A COUPLE were left in tears as their honeymoon celebrations were ruined after being banned from their flight for having wet passports.
The newlywed Malaysian pair had spent thousands on the dream getaway but had to stay at home without getting a single penny back.
TikTok/@fikryyazmanThe honeymooning couple were banned from getting on their flight because the husband – Muhammad Fikry Azman – had a wet passport[/caption]
They shared a dramatic TikTok as they were denied boarding on their flightTikTok/@fikryyazman
The top passport belonged to Muhammad and was dripping wet and fading when he arrived at the airport for a honeymoon trip away to TurkeyTikTok/@fikryyazman
In a nightmare set of events Muhammad Fikry Azman and his wife Nur Amira Fatin Norazmi, both 29, were all ready for the time of their lives on a trip to Turkey.
But as they approached baggage check-in at Kuala Lumpur International Airport they were denied entry and turned away.
Muhammad told his almost 10,000 TikTok followers in a heartbreaking video that his passport was rejected because it had been ruined by rain the night before.
He said that the pair were stopped by an airline employee when they went to check in their bags and were warned about the passport not meeting the standards required.
After the stern warning the couple were told that they would potentially face a big fine and a long day of waiting when they landed in Turkey for having inappropriate documents.
The night before Muhammad’s flight, he was caught in heavy rain at Johor Bahru’s Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex when leaving work.
As disaster struck when he got home and opened up his non-waterproof bag to discover his passport didn’t have a cover and was now dripping wet.
He told Malaysian news outlet mStar: “When I got home, I saw that 80 per cent of the passport was wet. At the time, I didn’t think of drying it first because there were things to buy and money to change.
“That night we left and I drove to Sepang (to the airport) at about 1am.”
It took until the following morning when they were asked to get out their passports for Muhammad to realise just how bad it still was.
In a great panic he ran off to find the nearest toilet and stuck it under a hand dryer to attempt to dry it out in time but it didn’t end up working.
He ending up breaking down in tears inside the airport as their special honeymoon – which had been planned “from the beginning” – was officially cancelled.
To make matters worse, the couple couldn’t get a refund on the £2,737 they originally paid for the nine day trip as they had booked it through a tour group.
New flights would’ve set them back a further £855 per person and as it was a Sunday they couldn’t get any specialist help at the airport for an emergency passport.
In a heartwarming act Muhammad encouraged his wife to go on the trip that included stops in Istanbul, Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Bursa and he’ll meet up with her when he can arrange a new flight.
But Nur insisted they “go as a couple” as not only was it for their honeymoon but also a joint trip away for the pair’s upcoming birthdays at the end of December.
Muhammad explained in the comments of the video exactly why he could’ve ended up in big trouble had he got on his flight to Turkey.
“The passport must not be exposed to water because it might cause the writing on the document to swell or damage the entry or exit stamps in the passport,” he said.
The countries Immigration and Checkpoints Authority does give people going on holiday a heads up to keep their passports in a safe place so they don’t get damaged.
Their website classes a damaged passport as one that is “not in a condition to be accepted as proof of identity by the foreign country”.
This includes any tears, missing or detached pages, loose binding, damage to the radio-frequency identification chip, a cracked or detached biodata page and any faded pages due to water damage like Muhammad would’ve faced.
Many people were left wondering why the pair wouldn’t attempt to make it into Turkey as it was for such a joyous occasion and why the airport staff were the ones who turned them away.
One informed user replied to these saying: “Airlines are responsible for passengers that are refused entry to any country along their itinerary and have to return them to their point of origin at the airline’s expense in most cases.
“Therefore, airline staff are very conservative when it comes to evaluating travel documents.
“If an airline employee believes that your passport is damaged, they may deny check-in or boarding.”
Despite the agony of not being able to celebrate his new marriage Muhammad did accept the ruling.
In his initial TikTok video he wrote: “It’s my fault regarding the wet passport, I wasn’t alert about this.”
He works as a cleaner in Singapore and frequently goes between there and Malaysia.
Muhammad followed up his original TikTok video was a second post that he captioned: “Moral of my story, passport is everything. Lesson learned.”
The couple hopes to reschedule their Turkish dream to early 2024 and celebrate together free from any rain.
Muhammad and his wife Nur Amira Fatin Norazmi were made to go home instead of on their honeymoon without getting a refundTikTok/@fikryyazman
The couple were stopped by airport staff at the check-in desk and warned they could face a big fine when they land in Turkey for an inappropriate passportTikTok/@fikryyazman