The airline that wrongly barred a family from boarding a birthday celebration flight from London Gatwick to Copenhagen has apologised.
Norwegian told The Independent; “After looking into this, we discovered that we have indeed made a mistake.”
But KLM has yet to comment on a similar wrong decision that prevented a Hull couple travelling to Paris for a birthday weekend away.
Both incidents took place on Friday 21 February and both involved ground staff inventing their own rules about passport validity.
The passengers who were denied boarding were fully compliant with post-Brexit passports rules. These require a UK passport holder travelling to Europe to have a document that is:
At Gatwick, Steve Wright, his wife Caroline and their daughter Tess were on a surprise 60th birthday weekend trip to the Danish capital.
Ground staff working for Norwegian decided Mr Wright’s passport was not valid for travel. A supervisor told the family that she was turning away six passengers a day.
A spokesperson for Norwegian said the airline offered “Mr Wright our sincere apologies”.
They said: “In this instance, the ground personnel came to the wrong conclusion. The claim sent in by the Wright family will be expedited, and they can expect a reply from us within a few days.”
The Wright family are almost £1,300 out of pocket as a result of the ground staff’s mistake.
Caroline Wright told The Independent: “Whilst the apology is appreciated, I am staggered to read that they are still making excuses for why their staff are 'interpreting' the rules incorrectly, four years after the rule came into play.
“It is their job to understand the rules and apply them correctly. The least they can do is train their staff on the basics and not leave it for 'interpretation' and a lottery for those travelling.”
The Independent has asked what steps Norwegian is taking to avoid a repeat, and whether the airline will investigate previous occasions in which passengers have been denied boarding.
Meanwhile Laura and Joe Booth, from Hull, have yet to receive an apology from KLM after they were turned away from a flight at Humberside airport to Amsterdam, with an onward connection to Paris for Laura’s birthday weekend.
Ground staff working for the Dutch airline wrongly claimed Laura’s passport was not valid for travel.
The couple have lost over £2,000 as a result of KLM’s incorrect decision.
They have been making calls to KLM – culminating in one representative of the airline inventing an entirely new rule, saying: “Actually you need six months’ validity on your passport to fly with Air France KLM anyway.”
This is not correct, and never has been.
Mr Booth said: “I’ve been treated with total contempt up to now.”
The Independent has repeatedly asked KLM to comment, and asked the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to investigate and take action against airlines wrongly denying boarding.
The organisation said: “This falls out of the CAA’s enforcement remit.” It referred enquiries to the Home Office, which does not appear to have any jurisdiction over airline behaviour.
