A YOUNG woman whose passport was only one year old was forced to pay £250 for a new one – just before her holiday.
Charlotte Rebecca, 20, had booked a holiday to Bali, and decided to check her passport a week before her trip.
Aussie Charlotte said she had to pay hundreds of pounds for a new passport – despite hers being only a year oldCharlotte Rebecca
She showed the water damage which resulted in problems in its scanningCharlotte Rebecca
However, she noticed a small tear in her passport, which she had only bought last November.
Charlotte, from Melbourne, then headed to the Australian Passport Office to check if it was okay.
However, her passport failed to scan one of the three times – leading to her fearing for her holiday.
She said in her TikTok video: “If you’re going to Bali, don’t be like me and check your passport.
“I’m going in exactly one week and I only got a new passport last year because I went to Bali in November – it’s exactly a year old.
“I got an email from Jetstar so I thought I’m just going to look at my passport.
“There is a slight amount of water damage on the back, and Indonesia is very strict.
“Like, they might not let me in, Jetstar might be like ‘no you can’t get on the plane’.”
Charlotte RebeccaCharlotte warned others to check their passports if travelling to Bali[/caption]
Charlotte said when her passport failed to scan one of the times, the Passport Office said it was up to her if she wanted to risk it.
She continued: “The lady at the Australian Passport office was like, ‘Look it’s up to you if you want to do it – it might be fine, it might not be fine. It depends who you get’.”
“I was like, ‘I’m not taking any risk’.”
Charlotte said she ended up paying AUD$450 (£235) dollars to “express an emergency passport” so she didn’t risk missing her holiday.
She finished by saying: “If I had just gotten a replacement, it would have cost AUD$200 (£104). But because of the priority it was an extra AUD$250 (£131).
“But I would rather pay AUD$450 (£235) than be detained or fly home.
“Check your passport early and don’t get slight water damage.”
Her video has been watched nearly 200,000 times, with people sharing their own horror stories.
One woman wrote: “I had a tiny rip on a random page of my passport and Indonesia wouldn’t let me in the country.”
Several people have faced issues when travelling to Bali, including being banned from their flights.
TikToker Emma was attempting to fly from Sydney to Bali, but was banned from her flight because of water damage.
She said she was “left in tears” at the airport because of the tiny mistake.
Back in June, Aussie Matt Vandenberg attempted the same route from Sydney to Bali and made it to Indonesia – only to be detained on arrival.
Because of a small tear in his passport, he had to wait 12 hours in the airport with security before boarding a flight home.
Another woman had to pay £780 at the airport after she arrived in Bali, only to be told it was too damaged.
And one woman said she was left £1,000 out of pocket after she was banned from boarding her flight to Bali because her passport was ripped.
According to the UK government website, any damage that is “beyond wear and tear” could see you banned from boarding.
This includes missing or detached pages, discoloured or stains on the bio-date page, or a damaged chip damaged passport is classified as one that goes beyond the definition of “wear and tear”.
If you need a new passport, it costs £82.50 online, or £93 by post.
A fast-track passport, which aims to arrive within a week, costs £155.