Passport stolen on a plane - is this possible?

[Skyring]

I would have continued with my holiday and if I was the person who lost their passport, I would have told the other person to continue the holiday without me. No reason for both of us being screwed.

Sometimes that's the reason for the trip.

I was once on a flight in Y. CX HKG-FRA jut before the world cup there. Fairly empty plane and I had a row to myself. Middle of the night, sitting up watching some movie, became aware of some clutter under my feet. Reached down and it was a wallet, presumably from the guy in the bulkhead row ahead of me.

I looked into it and recognised his face on the drivers licence. I also became aware of nine AUD hundred dollar notes.

I put it on the floor and kicked it forward and he retrieved it later, I imagine, because there was no fuss or anything as we prepared to deplane.

But if I had been a different person, there may not have been a happy ending. At least not for him, anyway.

Keeping the passport in shirt pocket or whatever can also be fraught. I had a friend who did this, got caught in a downpour in Singapore and spent a fair bit of her time in London at the New Zealand High Commission getting an emergency replacement at enormous expense.

 

[harvyk]

Theft of valuables seems a good reason why passengers should be banned from using WCs in different cabins, or from bringing guests or swapping seats with those in different cabins.

Thats a pretty nieve statement. Just because someone can afford to fly the higher classes (cash or points) doesn't mean they can no longer have sticky fingers if the opportunity arrises.

furthermore without an actual locked door / guard even if restricted to a cabin it's no guarentee that a person won't sneek into other cabins.

 

[FuzzyAUS]

I have gone into other cabins before (still do quite a bit now, and have written about it in other threads before), but there is no chance I would ever consider taking someone else's belongings, and while I am awake have a pretty good situational awareness of what is happening in the cabin around where I am.

Good on the airline for taking the seat apart, but damn wouldnt your heart drop when it couldnt be found and you need to head home

 

[Himeno]

Thats a pretty nieve statement. Just because someone can afford to fly the higher classes (cash or points) doesn't mean they can no longer have sticky fingers if the opportunity arrises.

furthermore without an actual locked door / guard even if restricted to a cabin it's no guarentee that a person won't sneek into other cabins.

Yep. You should see the amount of theft that goes through the self serve checkouts at work by people who wouldn't normally steal anything.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thats a pretty nieve statement. Just because someone can afford to fly the higher classes (cash or points) doesn't mean they can no longer have sticky fingers if the opportunity arrises.

furthermore without an actual locked door / guard even if restricted to a cabin it's no guarentee that a person won't sneek into other cabins.

I have had said for a long time that people being allowed into cabins they shouldn't is a security issue, which was often dismissed on AFF. But given the posts which have stated theft occurs, I think it is a valid reason.

If an airline has a secure cabin policy, it may be easier in some circumstances to narrow down the field of potential culprits. If an airline says they allow anyone to move between cabins that could make it more difficult. Not always, but it might. (And recognising crew have also been suspected of theft, so it is by no means fail safe, but it might reduce the chances of sticky fingers.)

 

[whatmeworry]

I keep my wallet and passport in my pants pocket.

Where the OP's friend's passport went, I don't know? I would have thought the Thai customs should have stopped all Pax and crew on the plane to find the passport.

 

[JessicaTam]

I have had said for a long time that people being allowed into cabins they shouldn't is a security issue, which was often dismissed on AFF. But given the posts which have stated theft occurs, I think it is a valid reason.

If an airline has a secure cabin policy, it may be easier in some circumstances to narrow down the field of potential culprits. If an airline says they allow anyone to move between cabins that could make it more difficult. Not always, but it might. (And recognising crew have also been suspected of theft, so it is by no means fail safe, but it might reduce the chances of sticky fingers.)

So you are saying that theft does not occur in the same cabin a perpetrator is seated? For the small number of people on an aircraft, preventing movement between cabins (read - to a lessor class cabin) will prevent loss is ridiculous.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So you are saying that theft does not occur in the same cabin a perpetrator is seated? For the small number of people on an aircraft, preventing movement between cabins (read - to a lessor class cabin) will prevent loss is ridiculous.

i said it 'may be easier in some circumstances'. If there are only 10 passengers in a secure cabin and something goes missing it's potentially easier to find the culprit.

 

[JessicaTam]

i said it 'may be easier in some circumstances'. If there are only 10 passengers in a secure cabin and something goes missing it's potentially easier to find the culprit.

If I was in a premium cabin I would be pretty p!ssed off if I couldn't stretch my legs by walking the length of the plane every few hours.

 

[Gold Member]

"Passport stolen on a plane - is this possible?"

I guess so, they made Snakes on a plane... Seems like a bit of a stretch even for Hollywood though.

