A viral post claiming that Rahul Gandhi is going to Bangkok after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results is being widely shared on social media. As proof of this argument, a Vistara Airlines Boarding Pass to Bangkok in the name of Rahul Gandhi is also being shared (here and here). This boarding pass is for a flight booked for the next day of the election results, i.e., 05 June 2024. We fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Viral photo shows a Vistara Airlines boarding pass to Bangkok, dated 05 June 2024, in the name of Rahul Gandhi.
Fact: So far, there are no reports of Rahul Gandhi going abroad after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results. The boarding pass that is currently being shared is of a person named Ajay Avatani for his journey from Delhi to Singapore in 2019. It was digitally edited to include Rahul Gandhi’s name and the date/flight details. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
Firstly, there are no credible news reports of Rahul Gandhi going abroad after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results. Looking at this boarding pass, one can notice two different flight numbers (UK121 & UK115). This suggests that the boarding pass shared in Rahul Gandhi’s name has been digitally edited.
To learn more about the viral boarding pass, we performed a reverse image search of this viral photo, revealing that a ticket with similar details was published on 07 August 2019 by a website called ‘Live From A Lounge.’ This ticket was shared along with a review of a trip to Singapore on a Vistara Airlines flight.
According to this article, the ticket belongs to Ajay Avatani, who travelled from Delhi to Singapore on 06 August 2019. When we compared this ticket with the ticket currently being shared under the name of Rahul Gandhi, it was clear that Ajay’s ticket had been digitally edited, and Rahul Gandhi’s name, along with the date/flight details, had been added to it.
To sum up, a digitally edited boarding pass is shared with a false claim that Rahul Gandhi is going to Bangkok the day after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results.
