EasyJet has launched an investigation after two passengers were barred from boarding a flight to Italy because ground staff incorrectly thought one of their passports wasn’t valid.
The airline has also apologised to Jacqui McGeough and her daughter Eilidh after it refused to allow them on to the flight to Naples at Edinburgh Airport.
Ground staff told Jacqui that her passport, issued on 12 May 2014 with an expiry date of 12 August 2024 wasn’t valid for the four-day trip to Italy in April.
In fact, the passport did comply with EU entry rules, which state that a passport must be no more than 10 years old at the time of entry and, separately, must have three months left on the intended date of departure.
When Jacqui appealed to easyJet’s customer relations department she was again told her passport wasn’t valid. She even appealed to Chief Executive Johan Lundgren, whose office also repeated the error and rejected her appeal.
EasyJet only realised it had made a mistake when contacted by The Independent, even though the airline had updated wording regarding the new passport rules to staff two years ago after repeatedly denying boarding to passengers with valid passports.
In a statement, easyJet said: “We are very sorry that Ms McGeough and her daughter were unable to take their flight to Naples due to a misunderstanding at the gate of passport validity rules, which we are investigating with our ground handling partner at Edinburgh airport to ensure this doesn’t happen in future.
“We are also looking into why they received incorrect information in response to their claim as easyJet has not changed its policy which is in line with Government guidance.
“We are in touch with Ms McGeough to apologise for this experience and to reimburse their flights and any expenses, as well as provide the compensation that is due.”
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The airline has also apologised to Jacqui McGeough and her daughter Eilidh after it refused to allow them on to the flight to Naples at Edinburgh Airport.
Ground staff told Jacqui that her passport, issued on 12 May 2014 with an expiry date of 12 August 2024 wasn’t valid for the four-day trip to Italy in April.
In fact, the passport did comply with EU entry rules, which state that a passport must be no more than 10 years old at the time of entry and, separately, must have three months left on the intended date of departure.
When Jacqui appealed to easyJet’s customer relations department she was again told her passport wasn’t valid. She even appealed to Chief Executive Johan Lundgren, whose office also repeated the error and rejected her appeal.
EasyJet only realised it had made a mistake when contacted by The Independent, even though the airline had updated wording regarding the new passport rules to staff two years ago after repeatedly denying boarding to passengers with valid passports.
In a statement, easyJet said: “We are very sorry that Ms McGeough and her daughter were unable to take their flight to Naples due to a misunderstanding at the gate of passport validity rules, which we are investigating with our ground handling partner at Edinburgh airport to ensure this doesn’t happen in future.
“We are also looking into why they received incorrect information in response to their claim as easyJet has not changed its policy which is in line with Government guidance.
“We are in touch with Ms McGeough to apologise for this experience and to reimburse their flights and any expenses, as well as provide the compensation that is due.”
The post EasyJet launches investigation after passengers incorrectly denied boarding, again appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