 

[DC3]

I don't know what the attraction would be in visiting the great unwashed when travelling up the front.

A walk around the F/J area should do nicely.

 

[Caversham04]

I have all my passport details memorised.

I've scanned mine, and then e-mailed a copy to my Hotmail account, so that it's always retrievable if required. I vaguely remember reading a newspaper article about someone losing their passport and being able to enter the country they were travelling to (can't remember which one) using the scanned copy......?

 

[gaz0303]

I've scanned mine, and then e-mailed a copy to my Hotmail account, so that it's always retrievable if required. I vaguely remember reading a newspaper article about someone losing their passport and being able to enter the country they were travelling to (can't remember which one) using the scanned copy......?

They might let you in (strong doubts) but would they let you out? I got stuck in Buenos Aires for a night. Passport stolen on way to airport in robbery, thought may as well try and get home since I'm on my way to the airport, but to no avail as I couldn't get my ticket issued. Had it scanned and copied on dropbox but it wouldn't do. Tried the 'make it Australia's problem' argument but nope, back to hotel/police/embassy.

OT, but had both UK and AUS passports stolen. The UK helpline was infinitely better - provided advice on what to do with local police, promised passport within the working day and generally made me feel at ease. AUS helpline said sorry, its Sunday, try the embassy on Monday and it will take a few days. I told the AUS embassy what timeframe the UK embassy worked on and they promised to match it which they did.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

They might let you in (strong doubts) but would they let you out? I got stuck in Buenos Aires for a night.

Passport stolen on way to airport in robbery, thought may as well try and get home since I'm on my way to the airport, but to no avail as I couldn't get my ticket issued.

Had it scanned and copied on dropbox but it wouldn't do. Tried the 'make it Australia's problem' argument but nope, back to hotel/police/embassy.

Was this in the days of paper tickets?

Sounds like it was a case of being a no go due to the airline not being able to re-issue your ticket.

Wonder if it would've been okay if you'd had an electronic ticket and it was 'just' the passport issue?

 

[gaz0303]

Was this in the days of paper tickets?

Nope - 2011. Not boarding entirely due to passport.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I am not surprised.
Have heard stories too of person having lost their passport, was chatted with by a person in Dubai too, something about how perfumes smell nice or something. And his Aust passport also disappeared. But this person had an APEC card so the passport was more so a secondary piece of identity document.
The perfume or chat up, was probably a distraction method.
I think that sometimes, on a plane, we get too off guard.

 

[JohnK]

I am paranoid. I don't trust anyone with my belongings. I have seen and heard too many stories of people losing valuables in flight. Passport, phones, keys, wallet are all on my person the majority of the time.

If I am in business I have put the passport on the arm rest for a few minutes after boarding but then it goes back in my pocket.

If I lost my passport I would not expect my best friend to turn around with me and spoil their holiday.

 

[harvyk]

i said it 'may be easier in some circumstances'. If there are only 10 passengers in a secure cabin and something goes missing it's potentially easier to find the culprit.

From a pure statistics point of view, maybe... From a lets retain our most valued customers point of view, not even remotely easy.

Remember that the person with the sticky fingers probably only did so since the opportunity had arisen. This means that the 9 other people would have been too buzy with IFE, sleeping or in the lavs to notice, and you'd need some degree of evidence before you start telling people to empty out their pockets.

Furthermore the number of people who cross the divide into other cabins is already pretty small, so it's not exactly a huge risk factor anyway.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

From a pure statistics point of view, maybe... From a lets retain our most valued customers point of view, not even remotely easy.

Remember that the person with the sticky fingers probably only did so since the opportunity had arisen. This means that the 9 other people would have been too buzy with IFE, sleeping or in the lavs to notice, and you'd need some degree of evidence before you start telling people to empty out their pockets.

Furthermore the number of people who cross the divide into other cabins is already pretty small, so it's not exactly a huge risk factor anyway.

I agree. I was more thinking in circumstances where there might only be one or two pax in a cabin... security of the cabin is one issue (along with others) for not wanting to have people not ticketed passing through (for example to use the forward WCs on 777s, A330/340 aircraft).

 

[joyvee]

I lost my passport about 10 years ago, knew it was at home but could not be found. Admitted defeat about 11 pm. Managed to get new photos, new form and go to Immigration by 9.30 and had new passport in less than 2 hours despite it being day after Boxing day and not fully staffed. Mentioned this when I renewed my passport recently and was told it could not happen now as they have to run 120 checks before re-issuing your passport these days. Melbourne office.
House painters found original passport months later, my teenager had picked it up, not recognized it and put it on top of a wardrobe, a place where his vertically challenged mother did not consider as a possibility.