Brit barred from Tui flight due to ‘slight mark’ on passport forced to pay £1,200 for new flight

A holidaymaker was forced to shell out £1,200 for a same-day British Airways flight to Cancun after she was blocked from boarding her original Tui plane because of 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 the tropical beach destination with her sister Kaemarnie, 21, to celebrate her graduating from university.

When the pair arrived 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.

As a last ditch attempt, Laila, who is studying to become a French and Spanish teacher, decided to try her luck with British Airways (BA) and was shocked to learn they had “no issue” with her passport and would happily let her fly.

Not wanting her sister to travel alone, Laila purchased a last-minute ticket for £1,200 and had no problem clearing customs after arriving in Mexico only a few hours later than expected.

But having to shell out an extra £1,200 put a dent in Laila’s savings.

She complained in the hope of getting refunded for the pricey ticket and, after initially being told Tui had closed her case, more than two weeks later the company has now agreed to reimburse her.

“I think it’s just insane that Tui can say my passport is damaged and not allow me to board for fear I’m not going to be allowed into Mexico by passport control, and then for another airline to have no issue with the same passport, let me fly to Mexico and then I get through passport control,” Laila told PA Real Life.

“I’m studying to become a teacher, I start in September, and that money was money that I had saved up towards getting myself set up for university.”

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”.

“It was a very small mark, almost like a little scratch on…