An Australian woman was unable to board a flight for her dream holiday to Bali due to a small tear in her passport.
Elyse Elmer was due to fly to Bali from Sydney but was stopped from boarding by officials.
“So in Australia they refused to let me at the counter on the flight,” Ms Elmer explained in a video posted to social media.
‘I cried in front of everyone. That little crack was all they needed to deny entry.”
She then rushed home to order an emergency passport. It arrived just two days later, allowing her to finally leave for Denpasar.
Ms Elmer was one of dozens of Australians sent away in recent years with only minor damage to their travel documents.
Elyse Elmer (pictured) has revealed the small mistake in her passport that led to her being refused boarding to a plane to Bali for a holiday
Her passport had a small tear along the spine of the ‘photo page’ (as shown in the photo)
Indonesia has some of the strictest passport regulations in the world, and if your passport is torn or damaged, you may encounter problems traveling there.
These rules came into effect in 2019, allowing Indonesian authorities to detain travelers and impose fines of more than $4,700 on airlines that allow passengers to board flights with damaged passports.
In 2019, a spokesperson for the Indonesian Consulate General in Sydney said the general rule as to what constitutes a damaged passport is when its data cannot be read by the system.
He added that the final decision rests with immigration officials.
‘The criteria for a damaged passport include tears, ink stains and water damage – so you better take good care of your passport.’
Other Australian travelers on social media described being denied entry to Indonesia due to creases and minor scratches in their passports.
One of them said, “They moved my flight later that night and I paid $600 for an emergency passport.”
“This is a very common thing if you travel to Bali,” a second user wrote, adding “any damage is considered suspicious anyway.”
Others blamed Ms Elmer for not checking her passport before traveling internationally.
“I’m pretty sure it even says in your passport that it needs to be in good condition before you travel,” one user wrote.
“Airport staff basically protected you,” wrote another.
“You would have been detained, then turned away and then had to try to find a return flight as quickly as possible; Indonesia requires a perfect, undamaged passport with a validity of at least six months.”