Stephen Jackson was expecting to spend the weekend playing golf in Spain. Accompanied by three friends, the 66-year-old retired aeronautical engineer from Preston traveled to Manchester Airport early on Saturday morning.
All four were booked on the 6.20am easyJet flight, which was due to land at Alicante airport at around 10am – in time for a round of golf.
Mr Jackson has a passport valid for travel to Spain and the rest of the European Union until December 10, 2024 for a stay of up to 90 days.
But ground staff working for easyJet insisted it was invalid and turned him away.
Mr Jackson said: “When we arrived at the airport we checked our golf bags ourselves and attached the luggage tag.
“When I went to the baggage drop-off point, an easyJet employee asked me to see my passport, which I did.
“She then informed me that my passport was not valid, saying ‘The expiry date is now 10 years from the date of issue and it was less than three months when I returned At my house’.”
Since Brexit, British passports must meet two conditions to travel to the European Union:
Mr. Jackson’s passport comfortably met both conditions.
EasyJet, along with Ryanair and the British government, wrongly combined these conditions for several months until they agreed to apply the rules imposed by Brussels and notified to them by The Independent three years ago. But the errors obviously continue.
In Manchester, Mr Jackson showed the ground staff member the Foreign Office passport guidelines, published on the UK government website.
“She said I was wrong and I couldn’t board,” he said. “I had the same conversation with a supervisor and the same result. Realizing I couldn’t win, I returned home by train, leaving the other three to go to Spain.
When Mr. Jackson alerted The IndependenteasyJet quickly investigated and apologized.
A spokesperson said: “We are very sorry that Mr Jackson was wrongly refused boarding his flight from Manchester to Alicante.
“This was due to a misunderstanding at the gate regarding passport validity rules for travel to Spain and we are following up with our ground handling agent in Manchester to ensure this does not happen again in the future.
“We are in contact with Mr Jackson to apologize for the error and refund him in full or offer him an alternative flight, settle his expenses and process his compensation.”
Mr Jackson must pay £350 compensation for denied boarding. He said: “I’m usually a relaxed guy, but during my airport experience I was so angry I was shaking – especially since I knew I was right after checking the validity of my passport.
“The easyJet attitude was so rubbish: ‘They’re right, you’re wrong, so go ahead and leave’.
“It was so humiliating to leave my friends and run to the station.”
EasyJet says it is investigating whether other passengers were wrongly denied boarding by ground staff involved in Mr Jackson’s case.
Last month, British Airways ground staff at London Gatwick scuppered a golf trip to Spain for Oxford’s David Muir in a similar way.
He had a valid passport for travel to the European Union, but a series of airline representatives repeatedly claimed it had expired. Also at Gatwick on the same day, BA wrongly refused boarding to a Florida-bound passenger, Kathleen Matheson, inventing a rule that the US requires six months for British passports. There is no minimum validity requirement for the United States.
The airline later apologized for both instances.
