We were flying to Madrid this morning.
Everything was set. Bags were packed. Ticket printed. Accommodation arranged. The lot.
My wife lived in Madrid for six years so we have friends here who we had arranged to met up with. Needless to say we were looking forward to the weekend for a long time.
We arrived at the airport just about on time (05:40). Queued up to check-in. Got to the check-in desk only to have the woman at the desk tell me I had brought an out-of-date passport for Tomás.
In my haste to get out the door quickly I had grabbed the wrong one from the drawer.
His face completely collapsed when he realised he wasn’t getting on the plane. Words cannot describe how badly I felt for him (and his mother who really needed the break since I have been away so much recently).
What made it worse was that, as I am speaking at Remix Madrid on Monday, I had to get on the plane, leaving them behind.
If the locks haven’t been changed when I get home on Tuesday, I will be amazed.
ochon ochon! That is the pits. And it’s certainly no. 1 in the “if you think that’s bad. . . ” stakes. 🙂
Easy done Tom – but still a painful moment for you 🙁
keith
Sorry to hear that Tom
Aren’t the corners clipped or pages punched on outdated passports? That’s the treatment mine get from the Passport Office and it sounds like a little tactile action might have served well for Tomas.
ouch.
That’s a horrible one Tom. Hopefully they’ll be able to catch up with you?
Thanks all for the good wishes.
@Bernie – you are right, one of our other out-of-date passports has a corner clipped off but not this one for some reason. It will do as soon as I get home though!
@Kav, I’m flying back to Cork on Tuesday morning so it is not worth their while at this stage unfortunately.