An easyJet error cost a family their £4,000 holiday abroad and left their young daughter in tears.
It's after the family were turned away at the airport by easyJet staff over a confusing passport rule.
Paul Caddis, 59, who lives near Newlyn East in Cornwall, had planned a trip to Sicily with his wife Emma, 51, and two children to celebrate their eldest's 18th birthday.
But after the mistake at the airport, the family were left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
The holiday was due to be the family's first in years and their last altogether for some time.
Paul's 10-year-old daughter Georgia was reduced to tears when easyJet staff at Bristol Airport told her she would not be able to fly, despite her passport being completely valid.
The error was due to a much-complained-about easyJet policy which stated that people can't fly to certain countries if their passport was issued more than 10 years ago or expires within the subsequent three months, CornwallLive reports.
In Georgia's case, she had a five-year passport for children which was completely valid for travel, despite easyJet staff denying her access.
As the family scanned their boarding passes at the gate on October 20, Paul and his son Max and daughter Georgia had theirs flag up with a 'check visa' message.
It was here, he claimed, the staff member let both him and his son continue on but said there was an issue with the daughter's passport - despite it having the same expiry date as their son's.
"The representative looked at my daughter's passport and announced that her passport was out of date," he explained, saying he was "in disbelief" at the situation.
His distraught daughter started to cry thinking she wouldn't be able to go on holiday and had ruined it for the family.
"This act on the part of the easyJet staff was particularly heartless," Mr Caddis added.
"We weren’t taken to one side; she didn’t have a quiet word about my daughter's passport. Indeed, she showed no compassion throughout.
"Not only had she singled out my 10-year-old daughter, but she had instantly made her the reason why we were being told we couldn’t travel.
"We did not know at the time that there has been a long legacy of these incidents and were not prepared for this and the next few minutes were very unpleasant."
The distraught family tried to salvage the holiday, but were turned away coldly. They also could not renew Georgia's passport for another week, at best, so had to give up hope of the holiday.
They later discovered easyJet had got things completely wrong, and they should have been allowed to fly.
The Government website advised on passport rules for travel to Italy, but didn't explain that a child's passport would need to be issued in the past five years - not 10. This is the case for any passport issued to someone under age 15.
To enter the EU on a British passport, it needs to meet two criteria:
- it must have been issued within the past 10 years at the time of entry
- it must be valid for at least three months on the date that you exit the EU
You must check your passport meets these requirements before you travel. If your passport was issued before October 1, 2018, extra months may have been added to its expiry date (this was the process before Brexit and could lead to travel on a passport that's more than 10 years old).
Georgia's passport was issued on January 8, 2018 and was due to expire on February 8, 2023. This means she met both criteria at the time of her return flight and still had 11 days until she would not be able to travel in the EU.
To add insult to injury, despite the mistake ruining the holiday and costing them - the family put in a request for compensation with easyJet that was rejected within 24 hours.
In total, they were out of pocket about £4,000 for a mistake that easyJet staff made.
Paul, who lives between Truro and Newquay, added: "We as a family have been denied the right to pass the border when on the day of travel we as a group posed valid passports that fulfil the confirmed EU regulations that honour that British passports valid on the day of travel with at least three months left from the day of departure from the EU, until their expiry date, are valid for travel.
"I am determined that we will be recompensed for this removal of our rights and to make the wider world aware of this unjust practice and policy.
"I am looking to recoup the lost monies for flights and expenses and compensation for this wholly unjust interpretation by easyJet staff. Apart from being unkind and shocking for those involved, it seems an utterly ridiculous practice that I can see no logic in."
A spokesperson for easyJet told the Mirror: "We are very sorry that the Caddis family were incorrectly denied travel and the compensation they were due, because of a misunderstanding of current passport validity rules by the boarding agent assisting them.
"We fully understand the disappointment this will have caused them and we have been in touch with the family to apologise for their experience and provide them with compensation they are due as well as a full refund for their flights and any expenses they incurred.
"While we regularly issue guidance to our ground handling partners on current travel documentation requirements we have reissued this to our partner at Bristol airport to ensure the rules are clear for all.”
