Photos shared on Threads show a Malaysian woman’s passport is damaged with scribbles drawn by her child.
A Malaysian woman was forced to cancel her flight and pay extra airfare after her three-year-old child scribbled on her passport, causing immigration authorities to deem the travel document damaged and invalid for travel.
The mother recounted the incident in a Threads post on June 6, saying her toddler got hold of her passport, ranked the second-strongest in Southeast Asia after Singapore, and drew dinosaur on several pages, Asia One reported.
Suspecting the damage could cause problems, she visited an immigration office in Putrajaya before her scheduled night flight.
Her concerns were confirmed when an officer ruled that the passport had been damaged, meaning she would not be allowed to board her flight, British newspaper The Sun reported.
Unable to obtain a replacement passport until June 8, she had to reschedule her trip and pay an additional RM620 (US$146) in travel costs.
“My heart wants to cry,” she wrote on Threads.
Malaysia’s passport slipped one place to seventh in the latest Henley Passport Index 2026, three months after reaching its highest ranking in the 20-year history of the index.
Malaysian citizens now enjoy visa-free access to 183 out of 227 countries and territories.
This is not the first time passport issues have caused last-minute travel chaos.
In August last year, a couple left their 10-year-old son behind at Barcelona Airport after discovering his passport had expired.
Determined not to miss their flight, they arranged for a relative to collect him and boarded the plane without him.
Comments are closed.