London: In what could be a bizarre incident, a woman flew from Manchester to New Delhi on an Emirates flight on her husband’s passport, without the error being noticed by the airport or the flight authorities in Manchester.
Reportedly, a relative of the passenger Geeta Modha said that the “shocking” error was spotted by Modha after reaching the New Delhi airport.
The relative was quoted report saying, Modha had “accidentally” picked up her husband Dilip’s passport when she set off on a business trip to India on April 23.
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The mistake was only discovered when she tried to fill in an immigration form in New Delhi. She was refused entry into India and had to return to Dubai on the next available flight, the relative said.
Modha was then “stranded” at Dubai airport for a night until Emirates could get her passport on the next flight from Manchester.
The businesswoman, who runs Alankar House bridal shop in Rusholme, Greater Manchester, then had to book another flight to New Delhi.
Her relative said: “It is shocking. She was very, very worried. Imagine getting all the way to (India) and realising you had used someone else’s passport.”
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She said had check-in staff spotted the error Modha “would have had enough time” to get her own passport to the airport as she arrived three hours before she was due to fly.
Modha is understood to have used an overseas citizenship of India card during a stop in Dubai. The relative added it was a “huge inconvenience” to her trip.
Manchester Airport said it was the airline’s responsibility to check identification.
Emirates apologised saying its “usual high standards were not followed”.
“In this instance, our usual high standards were not followed,” the company said, adding that it was “investigating the incident and will ensure a review of training for the staff involved”.