the point he was trying to make, although obviously not very well, was that he had been flying regularly with the same airline for 6 months. The previous week his passport was OK. One of those occasions where the check-in staff could perhaps have warned him that his passport was about to become invalid due to "damage", so he could make the necessary arrangements for a new one.

[MerchantVenturer]

newswatcher,

I take your point but I still think the responsibility is the man's own.

If the film covering the passport photo had been disturbed, as reported in the link report, it must take a pretty simple person to think he might not have a potential problem, especially in these times of heightened security.

I am afraid its the Nanny State again - so many people expect everything to be put before them on a plate. These people seem to think they have no responsibility to think or do for themselves on occasions.

[Little Blue]

As someone who has been "assisting" bmibaby, I can confirm
that the check-in staff are very hot on "tatty"passports.
The state of some have to be seen to be believed.
As MerchantVenturer has stated, if the photo flim covering has been disturbed, then they ain't going anywhere.
They then go off and try and glue the photo down, which only makes it worse !
If the staff weren't so hot on it 6 months ago, I can tell you that it's been drummed into them now, with the threat of letters on file etc etc.
I've turned away pax, myself and the abuse level is tremendous, which usually tells me that they know they are in the wrong.
Ho hum. :rolleyes: