A British couple have accused Ryanair staff of kicking them out of the airport after they were denied boarding because of a small tea stain on one of their passports.
The “embarrassing” incident happened on July 7 as Roy Allen, 29, and his girlfriend Nina Wilkins, 35, were preparing to fly with the Irish low-cost airline from the Costa Brava to Spain for a week.
“It’s just a stain on her passport,” Mr. Allen said.
The seven-night holiday was a Christmas present from Mrs. Wilkins’ mother.
Things started out fairly harmlessly, with the couple presenting their passports at the Ryanair check-in desk at East Midlands Airport, before heading through security.
“she [the desk clerk] “We looked at all our passports and didn’t really care, and then we went through security,” Mr. Allen said.
The couple reportedly spent more than $370 on food, drinks and other perks at the airport, not realizing their dream trip was about to take a major left turn.
“We didn’t even think about the possibility of not being allowed on the plane,” Mr. Allen added.
Things got worse as passengers boarded the plane after gate staff checked the couple’s travel documents and announced they would not be allowed to board due to a tea stain.
“This passenger was correctly refused travel from the East Midlands to Girona (July 7) because his passport was damaged and therefore invalid for travel,” a Ryanair spokesperson said in a statement.
Ryanair requires every passenger to ensure that their passport is valid for travel in line with the relevant requirements at the time of travel.
The Ryanair manager later apologised and explained that the receptionist should never have let them through.
However, Mr. Allen found this situation ridiculous, as they had previously used her tea-stained passport at other airports without any problem.
He claimed that the basic information in the document was clear despite the stain. But despite this, the couple had to evacuate the airport.
“After we got our bags, we were escorted out of the airport like we were criminals and it was embarrassing,” Mr Allen said.
Ms Wilkins said the incident left her “very upset”.
“I cried and felt so anxious,” she said. “I have cystic fibrosis and am registered as a disabled person, so I felt like I was walking out of the airport without any care or assistance.”
It was a very sad situation because Mrs. Wilkins’ family was on the plane and had taken off for sunny Spain.
But a glimmer of hope emerged after the airline manager urged the couple to rebook their flight via Jet2 because the airline accepted passports with some damage – a discrepancy that Allen found absurd.
“I don’t understand how one airline can do this when another can’t,” he said.
The British couple had no other choice, so they decided to book flights through Jet2, a decision that cost them more than $600 for tickets and other transportation. Worse still, the couple was unable to book the first day of their vacation.
Fortunately, Ms Wilkins did not experience any passport issues on the Ryanair flight back to the UK from Spain on July 14.
While Mr. Allen was grateful that they were able to save the flight, he still found it shocking that they had to endure all this complexity.
This article originally appeared on the sun Reproduced with permission.
