Newlyweds Carly and Chris Baker were ready to to venture off to Greece, Italy and a few other European countries for their honeymooon started and ended their trip at the Philadelphia International Airport on Sunday afternoon when Carly was stopped by a U.S. Airways representative who stated her passport was too damaged for her to fly.
Baker told BuzzFeed:
“It was her opinion that my passport was too damaged to be used, citing strings hanging off the sides and the seams ‘splitting.’”
Baker then went to another manager, who took a look at the passport and found it suitable. Unfortunately, that manager soon realized that the first U.S. Airways employee had already put her on a no-fly list for the damaged passport:
The frustrated newlywed stated:
“She tried getting her boss to override my restriction, but [her] boss clearly did not want to throw the first manager under [the] bus by putting an override on file over her first opinion.”
According the the State Department, if an employee deems a passport to be significantly damaged, they can restrict a passenger from flying, though that is typically decided on a case-by-case basis.
After the newlyweds shared the unfortunate news with the world, U.S. Airways spokesperson Leslie Scott told BuzzFeed News that the employee did comply with government regulations on damaged passport regulations, stating:
“We can’t let people travel with damaged government documents.”
Scott allegedly looked at pictures of Baker’s passport and found issues with it, as well, stating there was significant water damage and tearing.
Despite the newlyweds’ setback, Baker has since received a new passport and will be leaving with her husband Tuesday evening:
Still, they lost over $2,000 in cancellation fees.
The couple said they will never fly U.S. Airways again:
“It was made extremely clear to us that they are in the business of making money, and not making people happy.”
