A traveller was left stranded in Thailand after being banned from boarding her flight back to London due to an alleged “small” 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 4 July after airline officials raised an issue with her passport.
Ms Viscomi had been on the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan since April after completing her yoga qualification in India.
While there, she learned more about the practice of yoga while doing volunteer work before deciding to return home to the UK.
I had booked a multi-stop flight from Bangkok to India and Turkey before planning to return to London on July 4.
A yoga teacher was left in tears and stranded in Thailand after she claims she was banned from boarding her flight back to London because of a “small” 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 4 July.
However, upon arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Rosie said she cried when IndiGo Airlines staff denied her entry because of a “one-centimeter” tear on her passport photo page.
He also said he was told his visa had expired, meaning he was currently in the country illegally, although he claimed to have extended his visa just a few days earlier.
Frantic and fearful of being arrested, Rosie has been in contact with Thai immigration and the British embassy to arrange her safe return home, but the process is costing her hundreds of pounds.
Rosie said: ‘When I went to catch my flight on Thursday they said “you’re not going anywhere with that” referring to a small tear in my passport and I said “well it was already like that”.
‘I was told India would not let me in and that I would have to book a direct flight from Bangkok to London.
‘So far I haven’t had any problems with the trip. I already had a tear in my passport when I got here, I don’t know if it’s gotten bigger, it’s not that serious.
‘It’s like an inch on the front page where my picture is. I went to the US and Jamaica with her and it was fine.
‘I missed my flight which cost me around £370. I had to apply for emergency documents and am now praying to be able to get back.
‘I actually have no money left, I haven’t taken this extra expense into account. Immigration says they could charge me £320 on top of the cost of the flight because I overstayed my visa.
Ms Viscomi had been on the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan since April after completing her yoga qualification in India.
The dance and yoga teacher had booked a multi-stop flight from Bangkok to India and Turkey before planning to return to London on July 4, but was unable to do so after
“My 60-day visa for Thailand had expired, so I had to go to the Cambodian border to renew it. Everything was going well, but at the airport I was told that I didn’t have the correct stamps and that I was here illegally.”
Rosie has since spent hundreds of pounds to cover the cost of a new flight and to acquire new emergency travel documents to enable her to travel back home.
She has since booked a new flight from Bangkok to London.
Rosie added: “It was very scary, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I was going to get arrested because I didn’t have the right stamp.”
‘There are so many complications, I was in immigration crying and everyone was saying there was nothing they could do.
‘I thought I had all the right documents for the visa, I didn’t realise I had the wrong stamp, anyway they wouldn’t let me fly because of the tear in my passport.
“I just want to go home. It seems like more and more problems are coming up. It’s very stressful. I never thought a tear would be such a big problem for me. This is all just one more problem and I’m not working right now.”
Rosie’s sister has since launched a fundraising page in an attempt to help pay for the additional travel costs.
An IndiGo Airlines spokesperson said: ‘On 4 July 2024, a foreign national flying on IndiGo flight 6E1054 from Bangkok to Delhi was denied boarding as his passport was found to be damaged.
Rosie has since spent hundreds of pounds to cover the cost of a new flight and to acquire new emergency travel documents to enable her to travel back home.
‘IndiGo followed the guidelines of the regulatory authorities and provided necessary assistance to the customer.
Customers are advised to familiarize themselves with these guidelines, which may vary from country to country.
According to the UK Passport Office website, a passport is considered damaged if “you cannot read any of the details, any of the pages are torn, cut or missing, there are holes, cuts or tears in the cover, the cover is coming off or there are stains on the pages, for example ink or water damage.”
One such example occurred when a British tourist was forced to shell out £1,200 for a replacement flight for her dream holiday to Mexico, after she was blocked from boarding her original TUI plane due to a “slight mark” on her passport.
Laila March, 25, a private tutor from Croydon, south London, thought she was getting a “cheap deal” with TUI for less than £1,000 per person when she booked a week-long holiday to Cancun with her sister Kaemarnie, 21, to celebrate her graduation from university.
However, after arriving at Gatwick Airport on 7 June, Laila was told she could not board the plane because her passport was damaged, despite the fact that she regularly uses it to travel for work and had only just returned from Morocco the previous day.
They arrived at the TUI check-in desk in the North Terminal two hours early, hoping to collect their tickets with plenty of time to relax before their flight.
Laila, who is studying to be a French and Spanish teacher, was told she could not stay.
The passport defect is almost impossible to detect with the naked eye, but TUI has not detected it. One of the security marks (circled) in the top right-hand quarter of the page has a mark running through the centre of it.
Laila said the check-in attendant scanned their passports and was about to hand them their boarding passes when she noticed a small smudge on the top right of their photo page.
“She asked me, ‘What happened to your passport? What is this mark on it?'” Laila said.
‘Apparently there was a small mark on the photo page, but it wasn’t over any of the details and everything was still readable.
‘She called someone who took my passport and disappeared for half an hour, even though I explained that I had flown into this airport yesterday and had travelled many times in the last year.’