Laundered Passport

Managed to wash my passport last night. I am a chump.

It has survived, though the two inner pages have lifted from the cover and a lot of the visa stamps have run (though are still legible).

The main page has survived though is now a bit creased and is more see through than it should be.

Anyone successfully travelled with a washed passport? I’m due to head to Thailand on Friday night, so guess I’ll find out myself then.

Your sympathy & derision is welcome (I would prefer sympathy).

I’ve washed mine not once, but twice… It’s really clean now though! It’s also had a dunk in the sea in Bali and got a soaking on a motorbike in NZ. I stuck the inside pages back down again, but they didn’t stay. Since then I’ve flown on it to Thailand, Greece, Hungary, Spain (x3) and numerous trips to UAE. No issues.

That’s reassuring, thanks fourbanger!

Is yours one of the new ones with the Biometric chip inside of it???

No, it’s one of the older paper only versions.

I wouldn’t risk travelling with it and getting refused entry. I would go to a passport office and get a new one; it can be done in a few hours and the service is first class. You just need to plan for a day out in Liverpool or wherever.

Some airlines won’t let you fly. If they do, they may make you sign a waiver to say that you are liable for any charges if you are refused entry at your destination.

globalti: I would if I could, but currently in Singapore and the quickest they can get me a new passport is 4 weeks and I have to supply my old passport.

I can get an emergency travel document but they’re £100 a pop and I can only have 2 a year. I need to visit 3 countries in the next 3 weeks.

It’s dried out now and not looking too bad. Going to chance my arm for the Thai trip and then probably apply for a new one next week and make use of emergency travel docs for the other trips.

Well try ironing it; that will flatten it out and make it look better. Don’t iron the page with plastic film, obviously.

What has the airline said?

i washed my passport last year with a seriously unobtainiam visa for a small west african country that wont reissue the visa ….

been traveling on it since – put it inside a book big flat book and put weight on it !

BUT you have never seen someones bum twitch so much entering a country as mine was when i went to EG as every other stamp in the passport other than the visa was washed out – including the one that said id been to eg to get the visa …..you cant get them at an embassy being a british citizen.

mines didnt have pages coming out of it though !

i have a second one now and my first will be returned in 6 months or so to give me some over lap on them !

airline will Cover their ass and say no danger you can fly …. keep schtum if you intend to chance it – that was my advice from the travel deptment on it given that i did it the day before travel and had this visa in it

probably not the best course of action given the repercussions if it had gone wrong…..

It’ll be fine, I did my last one in by some horseplay arse chucking my kit bag in the briny, full kit n all & my wallet.. “One was not amused” , I kid you not.. Thought it totally ruined but a few hours drying in the sun and while damp(ish) flattened it with a few sailbags.. Was fine for 4 more years until last years replacement (the one with the chip in it now)

I used my washed passport to cross the channel on a ferry. Duane guy looked at me in a weary way and said “washing machine”? I said yes. He waved me on.

I think I might get it changed if I thought I might fly again.

I might pop to the airport on the way home and have a word with the airline.

I think I’m going to chance the weekend trip. It’s drying out nicely and apart from a couple of pages where entry/exit stamps have really run it’s not looking too bad. Fingers crossed.

Will update this thread with how I get on on Friday, hopefully from the right side of Thai immigration. 😀

I was living in Singapore when it happened coincidentally. My prediction is you will hear “cannot” a lot if you ask the airline!

I did the same thing, was ok travelling in the UK, had problems in Amsterdam & Denmark. Going anyfurther I wouldn’t risk it.

oddly only place ive ever been picked up on the fact was in holland where the passport control said did you wash this and i said yeah and he waved me through …..

thats after several trips back to west africa on the washed visa , a couple trips stateside – houston phoenix and california and about 4 trips to holland before i got picked up on it once

You can be sure that if you were an African trying to get into the UK with a washed passport, you would be turned back….

I was living in Singapore when it happened coincidentally. My prediction is you will hear “cannot” a lot if you ask the airline!

I’m hoping for “Can lah, board already”.

There’s been a top bit of Singlish stickering recently

LOL. oh how I miss it!

“one big round”

LOL @ “one big round”.

All went well with the passport in the end. No one so much as raised an eyebrow apart from the Thai immigration officer on the way out of Thailand; he just asked me if I’d washed it and chuckled.

I think I’ll risk it this weekend too and then send off for a replacement.

Good work, fortune favours the brave and all that.

I travelled with a laundered passport for a year or so until I noticed that the photo was starting to come away. It was free on 2 edges, the paper had swelled from the wash, creating ridges at edge of the photo which wore through. Thought best to replace after I saw that!