Have you actually lost your passport before while travelling?

Have you actually lost your passport before while travelling?

  • Yes, once

    Votes: 20 25.0%

  • Yes twice

    Votes: 3 3.8%

  • Yes thrice

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes more than once/more than I'm willing to admit

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No

    Votes: 57 71.3%
  • Total voters
    80
S

SOPOOR

Established Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Posts
3,749
Excluding having your passport stolen, luggage stolen , damaged

I was recently on a trip and I have my passport in a cover, and I dont like having to remove my passport from cover each time,

i put the naked passport in the side pocket, and there was a hole in in it and it slid into the main compartment of my bag

30 mins of panicing ensured, and it was after a few hours of sleeping on a bench in another terminal, is where I thought I left it

Thoughts of being stranded like Tom Hanks in The Terminal crossed my mind without a passport
 
Last edited:
Misplaced it before departure from Australia. The choices were to attempt to exit the country with my current and previous EU passports, or delay the trip until I find the AU passport. I tried the exit, hoping that the visa label in the old EU passport would help the Immigration to track down my current status.

Check-in took half an hour when the agent called Canberra before I was cleared for boarding. Then another 10 mins at the passport control when they made their phone calls. And I did get a very clear and stern verbal warning to never ever try the same again, along with a reminder that I'm not eligible to return without a valid passport.

My house-sitters eventually found the passport after turning the place upside & down and express posted it. It arrived whole two days before my return was departing. I've rarely stressed as much as on those days.

In short: would not recommend. Keep your passport safe.
 
Had backpack with passport in it stolen from a sketchy pub in Oxford in 2006 while working in the UK. Called consulate in London about replacing it and they advised to wait a few days to see if it turned up before cancelling it. Guy also said the rules were that I was supposed to cancel immediately! Work visa would have been more annoying and would have involved a visit to some office in Croydon. Anyway after a few stressful days I had a call from the police, someone had found my bag in a park and handed it in. Lost a cheap camera and an MP3 player but was relieved to have my passport and visa back.
 
I lost mine in the US a few years ago. The Australian consulate was completely useless and didn't seem to know the rules. The US authorities allowed me to travel from MCO to LAX with my OZ license, and VA got clearance from OZ immigration for me to travel with it as well.
 
Not quite but I came close. In Washington DC I took a cab from the hotel to Union station to get to BWI for a flight. At the hotel, the porters were squeezing our bags into the boot like a game of Tetris. When I arrived at the station and grabbed my bags from the boot I did a stocktake as the cab drove off into the distance. One, two... where's the third?! Panic ensured. Fortunately, the cab got stuck in traffic a couple of hundred meters up the road as there would have been no way to track it (we hailed and paid cash), managed to flag it down and retrieve the carry on bag which had been wedged into a nook that made it easy to miss. It contained everything important like passports, wallet, money, iPad, MacBook etc. I've never made that mistake again — such an awful feeling.
 
tdimdad said:
Misplaced it before departure from Australia. The choices were to attempt to exit the country with my current and previous EU passports, or delay the trip until I find the AU passport. I tried the exit, hoping that the visa label in the old EU passport would help the Immigration to track down my current status.

Check-in took half an hour when the agent called Canberra before I was cleared for boarding. Then another 10 mins at the passport control when they made their phone calls. And I did get a very clear and stern verbal warning to never ever try the same again, along with a reminder that I'm not eligible to return without a valid passport.

My house-sitters eventually found the passport after turning the place upside & down and express posted it. It arrived whole two days before my return was departing. I've rarely stressed as much as on those days.

In short: would not recommend. Keep your passport safe.
Click to expand...
Somewhat related to your post, but also somewhat OT because it didn't involve a lost passport, I was waiting for a new Aus passport to be delivered when I needed (or maybe wanted) to go to NZ - I used my UK passport, no issues whatsoever in either direction, other than the Smartgate asking me if I had TB.

Aussie immigration system recognises my UK passport as "Permanent resident or citizen", and the status in VEVO changes between onshore/offshore when I leave/enter using my Aussie passport, so they're definitely linked somewhere, presumably because it was once linked to a PR visa. Wouldn't do it regularly, and it expires soon, so I doubt the replacement would work in the same way.
 
Let's have a pole on "have you ever had your passport stolen"? Talk about drama - particularly when all your other identification is also stolen at the same time - anyway a story for another thread.
 
