how worn out is your passport?

[truffledog]

Today I was denied boarding an AA flight from PP to BKK with flythrough to Hatyai. The guy at the check-in counter (drop off baggage) checked as usual my passport (5y old) and complained a small fracture (2cm) of the main page. This was the result of the airlines always striping my passport through the keyboard reader many times recently..small tear gets bigger the more you fly. The italian passport is just not up for such a treatment as the main page is very thin and not plastified/hard like that of many other countries. I dropped my luggage, got my boarding passes and the guy (from AA) told me to wait for the final decision at the gate as he could not guarantee boarding at this time.

Shortly before boarding the supervisor(from AA) approached me and got me the bad news.NO FLY. I thought it was joke but they insisted on it. After a long discussion they proposed to send a photo of my passport to Thai Immigration in DMK for confirmation of boarding. A few minutes later I was told that the Thai Immigration at DMK had denied my entry due to the small issue. I will never know if they really did that as I dont believe that the lines of communication work that fast between.

Well my luggage was unloaded,I was lead backwards through immigration and my exit stamp was "cancelled". Unfortunately it was my last day on the current one month E-type visa.

So I went to the immigration department next to the airport to extend it. I was told that it would take a week and they would keep my passport. I said I could not leave it there as I would try to get a new one at any of the EU embassies in PP and would surely need the original one to accomplish that.

As Italy has no embassy or consulate here i called the honorary consul of Italy in Cambodia. He directed me to the french embassy and told me to get a "laisser_passer" document which would allow me to enter Thailand (for how many days??) and get a new passport there. 65US $ for that.

After receiving the laisser-passer document I will have to visit the Thai embassy in PP to get a "visa" for Thailand even if italian PP holders usually get free 30 days VOA exemption if flying in. No idea what type of visa I will have to apply for and how many days it will take to get. And while doing so the fees for overstaying in Cambodia are mounting up as I have no chance to get an extension of the cambodian visa at the moment. I hope to get out of this nightmare as soon as possible.

All in all this overly dutyful (cambodian!) guys at AA have cost me more than 500 US. Damned if I will fly them ever again.

[Alex]

That's quite an ordeal, sorry to hear that.

The sometimes rough treatment of my passport by airline clerks and immigration officers sometimes has me worried, too. Other than that, there really isn't enough time for it to get worn out, as it's full after 2-3 years and needs to be replaced well ahead of its expiration date.

Assuming that this "laissez passer" is a form of emergency passport, I'm surprised that using it would make you ineligible for visa exempt entry to Thailand. Maybe because it's issued by an embassy other than your own? Who told you that?

The Thai embassy would probably give you either a transit visa or a tourist visa. A tourist visa would be preferable, as it would allow you to stay in Thailand for 60 days, with an option to extend by another 30 days.

All that being said, the AirAsia guys might have actually done you a favor. If Don Mueang immigration had denied you entry, you'd be in an even bigger mess.

[Kung-fu Hillbilly]

Before COVID I had the same problem with AirAsia due to a similar sized tear on the seam/spine of the bio page, this after having just been issued or holding an Indonesian visa in the passport from the Indonesian embassy in Perth. It took a lengthy argument with an AirAsia supervisor alerting them to the fact that the Indonesian embassy had already granted me a visa to enter the country and wouldn't have done so if they had concerns with the condition of the travel document. Fortunately they let me board, I did replace the passport however as soon as I returned a couple of months later.

[Fridaywithmateo]

Today I was denied boarding an AA flight from PP to BKK with flythrough to Hatyai. The guy at the check-in counter (drop off baggage) checked as usual my passport (5y old) and complained a small fracture (2cm) of the main page. This was the result of the airlines always striping my passport through the keyboard reader many times recently..small tear gets bigger the more you fly. The italian passport is just not up for such a treatment as the main page is very thin and not plastified/hard like that of many other countries. I dropped my luggage, got my boarding passes and the guy (from AA) told me to wait for the final decision at the gate as he could not guarantee boarding at this time.

Shortly before boarding the supervisor(from AA) approached me and got me the bad news.NO FLY. I thought it was joke but they insisted on it. After a long discussion they proposed to send a photo of my passport to Thai Immigration in DMK for confirmation of boarding. A few minutes later I was told that the Thai Immigration at DMK had denied my entry due to the small issue. I will never know if they really did that as I dont believe that the lines of communication work that fast between.

Well my luggage was unloaded,I was lead backwards through immigration and my exit stamp was "cancelled". Unfortunately it was my last day on the current one month E-type visa.

So I went to the immigration department next to the airport to extend it. I was told that it would take a week and they would keep my passport. I said I could not leave it there as I would try to get a new one at any of the EU embassies in PP and would surely need the original one to accomplish that.

As Italy has no embassy or consulate here i called the honorary consul of Italy in Cambodia. He directed me to the french embassy and told me to get a "laisser_passer" document which would allow me to enter Thailand (for how many days??) and get a new passport there. 65US $ for that.

After receiving the laisser-passer document I will have to visit the Thai embassy in PP to get a "visa" for Thailand even if italian PP holders usually get free 30 days VOA exemption if flying in. No idea what type of visa I will have to apply for and how many days it will take to get. And while doing so the fees for overstaying in Cambodia are mounting up as I have no chance to get an extension of the cambodian visa at the moment. I hope to get out of this nightmare as soon as possible.

