Fact Check: Did Rahul Gandhi book tickets to Bangkok in time for poll results?

Hyderabad: Amid the anticipation for the 2024 Lok Sabha election results on June 4, photos of plane tickets allegedly showing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi flying to Bangkok have gone viral.

Two tickets—one for Vistara and the other for Thai Airways—each allegedly bearing Gandhi’s name are being shared separately from multiple accounts.

The first claim is an image of a boarding pass for a Vistara flight from India to Bangkok with Rahul Gandhi’s name. It is scheduled for departure on June 5, 2024, a day following the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results. The ticket is for business class.

An X user shared the photo with a caption, “Rahul Gandhi goes to Bangkok on 5th June. Why? Tickets wr already booked... Why? Isn’t it strange???, (sic)” tagging BJP India’s X profile. ( Archive )

Another X user also shared the same photo on June 1, with the caption, “You are leaving for Bangkok on 5th June, 2024, isn’t it? Then please let the Nation know Who will participate in the oath ceremony of Modi ji as 3rd term Prime Minister of Bharat from I N D I Alliance? (sic)” ( Archive )

Second ticket

The second claim is also the image of a flight ticket from Thai Airways displaying departure from Delhi and arrival in Bangkok, scheduled for May 31. Here, it is an economy class ticket with the image of a meme frog on the side named ‘Tinda Singh’.

An X user shared the photo with the caption “Exclusive Photo of Boarding Pass of Rahul Gandhi…flying to Bangkok (Pattaya). (sic)” ( Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claims are false as the photos of the tickets are fake/fabricated.

To begin with, the fact that two different tickets show Rahul Gandhi travelling to Pattaya on different dates raises suspicions. Here’s a detailed analysis of both tickets.

Analysis of the first ticket

We conducted a detailed examination of the purported Vistara flight boarding pass for Rahul Gandhi. Upon close inspection, we found that the flight number was inconsistent, appearing as ‘UK121’ in one place and ‘UK115’ in another, hinting that the image was manipulated.

A reverse image search of the viral photo led us to the source of the image; an article on the ‘Live From A Lounge’ blog dated August 9, 2019.

Here is a comparison between the viral image and the original photograph featured in the 2019 article.

We are currently attempting to reach the rightful owner of the boarding pass, Ajay Awtaney for further confirmation. The story will be updated as and when they respond.

Analysis of the second ticket

NewsMeter’s analysis showed that the Thai Airways ticket for ‘Rahul M Gandhi’ is also fake. The meme sticker on the ticket was an indication that the image was digitally altered.

We found more digital manipulations. The ticket shows the destination airport as Pattaya/BNK. However, Pattaya does not have its own airport.

The closest airports to Pattaya are U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport (UTP) and Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) in Bangkok. Also, the airport code ‘BNK’ is Bankstown Airport in Sydney, Australia. Therefore, the format ‘Pattaya/BNK’ is incorrect and fabricated.

Then, doing a reverse image search of the image, led us to its source. We found the original in an article titled ‘Review of Thai Airways Flight Bangkok → Kolkata in Economy,’ on the Flight-Report website from January 28, 2020.

The article was written by Jish B and contains the airline’s review, rankings and a personal blog-style narrative. The original boarding pass from this article was issued for a flight on August 10 from Bangkok (BKK) to Kolkata (CCU). The image of the meme frog was digitally added to the original to hide the flight details.