29-05-2025
I landed in China and wasn't allowed to leave the airport after making a shock discovery in my bag... 18 hours later I was on a flight home to Australia
A young woman has shared her horror experience after being stranded in an airport in China for 18 hours and then flying back to Australia because she lost her passport.
Maddi Healey's passport went missing on a flight from Sydney to Guangzhou earlier this month as she was embarking on her dream holiday.
Her and a friend were looking forward to visiting the world famous Great Wall of China but she didn't get out of the airport.
Her holiday was over after she couldn't find her passport when she got to the customs desk.
'We turned the bag inside out and searched my friend's bag. It was not there,' she told Yahoo.
'I then noticed a decent-sized rip in the top of my backpack that was not there before leaving for China.
'Something didn't feel right. By this point, my friend and I had to make the tough decision as to whether or not she would continue the trip solo in the hope that I would recover my passport and meet up with her. We said our goodbyes.'
The 20-year-old was then forced to wait for 18 hours without internet or power access.
She said she was given very little information on what would happen to her and the Australian embassy couldn't help because she hadn't gone through customs.
'About seven hours in a lovely man who was working at the international desk came over and offered his help. He sat with me and booked me a ticket back to Sydney. I ended up paying $660,' Maddi said.
'I believe that if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have gotten home the way I did and in such a timely manner. I was in complete despair, filled with fear and frustration.'
Maddi told fellow Aussie travellers to keep their passports 'strapped to you at all times'.
'Don't assume everyone has the same level of respect for your belongings. Have all your documents photographed and saved in your phone,' she said.
'I was extremely disheartened that I was missing out on a trip that I had dreamt of for years.'
Maddi also said there needed to be more services to help Aussies who are not yet in a country, but have left the plane.
'Being unable to be helped by the embassy due to a matter of metres is really hard. I hope no one else has to experience this during their travels,' she said.
There has been a substantial increase in the number of Australian passports stolen, with 1,942 reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade between 2023 and 2024.
It was a 28 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
In December, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) released its 2023-24 Consular State of Play report, which showed how many Aussies needed consular assistance and crisis support overseas.
DFAT responded to 9,067 consular assistance cases over the period which was a seven per cent increase from the previous year.
The country where Australians needed the most hekp overseas was Thailand, with 827 consular cases. China recorded 309 cases.
