One family’s holiday plans fell into disarray after they were told at the airport that one of their passports had only a month’s validity remaining.
And as a result, the entire group was reportedly denied boarding.
According to Shin Min Daily News on Monday (July 10), one of the passengers surnamed Lin, told the paper about how the family of eight had made their way to Changi Airport last month for their flight to Macau.
They had reached the airport on June 12 for their 1.50pm flight and were scheduled to reach Macau at 6.05pm.
The eight members of the family comprised Lin and her husband, their 18-month-old toddler, their six-year-old daughter, the kids’ grandparents and 85-year-old wheelchair-bound great-grandmother, as well as an aunt.
While checking in, the family were told by counter staff that the six-year-old girl’s passport had less than six months’ validity and she would not be allowed to board.
At the same time, the staff also returned all the other passports, refusing to process them, said Lin, 39, a business development manager.
She added: “We suggested that they could still check in the five other passengers while my husband and I head to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) with our daughter and book the next flight out.”
However, Lin shared that the staff member stated that as all the bookings were made in one itinerary, they had to do the check-in as an entire group.
While on the way to the ICA, Lin told Shin Min that she got in touch with Scoot’s personnel through Facebook Messenger and was told that it was possible for the remaining five travellers to board the flight.
But according to Lin’s mum, the staff at the counter continually rejected their request.
The family of three eventually managed to make it back to the airport at 1.30pm, but it was already too late as the boarding gate had closed at 12pm.
Lin told Shin Min that the family had to book a flight to Hong Kong the next day (June 13) at 6am before crossing over to Macau by ferry.
“There were only Business Class seats left and we spent about $2,100 to buy the one-way tickets. Thankfully our returning flights were unaffected,” she shared.
With such a big group, the family decided to stay at a hotel near the airport for a night and had to book two rooms.
Lin told AsiaOne that Scoot replied her again through Facebook on June 16, indicating that the five remaining passengers could have boarded the flight.
Lin subsequently posted about the incident on social media, requesting for Scoot to provide a reasonable explanation as well as to compensate them for the “wasted” cost, reported the Chinese evening daily.
When approached by Shin Min, Scoot stated that they are investigating the case and are unable to comment further.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.