A Denver family was supposed to be in Belize this week enjoying a beach getaway with their loved ones.
Instead, they’re in a hotel room in Dallas, TX because an American Airlines official there claimed they had a mutilated passport.
“We started at Denver International Airport, where we checked in and all our passports were checked very thoroughly,” said Kyle Gosnell.
Gosnell, his wife Dana, and their young son, Kye, received boarding passes all the way through to Belize City.
But in Dallas, they hit a roadblock. “They took a look at our passports and said that my passport was mutilated, therefore I wasn’t able to fly,” Gosnell said.
Little Kye’s passport has a crease on the back cover, which Gosnell says came from him accidentally sitting on the passport.
His passport was questioned, but not denied. It was Kyle Gosnell’s that was the real problem. It has a small crease on the back cover, and is overall weathered and worn.
While some travelers may consider that a badge of honor, of sorts, the government doesn’t.
Ray Priest, owner of International Passport Visas in Denver, said your passport isn’t actually yours at all; it belongs to the US government.
“To have a passport is privilege, it’s not entitled to you by citizenship,” Priest said. He said the issue may be with a microchip embedded in the back of all new passports.