Dad blasted for leaving daughter, 14, in airport to go on holiday after her passport expires

24 February 2020, 11:46

The dad chose to continue with his holiday after learning his daughter's passport had expired while they were at the airport.

A dad has been slammed for abandoning his daughter at the airport after learning that her passport had expired.

He and his wife had been saving for three years to take her and her half siblings siblings - aged nine and 10 - on a family holiday, and the couple chose to follow through with the trip after learning that the teen - who the dad shares from a previous relationship - wouldn't be able to travel.

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Sharing the experience on Reddit, the dad said: "I was horrified to discover that my daughter's passport was going to expire two months later… she couldn't get on the flight.

"My ex-wife had told me that the passport had a valid expiry date. She said there was still a year left - she even gave me the date to use when I was buying tickets.”

The dad learnt that most airlines won't let you fly without six months left on your passport, and he added that he made the difficult decision to continue with the holiday.

He said: “After debating it a lot, I made the decision to go ahead with the trip and have my father take my daughter home,” he said.“I originally wanted to stay behind as well but at that point, my wife wanted to cancel the trip because she wouldn't be able to handle travelling overseas alone with two kids for the first time.

"It was a lot of money that was not refundable, so I made the decision to go.”

He revealed that she was devastated to be left behind, and had to return home in floods of tears. The dad also claimed that his daughter has refused to talk to him, and that she is being bullied at school by students that think she lied about the holiday.

The dad added: "I'm absolutely gutted. Only my younger kids actually enjoyed the trip - and my wife and I are extremely upset that my daughter isn't talking to us."

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He then asked Reddit: “I thought at the time I was making a decision that was best for the majority. But now I'm thinking that I made the wrong choice. Was I the a**hole?”

Many commenters blasted the dad for his decision, with one writing: "She's 14. All she knows is that Dad and his new family left her at the airport."

Another added: "Losing thousands of dollars and missing a big holiday would be totally worth it to me to have ALL my kids with me, and not leaving one behind."

A third wrote: "Are you going to recoup your money? No, but there is also no coming back from this with the daughter either."

However, some people blamed his ex-wife for giving the wrong expiry date, with one writing: “I feel she sabotaged it purposefully… after giving him a 'date'. The daughter is owed a holiday by her mum. I hope she enjoyed the tears she caused when her daughter showed up heartbroken. Who does that?

"Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I suspect ex-wife engineered this to make dad look bad.”