Geeta Modha travels 4,200 miles from Manchester to India on husband’s passport
It is not every day that a person board on a flight and roams around with a wrong passport in hand. Geeta Modha, who left for the airport in hurry on a business trip to India, picked up her husband’s passport unknowingly and traveled 4,200 miles, from Manchester to India, without even getting caught.
The lady didn’t notice that she picked up her husband Dilip’s passport, she only realized that she has made a blunder when she was filling out an immigration form in Delhi, reports Manchester Evening News.
The 55-year-old lady was out of words when she found out what happened. She showed the passport at check-in and again before boarding the Emirates plane. Interestingly, she even went through the customs without a hitch. At the stop-off in Dubai, Geeta didn’t have to show her passport to anyone because she had an Overseas Citizenship of India card, so she flew from there also, effortlessly.
Geeta Modha travels 4,200 miles from Manchester to India on husband’s passport
Other than being shocked at the incident, it leaves us thinking about the lack of security and procedure at the airport. Disturbed by the incident, Geeta said, “It’s scary and worrying that people aren’t checking properly. The fact they say they are so strict on security in airports but you can do this in 2018 is terrible.”
“At check-in, the staff member even made me move stuff from one bag to another because it was 2kg over - and yet let me travel with the wrong passport,” Geeta further claimed.
However, Indian officials made Geeta travel back to Dubai and wait for her original passport which was flown to her by Emirates itself. Geeta’s 32-year old son Sagar had to take the passport to the airport.
Geeta, who is a regular flyer, revealed, “They only looked at my surname - not at my first name or the picture. If I got through who else could get through?”
Throwing some light on the terrible blunder made by the airlines, a spokesman for Emirates said, "Like all airlines, we work closely with our airport handlers to ensure that all regulations relating to passport checks are taken very seriously. In this instance, our usual high standards were not followed and we would like to apologize to Ms. Modha.”
They further revealed, "We are currently investigating how this incident occurred and are working closely with them to ensure that all training materials are properly reviewed and full retraining is provided for the staff involved."
