US-bound elderly woman denied boarding over damaged passport in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Patching up her passport after the binding tore cost a 69-year-old Bengalurean her much-awaited trip to the US after four years to reunite with her only grandchild. The woman was not allowed to travel by immigration authorities at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on the grounds of a damaged passport.
The incident unfolded early last Saturday when Shailaja R, a resident of BTM Layout, arrived at KIA and was to board her scheduled Lufthansa flight to Denver, Colorado. "When she reached the airline's check-in counter, the ground staff expressed concern over her passport, which we had fixed as the front and back binding had come off due to many years of non-usage," said Keerthana, Shailaja's daughter, who is a city-based user experience designer.
Bureau of Immigration (BOI) authorities were informed about Shailaja's passport. They inspected it and declared that she wouldn't be allowed to board as the passport was damaged. According to immigration sources at KIA, a torn, damaged or patched-up passport is considered invalid for travel and the possibility of the traveller being deported from the place of landing is very high. In the senior citizen's case, she was flying to the US and in the event of immigration authorities here permitting her to board, there were high chances that the woman would have been intercepted at the Denver airport, the sources added.
"It was extremely disappointing for my mother to be sent back home from KIA as she had been planning the US trip for months and had shopped for multiple things before meeting her grandson," added Keerthana, who had spent close to Rs 2 lakh on her mother's return tickets (premium economy).
Tickets rescheduled to May 27
Facing the possibility of losing all the money in ticket cancellation, the family opted to reschedule them to May 27, 2022. Now it is a race against time for Shailaja who has applied for re-issuance of passport. But with a surge in applications at the Bengaluru passport office, the sexagenarian is heading to the Hubballi wing hoping for a timely appointment.