Where have you lost your passport and did you get it back?

[kpc]

But ... I know you have misplaced a boarding pass (and your QFF card) at least once in your flying history

It wasn't lost!....just safely kept in your wallet / pocket:shock:

 

[BadgerBoi]

Changi airport I was just about to go through security when I felt a firm hand on my shoulder. Turned around to be met with the sight of a heavily armed and unsmiling security gentleman. I'm someone who gets a little nervous at being manhandled by people in uniform when I'm in countries where capital and corporal punishments are used.

The guard handed me my passport and admonished me to take more care in future. It had been in my shirt pocket and slipped out onto the conveyer belt when I placed my bag on the belt, he'd seen it happen and picked it up and given it to me. I hadn't even noticed, my stomach dropped when I realised what I'd done.

 

[Taezar]

Suddenly not feeling quite as silly. I just bought a bright red passport holder too to make it easier to find if I am ever silly enough not to put it back into my document box.

I have never lost my passport OS but giving away my age: I remember when the Wall came down and the check guards on the German/Swiss border were being difficult. They wouldn't let you go through on the train. We all had to get off. Our passports were collected and we had to walk 1.5km across to the Swis border and hope our passports came with us. They did but there were a LOT of nervous ppl. When I made it to the station by my family's place in Switzerland about 8 hours late and on the local (not direct) train, I and my other mum did the whole running along the station calling eachother's names before hugging and getting applause.
Crazy but amazing time.

 

[jgm]

Left my passport in the seat pocket at the end of a 33 hour trip (no sleep) into Steamboat Springs. Didn't realise until 2 weeks later when we came to pack. The flight was a United Express service from DEN to HDN. I checked with lost property when we got back to HDN, but they were worse than useless "we don't know where that plane would have been". Continued onto ORL for a week at Disney World, & couldn't get Internet access in the resort. Eventually found a wireless access point & tried to chase it up again (the battles with the LOTFAP phone system were horrendous). Tried United "you'll have to chase it up with the airport"; then tried HDN "we'll keep looking" & DEN (thinking the plane may have returned there). The DEN lost property guy said that they aren't allowed to take them - against a federal law - it is the airline's responsibility.

I then called the OZ embassy in Washington. They are worse than useless. Was told I would have to come to Washington to get emergency documentation. When I told him there was a consulate in Atlanta and this was closer (he had "forgotten" about it) he still said I would have to front up in person, & that it could take 48 hours. The DEN guy had said that I should be able to get by with government photo ID, so we decided to risk it. If I did need other documentation, we could always just go to consulate at LA which would at least be on our route.

Our return flight was with VA LAX-MEL with the ORL-LAX leg on DL. The Delta check-in staff didn't seem to know how to handle an OZ passenger without a passport, so only checked our baggage through to LA. With a delayed take-off at ORL and strong headwinds, by the time we had collected our baggage and made it to the VA check-in, the MEL flight was just about to close. The VA staff were great & told us that it wouldn't be a problem for me to travel with just my driver's licence as ID, but it would take too long for us to make the flight. They re-booked us via SYD the following evening, and found us a hotel for the night.

We arrived next day as the check-in was opening, & the agent spent about 1/2 an hour on the phone getting clearance, & booking us in on a SYD-MEL flight (they had forgotten this the previous evening). We ended up with one of our best ever trips from the LOTFAP to OZ - booked in the middle in Y with a spare seat. Both SWMBO & I slept for at least 1/2 the time which is something we have only ever been able to do previously when in J. When we got to SYD, we were pulled aside by immigration (we had been told this would happen), sat outside their office area for 15 minutes, asked one question (this appeared to be almost an afterthought) & that was it.

We had a pleasant surprise when we got to the domestic terminal & discovered we had been booked into E+ on DJ.

As soon as I got home, I e-mailed UA asking them to check further and complaining about the mis-information from their call centre. I got an almost instantaneous reply that because of high volume, the reply would be in 10 days instead of the normal 5. 40 days later, I'm still waiting.

 

[Flying Fox]

JNB

Change currency after landing and got distracted by friends and counting money to not notice that I wasn't handed back my passport.

