I had a major scare with my passport on our recent trip to Cuba. It was a brand new passport; I got it last June and it looked fine when I thumbed through it and signed it, but it turns out there was a defect on the main page that almost cost me the trip. The WestJet agent at the St. John's Airport spotted a small tear above my photo when we were checking in for our flight at 4:30 in the morning. For some countries, like Mexico, the minimum acceptable condition for a passport is "Pristine". Its up to the receiving country to decide who they will or will not let into their country. We had no way of knowing if Cuba would allow me entry with the blemished passport or not. We had to decide at 4:30 in the morning whether to delay, cancel, or risk the trip.
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This is my faulty passport. I've blurred my
details, but trust me, all of the printing
was clear and crisp.
Can you spot the blemish? |
The defect on the passport was a problem in the reflective hologram layer above my photo. My photo was in tact, all of the information on the page was legible and correct, and the passport scanned perfectly, but there was a 5 mm wide tear in the hologram layer above my head. It looked like wrapping paper when you pull a piece of tape off and the top layer of the paper comes with it. At first glance, the damage wasn't noticeable, just a small area of matte paper on an otherwise glossy page. The word "CANADA" was missing, but unless you compared the passport side-by-side with another one, you wouldn't know that the word was supposed to be there. The passport was brand new, this was my first time using it, so I had no reason to suspect that there would be any problem with it.
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| please, please, please, please, please.... |
The check-in agent at the WestJet counter saw the defect right away and asked me about the tear. I honestly didn't know what she was talking about it until she showed me the page next to Lori's. There was certainly something wrong with my passport. They passed us over to another agent who spent 30-40 minutes with us at the counter trying to work out our options. At this point it seemed like Lori and I would miss our plane. John and Elaine went on ahead of us through security and we really didn't know if we'd be joining them on the other side or in Cuba for Christmas after all. We were advised not to risk it. We made a plan to delay our trip by 24 hours and go to the Passport office in St. John's for an emergency replacement, but we didn't want to leave the check-in line until we had a flight for the next day booked. We tried to re-book, but there wasn't anything for the next day. Or the day after that. Or the day after that. The next available flight was in six days. Half the trip would have been lost for a 5 x 20mm tear through the reflective coating on my brand new, Government of Canada-issued passport.
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The blemish is the tear above my hair on the left side.
The right side shows my new, corrected passport. |
At that point we decided to risk it and fly out anyhow. Rebooking would cost us half our vacation and if we were turned away by customs in Cuba, well then we'd at least have a Cuba story to tell. The WestJet agent who had been calling for advice and checking out options for us was in tears at the stress of it all and we weren't far behind. There was nothing she could do but let us know the risk we were taking. There wouldn't be any problem getting on our planes and getting down to Cuba, but there was no guarantee that the Custom's agent there would let me in the country. We found out from our Travel Agent that if I was refused, I would have to purchase a ticket on the next available flight and return home immediately. Not only would that flight of shame be out-of-pocket, but our trip cancellation insurance would not have reimbursed us for any of the lost trip. That tiny blemish on my brand new passport was threatening to cost us a two week vacation and thousands of dollars in unrecoverable expenses.
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Safe! On the outside
of the airport. |
When we got to Cuba, we decided that I should go through customs first, so we'd all still be on the same side of the wall if I was refused entry. The young man at the counter took my passport and asked me to stand on the dot on the floor and take my glasses off. He took my picture while he studied the passport. He spotted the defect right away and pointed to it on the page and asked me "what is this?" I said "I know, its a brand new passport. That's how they gave it to me at the Passport Office in St. John's.". He put his head down and I saw his hand reach to the edge of the desk and hover over the phone for what seemed like forever. Now I was going to have to explain to his supervisor or whoever else wanted to question me. But he didn't pick up his phone, he picked up his stamp, stamped my visitor's visa and said "Have a nice stay."
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We kept my passport in the safe
and used Lori's for things like
exchanging money. |
It was pretty nerve-wracking, but at that point I knew I was going to get my Christmas vacation and our gamble had paid off. It was also pretty obvious just how lucky we were. A different customs agent or the same guy in a bad mood could have easily stopped me and sent me back to Canada. The first night in the resort, I woke up in the middle of the night with a guilty feeling, like I'd done something wrong and snuck into the country unlawfully. At the end of the trip, I had to show my passport again to Custom's agents in Cuba and Canada. They all let me past, but they all asked about the defect. I never want to travel with anything less than a Pristine condition passport again.
As soon as we got home, I took my passport down to the Passport Office in St. John's. I was expecting a fight, but they accepted responsibility immediately. The manager came out to help me and I was given priority placing in all the lines. They took my old passport, reimbursed me for new photos and my new passport was delivered to the door yesterday, free of charge. They even offered me same day pick-up, if I'd wanted it, but I wasn't in a rush so the mail was fine. The manager told me that he hadn't seen that sort of quality error in their office before, but he was going to send the passport on to their national office in case other branches had experienced similar problems.
The lesson I've learned is that passports are very, very serious things and that you need to check and re-check your documents well in advance of travelling. Just because its a new passport, doesn't mean its going to be a pristine passport.
Photo Credits: Tim Rast
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