Woman left in tears after being banned from Ryanair flight and escorted from the airport due to her passport
A COUPLE were banned from their Ryanair flight and escorted from the airport after making a mistake with their passport.
Rory Allen and his girlfriend Nina Wilkins were due to fly to Costa Brava in Spain from East Midlands Airport.
After arriving at the airport, they checked into their Ryanair flights with no problem.
Rory, from Coventry, said: “We checked in our bags at the Ryanair desk.
“She looked at all of our passports and didn’t really bat an eyelid and then we went through security.
“We weren’t even thinking about the possibility of not being let on the plane.”
However, the pair ran into problems when they made their way to the boarding gate.
Staff said they weren’t allowed to board due to damage to Nina’s passport, which had a small “tea coloured stain” on it.
Rory continued: “[At the boarding gate], they opened Nina’s passport, made a couple of gestures through their radios and they said they wouldn’t let us on the flight with this passport.
“There is a stain on the passport. It looks like a tea stain. Nina and I have already been away this year and used that passport.
“We didn’t think it was an issue as we had already used the passport (with the stain) in other airports.
“It’s just a stain on her passport. Everything is still visible.”
He said Nina “broke down instantly and started crying and panicking”.
They were then taken back to baggage reclaim to big up their bags, with Rory saying they were left embarrassed after escorted out of the airport like “criminals”.
They were then told to rebook with another airline who were more likely to accept it.
The couple then paid another £260 for flights with Jet2, who allowed them to board, as well as another £70 on transport.
Rory said: “I don’t understand how one airline can do this and another doesn’t. It just baffles me.”
“It was shocking that we had to do this.
“Nina was distraught as her family were on the plane that had taken off and we were still in England.”
Ryanair said the passenger was “correctly refused travel” as their passport had ‘decolourisation’ and that the rules are set by the UK Passport Office and not them.
Government guidelines state that a passport can be classed as damaged if details are indecipherable or if there is ‘damage or discolouration to any part of the passport’, including from water.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This passenger was correctly refused travel from East Midlands to Girona (7 Jul) as their passport was damaged and therefore not valid for travel.
“Ryanair requires each passenger to ensure that their passport is valid for travel in line with the relevant requirements at the time of travel.”
What are the passport rules?
The Sun’s Head of Travel Lisa Minot has explained exactly what Brits need to know.
“Travellers used to be able to roll over up to nine unused months from their old passport onto a new one.
“But post-Brexit, anyone wanting to travel to the EU can no longer rely on those extra months.
“In order to travel to the EU, all passports must be no more than 10 years old on the day you arrive in your European destination.
“And you’ll need at least three months on your passport on the day you head back to the UK.
“Figures have shown up to 100,000 holidaymakers a year face being turned away at airports if their passport is more than 10 years old.
“The 10-year rule only applies to countries in the European Union but every country may have different rules on what is accepted – some countries like South Africa, for example, insist you have at least six months left on your passport when you travel and a full clear page.”
Earlier this month, a British yoga teacher in Thailand was stopped from boarding due to a small tear in her passport, and forced to shell out hundreds for a new document and flights.
Here are two other countries where a damaged passport could cause you huge problems.