It’s December 29th and we’re hopping on our last flight of the year! We’ve had some serious highs and lows with all our air travel in 2023, from Flair Airlines moving the departure time eight hours earlier than scheduled without telling us, to upgrading to Business Class on Qatar Airways. In any case, I’m looking forward to not being at the airport for quite some time.
We’re flying from Toronto, to Vancouver, to Auckland, and we’re on the last stretch and we can relax.
We get to the gate early and are some of the first people called to board because we’ve been upgraded to ~*Premium Economy*~. Zone 2, baby.
The flight attendant smiles and scans my boarding pass, but her expression changes and she holds my documents back instead of giving them to me. She tries again and I can see there’s some kind of pop up message on her screen. She asks if I have a New Zealand passport (I do not) and then for proof of my visa, so I pull up the confirmation letter I got after being approved as a resident in July 2022. The actual visa is completely digital, like I don’t have a stamp in my passport. I have five different visas and the immigration people always just *know,* I never have to show anything.
While there’s no actual printed “expiration date” the confirmation letter clearly states the visa is valid for 24 months from my first entry (mid-July 2022) so a bit of quick math says I’m still in the clear until mid-July 2024. I did a bunch of research and even called immigration to double check that I’d be allowed to spend 10 months travelling without lapsing the visa. So please trust me lady, I’m allowed to be here!
Zone 3 now boarding.
She pulls me off to the side and passes me to another coworker to troubleshoot. Apparently the attendant at the check in counter in Toronto input my Canadian passport as a New Zealand one so that’s flagged something and now the system is requiring an expiration date for my visa.
They won’t accept my math or take my word for when I first entered the country on my resident visa so they have to call NZ Immigration for an “override number.”
Zone 4 now boarding.
As they’re on hold waiting for this mysterious magic number, we’re watching alllll the other passengers board the plane, one by one. I’m trying to remain cool about it, but the clock is ticking. With just a few stragglers still showing up from a delayed connection via Montreal, we have to face the fact that NZ may not pick up the phone in time. Chesney asks what will happen if they can’t get this override number, and the attendant looks at us blankly and says “Then you won’t fly today.”
There are a number of issues with this, including our three bags having nowhere to go when they get to the other side. Also, it would mean missing New Year’s Eve, which is more funny-depressing than real-depressing. But would the airline reschedule my flight? Pay to put me up in a hotel room? Or would this be an exception because it’s “out of their control”? As if I knew how to control this. We decide Chesney should get on the plane in any case because he almost definitely won’t get rescheduled for free. It’s insanely hard to just stand here and leave my whole fate in the hands of the two people on either end of this call.
Zone 5 now boarding. But it seems like lots of cheeky passengers from other zones have already gone through before it was their turn because there’s only a handful of people left here.
I‘ve never understood when people on tv throw up from stress but I could def throw up right now.
I’m also starting to question all my own research and I’m thinking maybe my visa actually isn’t valid? Was I not allowed to leave for more than six months? I even called immigration before we planned the trip but I don’t have that in writing.
Final boarding call. We’re the only people still standing at the gate.
They miraculously get through to someone in New Zealand and the flight attendant passes me the phone. APPARENTLY they’d “voided” my visa when I left last February due to an “admin accident.” She assures me my visa is still valid and suggests I speak to immigration when I get back for them to fix it. She’ll give the flight attendant the “override number.”
But I just loveeee the Kiwis. She’s like chattin away super casually and telling me I don’t have to do it right away, just when I have time, no worries, sorry for the inconvenience, and I’m like THANKSYOURTHEBESTGOTTAGOTHEPLANEISLITERALLYLEAVING.
They let us past with 0.01 seconds to spare, we rush down the hall to board the plane, and they close the door behind us. My heart is beating out of my chest and we’re laughing away. Allll the way to New Zealand.