Isn't it a "poll"?
Pole is more for that "special" dance some people have in their homes, ahem.
===
QF_Flyer said:
Somewhat related to your post, but also somewhat OT because it didn't involve a lost passport, I was waiting for a new Aus passport to be delivered when I needed (or maybe wanted) to go to NZ - I used my UK passport, no issues whatsoever in either direction, other than the Smartgate asking me if I had TB.

Aussie immigration system recognises my UK passport as "Permanent resident or citizen", and the status in VEVO changes between onshore/offshore when I leave/enter using my Aussie passport, so they're definitely linked somewhere, presumably because it was once linked to a PR visa. Wouldn't do it regularly, and it expires soon, so I doubt the replacement would work in the same way.
Click to expand...
OT, I thought that there was a nono, that it was not an acceptable procedure, to exit and enter Aust on a passport that is not Aust, if the person is an Aust citizen.
 
QF_Flyer said:
Somewhat related to your post, but also somewhat OT because it didn't involve a lost passport, I was waiting for a new Aus passport to be delivered when I needed (or maybe wanted) to go to NZ - I used my UK passport, no issues whatsoever in either direction, other than the Smartgate asking me if I had TB.

Aussie immigration system recognises my UK passport as "Permanent resident or citizen", and the status in VEVO changes between onshore/offshore when I leave/enter using my Aussie passport, so they're definitely linked somewhere, presumably because it was once linked to a PR visa. Wouldn't do it regularly, and it expires soon, so I doubt the replacement would work in the same way.
Click to expand...
OT, I thought that there was a nono, that it was not an acceptable procedure, to exit and enter Aust on a passport that is not Aust, if the person is an Aust citizen.
 
AustraliaPoochie said:
OT, I thought that there was a nono, that it was not an acceptable procedure, to exit and enter Aust on a passport that is not Aust, if the person is an Aust citizen.
Click to expand...
It is, in theory (not acceptable that is). But it works, and I suppose there's reasons why you'd want/need to travel on another passport (emergency and unable to get a new one in time, or lost it overseas and want to come home, or in my case it took too long to arrive and I had two other perfectly good, valid passports).

And we have right of entry, so it's not like they can turn you away, likely worst case is that you'll get a talking to from immigration on arrival, maybe have some issues checking in if your non-NZ foreign passport isn't linked to anything in The Australian immigration "system" (because you'd appear to be a foreigner with no visa, and NZ-ers are the only foreigners that can travel to Australia without a visa, being granted one on arrival).

I believe the issues with check in can be resolved by the carrier verifying who you are with the Australian authorities (Australians can return without a passport (from DOHA - "Australian citizens who travel without an Australian passport might have their entry delayed until their identity and claim to Australian citizenship has been verified.").
 
Went through check in, up the steps to departures JFK, had something to eat in food court, for some reason had passport out , put on table, finished eating, threw food scraps & napkins in bin, started going to lounge, looked for passport nowhere to be found. Immediately panicked, went back down to check in counter. Anyway anyone I spoke with said it would be handed in, & I would get it at gate. I was on permanent Aussie visa then, so used that passport when needed. It was US p/port I lost. the more I thought about it later, figured it got caught up with napkins without realising. Quite a few moments for me.
 
Just saw this related article today: https://www.escape.com.au/news/some...e/news-story/12a15790da3592c71cb242b9235dccfb

Someone else on the same flight mistakenly (or on purpose) took this person's passport (contained within their headphones case) in the gate lounge, resulting in them being unable to board the plane.

Cathay's airport manager in Melbourne did a heroic job though, rebooking the couple (and upgrading them to Business!) the next day, along with arranging the return of their headphones case.
 
Just read a News.com article that someone had lost their passport at Tullamarine.
Not sure if it was stolen, or was taken by mistake.
So, Aust airports are now not as safe a place as we thought that they were.
===
Edit: heh, continued reading, turns out that someone had taken the guys passport and spectacle case by "mistake".
How on earth does a person do that.
 
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Not only passports, but its surprising the fact that some people do not value personal property.
Ie, have you noticed how poeple still put their passports on the security bag scanning tray, and security staff sometimes say, just put it away in bag, sometimes its not mentioned what to do with it.
Most people put it on the tray, still.
If its put in the bag, at the least you or I will know where it is.
As we know, a lot of airports, they scream that nothing is to be in pockets!
 

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