Got to the hotel via their shuttle bus and went to check-in. Went to get passport as ID and thats when my horror started. Realised it wasn't in my camera gear or on me. Checked the shuttle bus and then realised that the last time I saw it was at the Forex store.

Hotel rang from my receipt which had the cashier's name on it. They confirmed that they had it and shuttle bus guys took me back to pick it up. The cashier refused to personally return my passport and he got a lady to return it.

Hotel crew said that they think its a new scan as my case was the 4th incident that they heard of in the last month.

This incident is the only time I have lost my passport and hopefully the last. It was 2 or 3 hours of terror given I had to fly out the next day. I don't recommend it for anyone!

So that's my warning to everyone in general and specifically if travelling in JNB, ensure that you get your passport back from Forex people everywhere and esp. at the airport.

 

[codash1099]

Twice ( or perhaps 1 1/2).

Back in the '70's, went out to dinner in Paris with a group. Sat in a corner booth and threw my jacket over the back of the seat. Next morning, passport and travellers cheques nowhere to be seen. Restaurant was in the mess of streets around the Arc de Triomph and I had no idea which restaurant or which street. So I went hunting and by pure good fortune came upon what I thought was the right one -deserted but for a cleaner. No - nothing handed in but a quick check found the recalcitrants hiding on the floor under the seat. Big whew!!

Second effort was more recent on my last A380 trip, with an upgrade to first. Fell asleep with passport in pocket, but woke with it nowhere to be found. Fortunately a FA discovered it for me somewhere in deep dark recesses under the seat (thanks, Alan).

 

[mr mink]

I must admit to TWICE - which is probably one too many times for the heart!

1. went on a cruise up the Yangtse river ard 1998 at the time that the 3 Gorges Dam was not quite yet complete. I cannot remember where we left from exactly (above the proposed dam obviously - Chongqing?) but we spent the night upriver at a town nr a tributary river of the Yangtse. The hotel was pretty cheap and dodgy (this was with an Intrepid tour group) with only a small bolt on the door and no lock - so the passport went under the equally manky pillow. Got up for breakfast, went on sidetrip up tributary - back to hotel, had lunch, then on ferry down the river again. As the river was in flood/heavy flow mode this took about 1 1/2 hrs as against 5 hrs up. Got to hotel downstream - and then realised had left the passport upstream under the pillow. Girlfriend was totally outraged at my stupidity and told me to stay in the room (and not lose anything else!) while she sorted it out. End result was the passport was despatched with the captain of the first ferry downstream the next morning and I had it back by the next morning before we had to leave the hotel. Which either goes to show - they do not clean the rooms (likely as barely any linen on the bed), and also that anyone 'stealing'/making off with a foreign passport would likely be executed! So no skin lost there (other than credibility as an 'experenced traveller' with girlfriend).

2. Jaisalmer, India 2008. Stayed in a nicish accommodation in the old part on 3rd floor or whatever. Left the hotel to go somewhere else for breakfast, came back then taken by car to airport for flight to Udaipur. The 'airport' there then was virtually on a military base so high security to get in etc. Fortunately we were early before flight. Realised loss (I had left bumbag with whole thing, passport, USD cash, credit cards the lot) and begged use of a phone to ring hotel. Owner sent a boy up to the room - yes the bumbag was left there. He then brought it out personally on his motorbike. He asked me to check that everything was there. Frankly I was mostly only interested in the passport and credit cards and that some USD there, and everything seemed to be. Later that evening realised that 2 x $100 US bills were missing - contacted the hotel (we were by then in Udaipur) - he questioned the boy about it but said he was a good honest lad etc. Just wrote this off to experience - was it the boy or the owner who took it? or somebody else with access to unlocked room after we left - a commission for stupidity? Hey, money you can always replace - but passports are a bit more difficult!

 

[wingspan]

I had a very scary moment on board a plane when I was still a wet behind the ears 17 year old on one of my first ever flights. I had taken off from KIX and was on my way to Australia. Was about to get all my belongings in order when I realised my passport wasn't in my cargo pocket of my pants.

