TWO PENSIONERS were turned away from a holiday of a lifetime over a strict passport rule, leaving them £6,000 out of pocket.
David Hornsby, 78, and his wife had flown 10,700 miles from Southampton to Sydney for a 14-day cruise to Singapore on Cunard's Queen Elizabeth, when they were forced to turn back to the UK.
On February 11, after arriving at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Australia, David was refused boarding as his seven-year-old passport was considered 'damaged'.
David said: "We arrived at the cruise terminal, went to check in as usual having already dropped our luggage off and they looked at my passport and then called somebody over, and then took it away.
"My wife was cleared for boarding but they said there was damage on my passport, which there wasn’t."
According to David, "about a centimetre" of the stitching on his passport had become loose and one of the pages was consequently lifting.
But while this did not stop him from entering Australia, it only caused an issue when he was about to board the cruise.
After being denied boarding, the couple then had to wait several hours for their luggage to be removed from the ship and pay £700 for new flights home from Sydney.
David added: "I’m absolutely amazed at Cunard’s attitude, we flew back without the slightest problem."
According to the David has appealed for either a refund, compensation or a replacement cruise from Cunard.
However, the operator told David that they would no longer be communicating on the topic after several emails back and forth between the two.
The volunteer who welcomes cruise ship passengers, including Cunard guests, in Southampton in his free time, explained that he had about five or six different emails and each person communicating with him was different from the previous.
"It’s disgusting treatment really. The passport was fully legal," he continued.
Current guidance in the UK expresses that a passport is considered damaged if you cannot read any of the details, any pages are ripped, cut or missing, there are holes or rips in the cover or the cover is coming away.
Since returning to the UK, Cunard has refunded part of the excursions David had booked for when him and his wife were on the cruise.
However, Cunard has refused to refund the sailing or offer an alternative trip.
A spokesperson from Cunard told The Sun: "We were very sorry to learn that Mr and Mrs Hornsby were unable to board Queen Elizabeth in Australia and appreciate how disappointed they would have been.
"Our understanding is that Mr and Mrs Hornsby were refused embarkation to the ship by Immigration officials at the international cruise terminal due to a damaged passport.
"The planned voyage included a port call to Indonesia, where they have strict standards for damaged passports.
"Unfortunately, the actions of foreign immigration authorities are outside of our control, and any associated costs should be directed to the guests’ travel insurers.
"We appreciate this is not the outcome that Mr and Mrs Hornsby would have wanted, but this set of circumstances is not one Cunard can take responsibility for."
Bali in Indonesia, is known for having particularly strict rules.
Airlines can be fined thousands of pounds for any passengers who enter the country with a damaged passport.
In fact, passport damage is taken so seriously that visitors can be turned away from their flight just for having a small tear.
Last year, an Australian traveller, Matt Vandenberg, was denied entry to Indonesia due to a minor tear on one of his passports pages.
The tear measured about one centimetre in size and was spotted by an immigration official when he arrived in Indonesia.
As a result, his passport was confiscated and he was excluded from the country.
The Sun's Lisa Minot also recently shared her top tips for cruising.
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