When traveling abroad, you need to pay attention to the validity of your passport.

When traveling abroad, you need to pay attention to the validity of your passport.

Mr. Jiang's family of five set off from Beijing for a trip to Bali. When they transited in Hong Kong, a child's passport was refused boarding by the airline because it was invalid for half a year, and there was a dispute between the two sides. Recently, Mr. and Mrs. Jiang sued Hong Kong Airlines Limited to the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing, claiming more than 900,000 yuan. Mr. Jiang doesn't understand: if there is something wrong with his passport, why did the same port and shipping company let him board the plane when he left Beijing, and he changed his boarding pass from Hong Kong to Bali? The reporter learned from the Chaoyang court in the morning that the court has accepted the case.

Passport less than 6 months refused to board the plane.

According to the lawsuit of Jiang and his wife, their family of five planned to spend a week in Bali, Indonesia in early February of 65438 last year, so they booked a round-trip ticket from Beijing to Bali by Hong Kong Airlines Co., Ltd. and transited through Hong Kong on the way. At the same time, I booked a hotel and paid the room fee in advance.

As Bali can apply for a visa on arrival, there is no need to apply for a visa in advance. On the morning of February 26th, 65438, five of them took a flight at Beijing Capital International Airport and checked in at the defendant's port and shipping counter. According to Mr. Jiang, the staff of Hong Kong Airlines carefully inquired about the destination of their family of five, checked everyone's passports, and then applied for boarding passes for two flights from Beijing to Hong Kong and then from Hong Kong to Bali. Baggage is checked directly to Denpasar Airport in Bali.

After the plane arrived at Hong Kong Airport, they waited for boarding again in the transfer area.

Mr. Jiang told reporters that at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, they began to queue up for boarding. When we arrived at the front desk of the boarding gate, the staff of Hong Kong Airlines thought that one of the five of them was a nine-year-old child whose passport was valid for less than six months, so they refused to board the plane.

Mr. Jiang explained to the staff of Hong Kong Airlines that the children's passports were still valid for three months, and they only went to Bali for one week. And they have round-trip tickets for Hong Kong Airlines. If the Indonesian government refuses to enter the country because of passport problems, they are responsible for it themselves. However, ports and shipping companies still refuse to board the plane.

Mr. Jiang said that the port staff later detained their passports, and he had an argument with the other staff to get them back. Later, the port staff reported to the police that Mr. Jiang had pushed their staff. Mr. Jiang's holiday plan was not only dashed, but also Mr. Jiang himself was detained by the local police.

Robbery of passport was convicted of common assault.

Mr. Jiang told reporters that he was later sued and went to Hong Kong three times to accept the charges, and paid nearly 400,000 legal fees for this. On April 2 this year, the Tsuen Wan Magistracy in Hong Kong sentenced him to "ordinary injury". However, due to the minor circumstances, the court did not punish him, but sentenced him to "unconditional release."

Mr. Jiang told reporters that he just wanted to get his passport back, and he didn't do anything drastic, and his wife was pushed to the ground by the port staff in the dispute.

However, according to the ruling of Tsuen Wan Magistracy, an employee of Hong Kong Airlines was also arrested on suspicion of attacking Mr. Jiang's wife, but in the end, the police did not prosecute her. The magistrate of Tsuen Wan Magistrate's Court compared the surveillance video and thought that Mr. Jiang's wife might be picking up something that had fallen. At the same time, it is considered that Mr. Jiang's "forcibly taking back his passport" constitutes an attack. At the same time, the ruling holds that the airline ground crew has the responsibility to verify the identity of passengers before boarding.

Mr. Jiang refused to accept the appeal and appealed to the Court of First Instance of the High Court of Hong Kong.

Why did Beijing refuse to board the plane in Hong Kong?

Now Mr. Jiang is suing Hong Kong Airlines Limited to the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing, where the Beijing representative office of Hong Kong Airlines Limited is located.

Mr. Jiang believes that they showed their passports at Beijing Capital International Airport and were allowed to board by Hong Kong Airlines. However, when they transferred to Hong Kong, they were refused boarding because a child's passport was invalid for a long time. "These two routes are the same airline. If there is something wrong with your passport, you should bring it up when you change your boarding pass at Beijing airport. Why don't you let me board the plane when I transfer to Hong Kong? "

Mr. Jiang believes that even if there are problems, the defendant, as an operator, has the obligation to actively assist in solving them, provide necessary explanations and convenience, and properly handle differences. The defendant has no right to detain the passenger's passport. It is precisely because of the mistakes and improper practices in port and shipping that the subsequent disputes occurred, which caused him serious economic losses and mental injuries.

Mr. and Mrs. Jiang demanded that the defendant compensate for economic losses totaling more than RMB 370,000; The lost time is 6.5438 yuan +0.44 million yuan; Compensation for mental damage is 200,000 yuan each; At the same time apologize to both of them.

Please pay attention to the validity of your passport when traveling.

The reporter learned from a travel agency that in many countries, in order to avoid the situation that foreign tourists are stranded in their home countries because their passports have expired, the validity period of foreigners' passports required to enter the country must be more than six months. If this condition is not met, tourists may be repatriated by the destination country, and airlines will be responsible for transporting tourists back. Therefore, some airlines will refuse passengers to board the plane.

This statement has also been confirmed by an industry insider. Mr. Wang, an employee of an airline in China, told the reporter that once a passenger is repatriated by the destination country due to passport problems, the airline must unconditionally pay the fee in advance to transport him back to China. "Although airlines can ask passengers to pay this freight afterwards, they usually don't come back and have no legal support."

Mr. Wang analyzed that in the case of Mr. Jiang's children, ordinary airlines should prevent them from boarding when they check in at Beijing Airport. It may be that the check-in staff at that time did not see the passport problem, which led to a dispute in Hong Kong.

The reporter learned that the Indonesian government stipulates that those whose passports are valid for less than half a year during the whole tourism activities in Bali will be prohibited from entering the country. At the end of 20 1 1, a family of four from Guangdong participated in a five-day tour of Bali in early 20 12. When I checked in at the Hong Kong airport, I was told that my child's passport would be invalid within six months and was refused to check in. Mr. Li later complained to the Consumer Association about the travel agency.

Last year, a China tourist who planned to travel to Bali was prevented from entering the country by the Indonesian side because his passport was not valid for six months, and was repatriated by the original plane.

On the crime of ordinary injury

Hong Kong is an Anglo-American legal system area, which is different from the continental legal system. According to the laws of Hong Kong, the crime of non-fatal assault can be roughly divided into three levels: minor, serious (such as attacking others to cause physical injury) and very serious (such as causing serious injury).

Ordinary assault is the smallest assault crime. If the defendant's behavior will make the other party worry that he may be attacked at any time, then he has committed a crime and there is no need to cause actual injury or physical contact.

The maximum penalty for ordinary assault is 1 year imprisonment, but generally speaking, if the defendant pleads guilty, the Department of Justice can still apply to the court for the defendant to sign a conservative act according to the seriousness of the case, or even not to make a prosecution and leave no criminal record. Reporter Zhang Lei J009

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