After a bit of panic, I asked the FAs if anyone had given them a lost passport. They hadn't seen anything.

About 10 minutes later, I found the passport in the overhead locker. It had fallen out of my bag. Wasn't in my pocket at all. I was very relieved.

 

[JohnK]

Thankfully I have never lost my passport but I have misplaced it/forgotten it/forgotten about it more times than I care to remember. I am not very good at storing things and my room is a mess.

I remember one time I was leaving for Thailand the next day and had not tried to locate my passport before hand. I had packed the night before and then went to get my passport from it's safe hiding place I had left it after the previous trip. Passport was not there. Cursing and crying and mumbling searched through my room (with mum's help) and finally found it well after midnight. It was nowhere near where I had thought I left it.

One other time I was going to New Zealand and taxi had turned up and headed off to the airport. Got to the M5 tunnel and realised my passport was not in my pocket so quickly called home and they confirmed that it was there. Had to go through the M5 tunnel before the taxi driver could turn around and went back home to get passport. Call QF and told them I may be late to check-in and left the rest in the lap of the gods. Got to airport very close to check-in close only to find out the flight was delayed ~1 hour.

These days my mum takes care of storing my passport in my room and I have barred myself from coming into contact with passport unless I am taking it with me when going overseas.

When I am travelling overseas I have the passport in my shirt pocket at all times (not in bag nor seat pocket) so that I can easily check if it is still with me and it is very hard to lose from shirt pocket as it fits in there nicely.

 

[briggsy81]

Not a loss, but on my first ever trip out of Australia (moved to Canada as an exchange student) I left my passport in the ladies toilets in LAX. Was transitting to Canada and so I had several hours in LAX until my Air Canada flight to YYC. Family friends who live near to LA came to hang out with me in the terminal for a while which was lovely of them.

After eating "American" pizza at 8:30am and buying an I [heart] LA magnet, I took a quick trip to the ladies before heading to the gate. I had been carrying my passport in my hand with my boarding pass in it and placed it on top of the loo paper dispenser. In my jetlagged yet extremely excited state, I had managed to walk out of the toilets without either piece of important documentation and wander down to the gate. Boarding time imminent, I reached into my bag for the passport/BP and was horrified to realise it was gone! :shock:

Thankfully, some frantic searching in the toilets was followed by a pleading enquiry at the desk on my gate and success! Some kindly soul had found my passport and BP and taken them to the gate of my flight! I wondered if they were perhaps on my flight as well, or if it was a security staff, etc. Whomever it was, I was just SO relieved and in the years of travelling since then I have never made the same mistake twice!

 

[briggsy81]

Whomever it was, I was just SO relieved and in the years of travelling since then I have never made the same mistake twice!

Hmm my goldfish memory strikes again: Not a passport, but I've remembered that only just yesterday, before my flight BNE-SYD I left one of my of carry-on bags at the security screening checkpoint! It wasn't until I was sitting having a coffee in the J lounge that I looked at my belongings and noticed they were a bit light on...

A quick trip back down the escalators and thankfully the bag had been picked up and stored in one of the cupboards there. I had had images of being surrounded by sniffer dogs and the little robot rolling along to implode my bag!

The perils of early Saturday mornings for me. I suppose it's still possible there are some listening devices implanted in the fabric by ASIO....

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Once left on a seat at Sydney T1 - but realised a minute later - luckily it was still there.

More than once, I've put my passport in my shirt pocket after an overnight flight from LAX, and then put my shirt in the wash once I got home. Ruined a couple of passports that way.

Forgotten my passport once going to the airport (after I bought a new briefcase, and forgot to transfer everything across). Felt like a right idiot walking in the doors to the airport, reaching into my bag and realising I'd left the passport back at the hotel. That said, the cabbie probably had the best fare of the night - he was still outside the doors. Back to the hotel, back to the airport again - nearly 1.5 hours (including the original trip)

 

[burrco]

Left my UK passport in the seat pocket on a flight from tpe-hkg. I didn't even notice it was missing and was in the lounge at hkg, waiting for my next flight, when a staff member handed it to me explaining that it had been left on the plane - so worked out fine.

