There are plenty of details a bride has to worry about prior to getting married, but for a woman named Carly Baker, the last thing on her mind was the condition of her U.S. Passport. After she and boyfriend Chris Fee decided to tie the knot after dating for four years, they chose a romantic tour through Europe, including Greece and Italy for their honeymoon.
But when the couple arrived at Philadelphia International Airport on a recent weekend to check in for their flight, an official with U.S. Airways claimed that Carly’s passport was in too damaged a condition for her to legally board the flight.
Carly tried to enlist the aid of another U.S. Airways manager, who judged her passport to be in good enough condition to be accepted. But by that time, the first official had already placed Carly Baker on the airline’s “no-fly” list due to a passport that was allegedly splitting at the seams, and showing water damage on her photograph.
The only alternative the couple faced was to get Carly another passport utilizing rush orders, although they incurred several thousands in costs for having to change their original flight itinerary. The newlyweds blame U.S. Airways to making them miss the start of their original Honeymoon plans, although the airline insists that its manager properly followed government regulations that disallow anyone with a damaged passport from boarding a flight. Mr. and Mrs. Fee criticize U.S. Airways as being more interested in profits than people and swear they will never patronize the company again, either in this country or abroad.