Australian Lost Passport: getting back to Australia [without it]

[henrus]

An airline can refuse carriage for any reason they deem reasonable. I’m sure you are right but based on prior experience trying to explain rules to some recalcitrant agent is likely to be an excercise in frustrated futility.

It depends on the airline and it's certainly not quite for any reason they deem reasonable...

Qantas clearly lists the reasons why they may refuse to carry someone (Conditions of Carriage | Qantas AU). I've read through all of them and none of them seem unreasonable and are all common sense.

In the case of traveling without a passport, the following would apply

"...we may refuse to carry you and your Baggage if any of the following circumstances have occurred or we reasonably believe will occur...because you do not appear to have all necessary documents..." and "...if carrying you will break government laws, regulations, orders or an immigration direction from a country to which you are travelling or are to depart from"

So under Qantas' own conditions of carriage if you've got approval from the BOC to travel without a document and they've approved your uplift then they really can't "reasonably believe" that you'd break either of those two conditions as you've satisfied the country you're entering that you'll be allowed entry and have the necessary approval and documents to do so.

Virgin is even more relaxed by saying they'll refuse travel "...You do not have, or do not appear to have, valid travel documents for your country of origin or destination". Again in the case of a granted uplift approval, just a drivers license and the granted approval would suffice as valid travel documents for an Australian returning to Australia.

 

[JohnK]

The moral of the storey.......Don't lose your passport while travelling

I can understand the issues if you lost your passport in say Thailand and next port of call was Germany but losing your passport and coming home should be relatively pain free if you can prove who you are.

The idea of losing 3-4 days to get it sorted is ludicrous.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I can understand the issues if you lost your passport in say Thailand and next port of call was Germany but losing yoir passport and coming home should be relatively pain free if you can prove wjo you are.

The idea of losing 3-4 days to get it sorted is ludicrous.

Although I'm just reminded of the program 'Embassy' on TV. When Aussies lose their passports in Indonesia they need an emergency one so they can get their visa replaced and allowed to exit. I dunno why they make them get a new passport in Thailand if they are coming straight back to Oz? Unless they were there longer than 30 days?

 

[eric2011]

The idea of losing 3-4 days to get it sorted is ludicrous.

Unfortunately, in this instance that was a conservative estimate for this one occasion. She would have had to fly from WRE-WLG on Tuesday, got to Embassy who quoted 24-48 hours for emergency passport and then fly back from WLG-AKL and hopefully EK would have kept her bookings valid and not charge a arm & a leg for the change fee. That doesn't factor in the Cyclone which hammered the bottom of the North island, Wellington and the top of the South Island. Wellington itself was closed for business on Wednesday.
I have estimated ~$2000 to do it this way. Flights, passport, 3 days accomm
Really makes those Brownie points which were mentioned up-thread real value to me

P.S Just completed insurance claim for the replacement passport plus my costs of getting her spare to her, total $786.00. Hope they pay out

 

[Hvr]

I dunno why they make them get a new passport in Thailand if they are coming straight back to Oz? Unless they were there longer than 30 days?

In Thailand you need to prove you were legally in the country before you're allowed to leave. So you have to get a new passport and then get a new entry visa then you're allowed to leave.

 

[JohnK]

@eric2011 , 90000 points lost but countless brownie points gained!

Though with an indeterminate expiry date
Does any one know the T&C attached to brownie points?

All brownie points have individual terms and conditions.

- Brownie points have very short life and cannot be accumulated.
- Any brownie points earned can be revoked without reason before expiry.
- If brownie points are earned for a certain action today doesn't mean they'll be earned for the same action in future.
- Don't talk about brownie points unless you want to hear about all the times you've made the slightest mistake in the past. The talk gets longer and longer the longer you are together.

 

[Renato1]

We had the lost passport issue in Italy some years back. Contacted Emirates and told them that we had a copy of the lost passport. They advised that it was at the discretion of the management on the day whether they would fly us back to Australia. and that if they did fly us back, it would be direct with no stop-over possible.

So that was what happened. Had to pay the fee for change of flights to fly direct. It meant that we were always the last to board, with people at the check-in gate taking photos of the photocopied passport.

No issue at all when we got to Tullamarine.
Regards,
Renato

 

[henrus]

We had the lost passport issue in Italy some years back. Contacted Emirates and told them that we had a copy of the lost passport. They advised that it was at the discretion of the management on the day whether they would fly us back to Australia. and that if they did fly us back, it would be direct with no stop-over possible.

It's nice to know that Emirates did help. It seems in the OP's case they couldn't care so obviously it depends on who you get and how much they are willing to help.

 

[eric2011]

It's nice to know that Emirates did help. It seems in the OP's case they couldn't care so obviously it depends on who you get and how much they are willing to help.

