Qantas passengers were forced to choose between handing over their passports or sleeping at a Thai airport after their flight was cancelled at the eleventh hour.
The service from Bangkok International Airport to Sydney was initially delayed for six hours before it was eventually cancelled late on Monday night.
Several passengers shared footage from inside the terminal showing a cardboard box full of Australian passports on the ground.
Airport staff appeared to be filling out documentation, also on the ground, as dozens of confused passengers crowded around them.
Travellers were also asked to hand over their passports before they left the airport and travelled to hotel accommodation.
A Qantas spokeswoman said local boarder authorities are required to hold passengers’ passports during significant delays in line with immigration regulations.
It’s understood travellers were asked to surrender their passports to officials in order to exit the airport and transfer to their accommodation.
Asking passengers to hand over their passports is not a Qantas policy.
Confused passengers were seen crowding around panicked staff members at the airport
The service from Bangkok International Airport to Sydney was initially delayed for six hours before it was eventually cancelled late on Monday night (stock)
Dozens of viewers expressed their shock at the passport policy.
‘Is this normal to take away your passports? Never heard of anything like that! What was their reasoning??!’ one wrote.
‘They would have to cut my arm to take my passport,’ another said.
‘I wouldn’t have let them take my passport, that’s not standard practice for flight cancellations,’ a third agreed.
A Qantas spokeswoman apologised to customers for the delay.
‘We sincerely apologise to customers for the disruption and understand the inconvenience this would have caused to their travel plans,’ she said.
‘Our teams worked hard to get passengers on their way as quickly as possible and all passengers have now arrived in Sydney.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Bangkok International Airport for comment.
