I was banned from going on my flight home due to tiny passport issue (2024)

A traveller was left stranded in Thailandafter being barred from her flight back to Londonbecause of an alleged 'tiny' tear in her passport.

Rosie Viscomi, 27, from Norfolk, says she was forced to miss her flight from Bangkok to London via India and Turkey on Thursday July 4 after airline officials raised an issue with her passport.

Ms Viscomi had been staying in the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan since April after completing her yoga qualification in India.

While there, she was learning more about the practice of yoga while undertaking voluntary work before deciding to head home back to the UK.

She had booked a multi-stop flight from Bangkok to India to Turkey before planning to return to London on July 4.

However, upon arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Rosie said she was left crying when she was refused entry by IndiGo Airlines staff due to a 'one centimetre' rip on the photo page in her passport.

She also said she was told that her visa had expired, meaning that she was currently in the country illegally - even though she claimed to have extended her visa just days before.

Frantic and fearful of arrest, Rosie has been liaising with Thai immigration and the British Embassy to arrange her safe return back home - but the process is costing her hundreds of pounds.

Rosie said: 'When I went to go for my flight on Thursday they said ''you're not going anywhere with that'' referring to a small rip in my passport and I said ''well it was already like this''.

'They told me India won't let me in and I need to book a direct flight from Bangkok to London.

'There's been no issues with travelling until now. I had a tear already on my passport when I came here, I'm not sure if it's got any bigger, it's not that bad.

'It's like a centimetre on the main page where my picture is. I went to America and Jamaica with it and it was fine.

'I missed my flight which cost about £370. I've had to apply for emergency documents and am just praying I can get back now.

'I don't actually have any money left - I did not account for this extra expense. Immigration are saying that they could charge me £320 on top of the flight cost because I've overstayed my visa.

'My 60-day visa had ran out for Thailand so I had to go to the Cambodia border to extend my visa. Everything was fine, then at the airport they told me that I didn't get the right stamps and I was here illegally.'

Rosie has since spent hundreds of pounds to cover the cost of a new flight and acquire new emergency travel documents to allow her to travel back home.

Since then, she booked a new flight from Bangkok to London.

Rosie added: 'It's very scary - I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if they were going to arrest me because I didn't have the correct stamp.

'There's so many complications, I was at immigration just crying and everyone kept saying there's nothing they can do.

'I thought I had all the right visa documents - I didn't realise I had the wrong stamp, they wouldn't let me fly anyway because of the tear on the passport.

'I just want to go home - it seems like more and more problems keep arising.. It's really stressful. I never thought a tear would be such a problem for me. This is all just added extra and I'm not working right now.'

Rosie's sister has since launched a fundraising page in an attempt to help pay for the extra travel costs.

An IndiGo Airlines spokesperson said: 'On July 4, 2024, a foreign national, flying on IndiGo flight 6E1054 from Bangkok to Delhi was unable to board, as their passport was found to be damaged.

'IndiGo followed the guidelines by the regulatory authorities and offered requisite assistance to the customer.

'Customers are advised to familiarise themselves with such guidelines, which may differ from country to country.'

According to the UK Passport Office's website, a passport is considered damaged if 'you cannot read any of your details, any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing, there are holes, cuts or rips in the cover, the cover is coming away or there are stains on the pages, for example ink or water damage'.

One such example occurred when a British holidaymaker was forced to shell out £1,200 for a replacement flight to her dream holiday in Mexico - after being blocked from her original TUI plane over a 'slight mark' on her passport.

Laila March, 25, a private tutor from Croydon in south London, thought she was getting a 'cheap deal' with TUI for less than £1,000 per person when she booked a week's holiday to Cancun with her sister Kaemarnie, 21, to celebrate her graduating from university.

However, after arriving at Gatwick Airport on June 7, Laila was told she could not board the plane because her passport was damaged – even though she uses it to travel regularly for work and had just flown back from Morocco the day before.

They arrived at the North Terminal TUI check-in desk two hours early, expecting to collect their tickets with plenty of time to relax before their flight.

Laila said the check-in assistant scanned their passports and was about to hand over their boarding passes when she spotted a small stain in the top right of her picture page.

'She was like, 'What's happened to your passport? What's this mark on it?',' Laila said.

'Apparently there was a slight mark on the photo page, but it wasn't over any of the details and you could still read everything.

'She called someone who took my passport and disappeared for half an hour, even though I explained, I flew into this airport yesterday and have travelled many times in the past year.'