Exactly, In our case my wife had no success at all, I believe, because she was at a remote area and trying to do everything by phone. Perhaps if she was able to get to the airport at 8.00am in the morning, on the day, she could have better luck. A female, who is not completely savvy on the ins & outs of this type of experience she was fair game

 

[Renato1]

It's nice to know that Emirates did help. It seems in the OP's case they couldn't care so obviously it depends on who you get and how much they are willing to help.

I guess that it helped that I'd paid about $200 to them to change the tickets.
It would have been rough if having done that, they then decided not to take us.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[travelislife]

Out of interest why didn’t you just Fedex or DHL the NZ passport over? Would have saved the trip?

 

[eric2011]

Out of interest why didn’t you just Fedex or DHL the NZ passport over? Would have saved the trip?

Everyones YMMV but in our case my wife is not that young (politely put) not that travel savy, getting a little scared and starting to stress/panic. It was my desire to get her back home in the quickest possible time. You do what ever it takes for your loved ones.

Besides if she reads this it will earn more of those brownie points we talked about up-thread LOL

 

[juddles]

Risky question here.... but HOW do SO MANY people appear to lose passports while travelling??

I started travelling 40 years ago and never even came close to losing one?

Chris, I hear you. I have also not lost a passport in 40+ years of flying. But I did destroy one - left it in clothing which maid grabbed and put through the washing machine before I woke up. This happened in Colombia about a week before I had to travel again.

Timing could not have been worse - the next travel I had was for a business meeting on the island of Ibiza - somewhere I had never been and I was hugely looking forward to it! Anyway, being in Colombia, had to deal with the Australian Embassy in Chile (only one in Sth America) which was hard at distance. One thing I learnt during this process is that Aussie passports are actually printed in the USA. My new passport thus was sent first from the USA to Australia, then it was sent over to the embassy in Chile, then up to Colombia. Tracking the FEDEX movement from Chile was both fascinating and horrible - as my travel date loomed...

From Santiago it went first back up to Miami, then down to Caracas, then to Bogota, then finally to Medellin. I was waiting at the FEDEX office in Medellin as it got there, just over two hours before my flight was due for departure. And this is in downtown Medellin - anyone who has been there would understand that it is an "hour" drive up the mountain to get to the airport! I did it in a bit less than that hour
Made the flight with about 10 minutes to spare, and a few days later had the best working day of my life, living it up on Ibiza like rich people do

I guard my passports like gold, but things can happen.....

 

[RooFlyer]

One thing I learnt during this process is that Aussie passports are actually printed in the USA.

That's fascinating. From the context, you obviously mean the printing of the individual's details, not the raw passport (or maybe both).

How long ago was this?

 

[juddles]

That's fascinating. From the context, you obviously mean the printing of the individual's details, not the raw passport (or maybe both).

How long ago was this?

It was May 2012.
I am not sure if the full printing (personal details) were done in the USA, but I suspect they get printed fully completed? I understood that the passports are "made" over there.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Everyones YMMV but in our case my wife is not that young (politely put) not that travel savy, getting a little scared and starting to stress/panic. It was my desire to get her back home in the quickest possible time. You do what ever it takes for your loved ones.

Besides if she reads this it will earn more of those brownie points we talked about up-thread LOL

It will be interesting to see what the insurance pays! I could imagine they would pay the cost of replacing the passport by the passenger. Perhaps even a fedEx of another passport. But your personal travel costs will be interesting. Please let us know

 

[eric2011]

It will be interesting to see what the insurance pays! I could imagine they would pay the cost of replacing the passport by the passenger. Perhaps even a fedEx of another passport. But your personal travel costs will be interesting. Please let us know

OK Mel_Traveller here is the final outcome. They have paid out the cost of the passport less the excess ($100) They didn't pay out anything for me to get the replacement to her etc. It appears that if she had of travelled all the way to WLG, gone to the embassy, spend ~3 days in a hotel travelled back to the departure point and came home it would have been covered. Total cost i estimate, ~$2500.

My cost which I tried to claim was around ~$400.

Moral is, do everything possible to rip off your insurance company, don't do anything to reduce the exposure of expenses. Don't think you are ever "doing the right thing"

 

[flyingmachine]

Could your wife have applied for a new NZ passport? I guess she already had a NZ passport with you in Australia and not exactly lost but I wonder if it's be quicker to get that done in NZ and might also means she won't need to travel to Wellington for it to be processed?

 

[Himeno]

One thing I learnt during this process is that Aussie passports are actually printed in the USA.

There are passport offices that can issue AU passports in Australia, Washington and London. Blank passports are printed in Melbourne by Note Printing Australia (who print AUD notes).

 

[Boca68]

There are passport offices that can issue AU passports in Australia, Washington and London. Blank passports are printed in Melbourne by Note Printing Australia (who print AUD notes).

Not entirely sure of where the actual passport blank is printed, but it the only Consulate/Embassy in the USA that I know for sure they are available is Los Angeles. Washington possibly?