Fact Check: Edited Photo of Boarding Pass to Bangkok Falsely Linked to Rahul Gandhi
Claim: A photo of Vistara Airline boarding pass to Bangkok, Thailand showing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's name as a passenger is going viral on the internet.
The users are claiming that Gandhi will be flying out of India the day after the Lok Sabha election results are announced.
What's the truth?: This is an edited photo, the original photo does not show Gandhi's name on the boarding pass.
Plus, the original version also shows that this boarding pass was for a flight to Singapore on 6 August 2019.
How did we find out the truth?: We noticed that the boarding pass listed two different flight numbers - 'UK121' and 'UK115'.
We checked Vistara Airlines' website and learned that UK121 is a flight from New Delhi to Bangkok, and UK151 is a flight from New Delhi to Singapore.
This is an edited photo, the original boarding pass is for Singapore and does not show Gandhi's name on it.
Next, we performed a reverse image search on the viral image which led us to a website called 'Live from a Lounge'.
This was a review of Vistara's international flight to Singapore and was published on 7 August 2019.
It also carried the original version of the boarding pass.
These were the changes made in the viral photo:
- It mentioned the flight number as 'UK121' and the destination as Singapore.
- The passenger's name was Ajay Awtaney and not Rahul Gandhi.
- The date of departure was 5 August 2019 and not 5 June 2024.
However, we also noticed the similarities in the timings, sequence number, gate and even the thumb and background of the image.
We also reached out to Awtaney who confirmed that this viral photo is indeed an edited one and that the original boarding pass showed his name and not Gandhi's.
Conclusion: An edited and old photo of a boarding pass is going viral to claim that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will flee from India after the election results.
The fact check was first published by The Quint and republished by Deccan Chronicle as part of Shakti Collective.