I had done the pocket tap down before leaving the plane - but had some junk crammed into my aussie passport - so mistook the extra thickness as being both passports. At the transfer point just pulled out the aussie passport and forgot that the pocket should have had two passports in it.

 

[Martin J Cowling]

Do I dare admit I have lost it three times:
1. security screening checkpoint in Dallas, Texas (they paged me)
2. seat pocket on a QF 737 domestic...I was exhausted after a international flight (iI realised as soon as I deplaned)
3. I had been working in San Francisco at a conference. I slipped my passport into my small laptop bag figuring it would never be lost. I went down for Ghiradellis for a "take out" ice cream before heading to SFO. As I strolled along eating my ice cream, I realised I was laptop less. I let out a loud expletive, threw my sundae into a bin and ran back to the ice cream shop. My laptop and passport were waiting after the counter.

 

[Balwyn3103]

Last month, JQ to KIX was late so had to spend the night in the hotel at KIX airport. Got the plane the next am to Okinawa, took a taxi to base, tired out, and had just checked in at billeting when realised jacket with Aus and US passports had been left in the taxi. Billeting called taxi firm but it was the wrong one. Went over to the USO (service org) and explained my sad story and an airman and his Japanese gf were standing nearby. Suddenly struck me that I had a receipt for the taxi ride and sure enough the phone number was on it. The Japanese woman called and after what seemed like interminable waiting they conformed they had jacket and said passports. Driver brought it by at the end of his shift. Massive relief. I knew in Japan the passports would not be missing but until I had both in my hot little hand I was tense.

 

[GladstoneTim]

I have only one instance of a lost passport, and it wasn't mine. I was taking a goup of 15 year old students to Vanuatu ten or so years ago so the details are a bit hazy. Flying Air Vanuatu from BNE, we arrived at VLI and deplaned. We were queued at immigration and, sure enough, one of the boys realises the passport was still in the seat pocket. Being a small airport, no NF staff in the arrivals area so it took a bit of searching and in the end, i think we flagged down some cabin crew walking across the tarmac to do the return flight. Not long and the document was in our hot little hands. I had visions of the boy being refused entry (albeit unlikely i think) and being sent back to Aus unaccompanied.

 

[k_sheep]

On my first ever overseas trip (NZ doesn't count) I arrived at the airport nice and early with my shiny new passport so I had time to figure everything out. Went to TRS, got a refund, and of course, left my passport there. Realised about an hour later - why they never paged / called me I'll never know! I managed to make it to SYD for my connection before I lost another item (had 4 keys for my bag locks - left 2 in the ladies').

End 2009, much more travel savvy. Travelling with sister in law and cousin, who were a bit nervous. Reassured them as long as you have your prescription meds, a source of money and your passport, nothing else matters. The cousin, of course, left her passport in her scanner. Luckily her mum was at home and ran it into the airport. Luckily our flight was a little late. Unluckily it was too late to make our international connection. But that's another tale.

 

[BD1959]

Twice. Both a while ago....

Once: LHR T1, using an ATM to get some cash, put the travel wallet on top of the ATM machine and walked off. Didn't realise it'd gone until a call came over to go to the Service Desk, where it'd been handed in.

Second: At JNB. Left the travel wallet in the basket on the trolley in the car-park .. it had been packed away but I'd had to retrieve in as I came through Customs. Realised in the car as I was arriving at mate's place. Rushed back - have you ever realised how many trolleys are servicing an airport? Reported in lost at the Police Station and then started replacement processing at the British High Commission (British Passport), replaced the paper tickets at the Qantas Office (in Sandton, from memory), can't remember if I had to replace travellers cheques ... it was 1995.

Got a call from the British High Commission about a week later - the passport had been found, stuffed in a vending machine at the airport, no idea what'd happened to the rest of the wallet!! Problem then was getting said passport to me within a week for my departure ... the "finder" was a Businessman travelling around the country, no-one trusted the South African mail system etc. He eventually got it couriered to the BHC. Never did get a chance to personally thank him - other than a phone call - so if he's reading this ..... THANKYOUVERYMUCH!!

BD