LunaAtlas
23103
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Three women returning from South Korea faced delays at a Chinese airport after recent cosmetic procedures left their faces swollen and bandaged. Facial recognition systems couldn’t match them to their passport photos, prompting extra identity checks before they were allowed to board.
The incident sheds light on a quirky side of medical tourism—post-surgery recovery can unexpectedly complicate travel and airport procedures.
Rogeee
Instead of using AI to write your description, just leave it blank.
HamDangler7TheLuckOfTheDangle
AreWeNotDoingPhrasingNow
RecurringNightmare
easily avoidable issue if you tell your embassy/consulate beforehand so they can arrange for you to get some extra documentation...or have a longer stay for your face to heal and renew documents abroad once you can take new photos...so stupid...
Kilo11
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1bmN0ZTVtOHkwM2F5NWlxNGFmNXB2YzdiajIwdjNwbjY1bHI4NDExaiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/wR7LHlfuRUjHW/200w.webp
seenunseen
Just beware of liposuction on your knee, it's a killer
S3rginho
majortool
super real
BaldShaun
This happened 9 years ago. Not really an issue anymore because China and South Korea both have biometric information stored on their passports. They actually started putting biometric date on new passports before this happened, but these women could've still had old passports at that time.
Davedavedavedavedave
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1eTk2ZTF6cnlrZnA2bmlpa29nNWJlcnRkcTkwbW52YXJqOTc5cHR4YyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/11cKPoeKLzuAeI/200w.webp
Bimboptop
The incident sheds light on a quirky side of our modern surveillance society
johnblood616
Hahahaha
steelundecided
Anyone seen Brazil? Doctor said there could be some swelling...
CorgisButtsDriveMeNuts
Apparently dystopian society we live in is not dystopian enough.
CALAMOSCOPYJANE
I had to get a deviated septum fixed a couple of years ago, and it hurt so much afterwards I could barely function. I cannot imagine travelling in that state. Torture.
Goodmerlinpeen
"prompting extra identity checks before they were allowed to board" does not equal "stranded"
FlatPlutoSociety
Yeah, I guess "Plastic surgery tourists have to complete a little extra paperwork" doesn't make for as good a headline.
IliveIdyeIliveagain
They should put each other's face on surgery. Problem solved, you're welcome
Mindlessselfindulgent
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1YXpvajRrMnZocTQ0ajgwdjhubnJic3A1djZ5dzVrbWZ4M2hhYWk0byZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/hwZ51FKy98qv6/200w.webp
AdroitCudgel
Can't make this shit up...
Nuppiz
Some clinics actually give you paperwork to avoid this exact issue
zzz777
'Legitimate' clinics offer proper paperwork.
LeekofLegend
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FUCK RICH PEOPLE
draginator
If they were rich they'd probably just do it in their own country
FiftyShadesOfCauliflower
Yeah, facial surgeons in Korea are said to have unparalleled experience and expertise. These are middle class people on a budget.
Whatdoyousaytoanicecupoftea
Thats a lot of lip
Targe0
A lot of it will be localised swelling due to their procedures.
Whatdoyousaytoanicecupoftea
Its their surname
LicensedAdHominem
>What do they expect?
What the fuck did you expect they expected?
LunaAtlas
LicensedAdHominem
You're assuming they didn't expect the extra security checks. As if they weren't ready for this. Like it surprised them, because they're so dumb.
But you're the dumbass. You didn't even understand what I've said. It's not even complicated and you act flabbergasted. What the fuck is wrong with you?
LunaAtlas
OutlawGerman
I know people who attend the yearly Star Trek convention cruise which is like a week-long. There's an extremely strict rule that you're absolutely fucking not allowed to leave the ship in cosplay. Even though they have tv set level artists and makeup teams on board you can pay thousands to remain as your character the entire cruise... if you wanna leave the ship to a port? Has to come off for this exact reason.
Colopty
The Star Trek fandom has a freaking in character cruise convention? Damn, that's high level.
rolliefingers
Curious.
WolvesAreTheBestPeople
This is a “Disney Lawyer” rule. There must be something that happened.
Elsoyyo
It's the Prime Directive?
bitemark
These cultures aren't ready for advanced cosplay, it could ruin their whole society
RacecarIsRacecarBackwards
I always wonder why people go on cruises without really leaving the ship. You could just go to a random all-inclusive hotel then.
OutlawGerman
The vibe. A cruise is a lot more social kind of environment then a resort usually
ChelVanin
Wait I know this rule. Something about exposing primitive cultures to stuff they’re not ready for yada yada
DarthWaiterSE
*nods* Galveston.
TheDreadPirateMontoya
Galvatron?
InitHello
Yeah, I think it's called the initial law, or the first rule, or something like that.
MrPappagiorgioFromYuma
I believe it’s the prime meridian.
WorkerLurker
Didn’t Robin Hood have a thing for her?
TheDreadPirateMontoya
Nah, that's Maid Marion. He's taking about the leader of the Autobots.
DYLANLEE79
Fingerprints should be a pretty easy way to id.
Mindlessselfindulgent
Luckily Passports don't have that feature.
You talking about criminal records?
prettyprettygood
Of course they do. At least all the European ones that are biometric and equipped with an RFID chip
Mindlessselfindulgent
My bad, forgot that. Been a while since i got my passport and i don't really travel outside of the EU.
PlanetLXI
Many countries have biometrics in their passport. Mine does. Just one fingerprint though, but it makes it easy to verify who I am.
RecurringNightmare
lots of countries have fingerprints stored in the passport, some mandatorily, some voluntarily...
Skyff
Uhh, modern passports have biometrics. You get your prints taken at the passport appointment and the information is stored on a chip along with facial recognition data.
squirrelgirl86
They absolutely do not get your prints when you get a US Passport.
VictusVonGuyver
Hence the extra security checks that delayed them.
Targe0
Not all countries have adopted those practices yet.
BaldShaun
Yeah, but China and South Korea both did over a decade ago. Which checks out, because this story is nearly a decade old: https://www.the-independent.com/travel/news-and-advice/women-turned-away-flight-south-korea-plastic-surgery-passport-photo-airport-refuse-boarding-a7992106.html
Skyff
Yes, it's true not all countries have modern passports. Although most countries that don't have them are small island nations. There are also some developing nations that still don't have them, although the list is getting smaller by the year, e.g. the largest countries on this 2023 list in Ethiopia, Egypt and South Africa have introduced them now. I think the most populous country to not have them is Myanmar. https://calctopia.com/countries-without-biometric-identity-documents/
Targe0
And Myanmar has been in a civil war for a number of years now.
So their passports could have been rendered irrelevant depending on how the state held together during the conflict.
Skyff
Faroe Islands shouldn't be on the list since they have Danish passports (well a version of them) and those are biometric if you get a new one. I'm not sure if there are other mistakes like that in the list.
Of course, old passports are still valid in most places and not everyone will have had those replaced with biometric passports yet. But clearly saying "luckily passports don't have those" is very wrong, which is what I was replying to.