A traveller was left stranded in Thailand after being barred from her flight again to London due to an alleged ‘tiny’ tear in her passport.
Rosie Viscomi, 27, from Norfolk, says she was compelled to overlook her flight from Bangkok to London through India and Turkey on Thursday July 4 after airline officers raised a difficulty together with her passport.
Ms Viscomi had been staying within the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan since April after finishing her yoga qualification in India.
Whereas there, she was studying extra in regards to the follow of yoga whereas enterprise voluntary work earlier than deciding to move house again to the UK.
She had booked a multi-stop flight from Bangkok to India to Turkey earlier than planning to return to London on July 4.
A yoga instructor was left in tears and stranded in Thailand when she claims she was barred from her flight again to London due to a ‘tiny’ tear in her passport
Rosie Viscomi, 27, from Norfolk, says she was compelled to overlook her flight from Bangkok to London through India and Turkey on Thursday July 4
Nonetheless, upon arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Rosie mentioned she was left crying when she was refused entry by IndiGo Airways employees because of a ‘one centimetre’ rip on the picture web page in her passport.
She additionally mentioned she was advised that her visa had expired, that means that she was at the moment within the nation illegally – though she claimed to have prolonged her visa simply days earlier than.
Frantic and terrified of arrest, Rosie has been liaising with Thai immigration and the British Embassy to rearrange her secure return again house – however the course of is costing her a whole lot of kilos.
Rosie mentioned: ‘Once I went to go for my flight on Thursday they mentioned ”you are not going wherever with that” referring to a small rip in my passport and I mentioned ”effectively it was already like this”.
‘They advised me India will not let me in and I must e book a direct flight from Bangkok to London.
‘There’s been no points with travelling till now. I had a tear already on my passport after I got here right here, I am unsure if it is obtained any larger, it isn’t that unhealthy.
‘It is like a centimetre on the principle web page the place my image is. I went to America and Jamaica with it and it was nice.
‘I missed my flight which value about £370. I’ve needed to apply for emergency paperwork and am simply praying I can get again now.
‘I do not even have any cash left – I didn’t account for this further expense. Immigration are saying that they might cost me £320 on high of the flight value as a result of I’ve overstayed my visa.
Ms Viscomi had been staying within the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan since April after finishing her yoga qualification in India
The dance and yoga instructor had booked a multi-stop flight from Bangkok to India to Turkey earlier than planning to return to London on July 4 however was unable to take action after
‘My 60-day visa had ran out for Thailand so I needed to go to the Cambodia border to increase my visa. Every little thing was nice, then on the airport they advised me that I did not get the suitable stamps and I used to be right here illegally.’
Rosie has since spent a whole lot of kilos to cowl the price of a brand new flight and purchase new emergency journey paperwork to permit her to journey again house.
Since then, she booked a brand new flight from Bangkok to London.
Rosie added: ‘It’s totally scary – I did not know what to do. I did not know in the event that they have been going to arrest me as a result of I did not have the proper stamp.
‘There’s so many issues, I used to be at immigration simply crying and everybody stored saying there’s nothing they will do.
‘I assumed I had all the suitable visa paperwork – I did not realise I had the unsuitable stamp, they would not let me fly anyway due to the tear on the passport.
‘I simply need to go house – it looks like an increasing number of issues preserve arising.. It is actually hectic. I by no means thought a tear can be such an issue for me. That is all simply added further and I am not working proper now.’
Rosie’s sister has since launched a fundraising web page in an try to assist pay for the additional journey prices.
An IndiGo Airways spokesperson mentioned: ‘On July 4, 2024, a international nationwide, flying on IndiGo flight 6E1054 from Bangkok to Delhi was unable to board, as their passport was discovered to be broken.
Rosie has since spent a whole lot of kilos to cowl the price of a brand new flight and purchase new emergency journey paperwork to permit her to journey again house
‘IndiGo adopted the rules by the regulatory authorities and supplied requisite help to the shopper.
‘Prospects are suggested to familiarise themselves with such pointers, which can differ from nation to nation.’
In line with the UK Passport Workplace’s web site, a passport is taken into account broken if ‘you can’t learn any of your particulars, any of the pages are ripped, minimize or lacking, there are holes, cuts or rips within the cowl, the duvet is coming away or there are stains on the pages, for instance ink or water harm’.
One such instance occurred when a British holidaymaker was compelled to shell out £1,200 for a alternative flight to her dream vacation in Mexico – after being blocked from her unique TUI aircraft over a ‘slight mark’ on her passport.
Laila March, 25, a personal tutor from Croydon in south London, thought she was getting a ‘low-cost deal’ with TUI for lower than £1,000 per particular person when she booked every week’s vacation to Cancun together with her sister Kaemarnie, 21, to rejoice her graduating from college.
Nonetheless, after arriving at Gatwick Airport on June 7, Laila was advised she couldn’t board the aircraft as a result of her passport was broken – though she makes use of it to journey often for work and had simply flown again from Morocco the day earlier than.
They arrived on the North Terminal TUI check-in desk two hours early, anticipating to gather their tickets with loads of time to chill out earlier than their flight.
Laila, who’s finding out to turn into a French and Spanish instructor, was advised she couldn’t board
The flaw within the passport is sort of inconceivable to see with the bare eye, however didn’t get previous TUI. One of many safety markings (circled) within the high proper quarter of the web page has obtained a mark going via the centre of it.
Laila mentioned the check-in assistant scanned their passports and was about at hand over their boarding passes when she noticed a small stain within the high proper of her image web page.
‘She was like, ‘What’s occurred to your passport? What’s this mark on it?’,’ Laila mentioned.
‘Apparently there was a slight mark on the picture web page, nevertheless it wasn’t over any of the small print and you would nonetheless learn every little thing.
‘She known as somebody who took my passport and disappeared for half an hour, though I defined, I flew into this airport yesterday and have travelled many instances prior to now 12 months.’