All in all this overly dutyful (cambodian!) guys at AA have cost me more than 500 US. Damned if I will fly them ever again.

I would write a letter to the VP for Operations Asia division and tell him/her your story. Seems not reasonable. Might be worth the effort.

[Freightdog]

My UK passport, issued in 2017 is pretty well worn, nearly full. And the first visa that was inserted (for Saudi) was the last time it worked in the scanners reliably. The Saudi embassy had nailed a processing slip inside, which punched a staple through the antenna wire. The front cover is worn free of any distinguishing marks, and I’ll probably need to replace it for lack of space for new visas.

But it’s still serviceable. Just sometimes it needs a visual check and swipe by borders staff. I generally only travel on my Irish passport.

My previous Irish passport had a crack in the laminated photo/data page, and occasionally received extra attention.

I’m surprised that the check in folks didn’t simply enquire of the border/immigration staff at PP, whose opinion is a little more ‘qualified’. It seems overly zealous. But, they were probably exercising the full authority of their position to safeguard the airline, and not overly familiar with passports. Extra caution about you being denied entry, and having to bring you back, where you might be denied entry. You could have done a Nasseri/Tom Hanks!

[cabron]

That's quite an ordeal, sorry to hear that.

The sometimes rough treatment of my passport by airline clerks and immigration officers sometimes has me worried, too. Other than that, there really isn't enough time for it to get worn out, as it's full after 2-3 years and needs to be replaced well ahead of its expiration date.

Assuming that this "laissez passer" is a form of emergency passport, I'm surprised that using it would make you ineligible for visa exempt entry to Thailand. Maybe because it's issued by an embassy other than your own? Who told you that?

The Thai embassy would probably give you either a transit visa or a tourist visa. A tourist visa would be preferable, as it would allow you to stay in Thailand for 60 days, with an option to extend by another 30 days.

All that being said, the AirAsia guys might have actually done you a favor. If Don Mueang immigration had denied you entry, you'd be in an even bigger mess.

The passport stamps is gradually being phase out around the world. In a near future the entry and exit stamp system will be something from the past.

[phuketrichard]

europe passports cant get transit visas for thailand , so a 60 day tourist visa , use an agent, $60 an takes 3-4 business days
need show bank account with $1,000 in it, first night hotel booked. SOMETIMES a return or onward ticket

as to how worn out is ur passport>
LOL

I have zero stamps in my newly issued passport.
Other one was 104 pages, (Americans before could get pages added) so mine was double the original pages
and it was 80% full, imagine the joys immigration had with that

The passport stamps is gradually being phase out around the world. In a near future the entry and exit stamp system will be something from the past.

really pissing off members of this fb group
"Every Passport Stamp"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1699302117062993

[ressl]

Why not taking a bus and do a land border crossing attempt? Costs a bit less than $500 and if you get denied on the Thai side, you get a new visa on arrival in Cambodia...

[Jerry Atrick]

Today I was denied boarding an AA flight from PP to BKK with flythrough to Hatyai. The guy at the check-in counter (drop off baggage) checked as usual my passport (5y old) and complained a small fracture (2cm) of the main page. This was the result of the airlines always striping my passport through the keyboard reader many times recently..small tear gets bigger the more you fly. The italian passport is just not up for such a treatment as the main page is very thin and not plastified/hard like that of many other countries. I dropped my luggage, got my boarding passes and the guy (from AA) told me to wait for the final decision at the gate as he could not guarantee boarding at this time.

Shortly before boarding the supervisor(from AA) approached me and got me the bad news.NO FLY. I thought it was joke but they insisted on it. After a long discussion they proposed to send a photo of my passport to Thai Immigration in DMK for confirmation of boarding. A few minutes later I was told that the Thai Immigration at DMK had denied my entry due to the small issue. I will never know if they really did that as I dont believe that the lines of communication work that fast between.

Well my luggage was unloaded,I was lead backwards through immigration and my exit stamp was "cancelled". Unfortunately it was my last day on the current one month E-type visa.

So I went to the immigration department next to the airport to extend it. I was told that it would take a week and they would keep my passport. I said I could not leave it there as I would try to get a new one at any of the EU embassies in PP and would surely need the original one to accomplish that.

As Italy has no embassy or consulate here i called the honorary consul of Italy in Cambodia. He directed me to the french embassy and told me to get a "laisser_passer" document which would allow me to enter Thailand (for how many days??) and get a new passport there. 65US $ for that.

After receiving the laisser-passer document I will have to visit the Thai embassy in PP to get a "visa" for Thailand even if italian PP holders usually get free 30 days VOA exemption if flying in. No idea what type of visa I will have to apply for and how many days it will take to get. And while doing so the fees for overstaying in Cambodia are mounting up as I have no chance to get an extension of the cambodian visa at the moment. I hope to get out of this nightmare as soon as possible.

All in all this overly dutyful (cambodian!) guys at AA have cost me more than 500 US. Damned if I will fly them ever again.

My passport is spiffy

Around 15 or 16 years ago I was using a passport that had been through the laundry and the data page had split and my photo could be pulled out from the middle. Used it for dozens of EU flights in this condition without remark

Then some Brit border fellow on the French side of the ferry told me "Mr Jerry Atrick; your passport is a disgrace" while driving back to London from some Euro fun so I got a new one

[Fridaywithmateo]

It's like us currency ... slightest blemish and it's a problem ... this is a mystery