A four-year-old boy and his mother took easyJet flight 1586 from Southampton to Geneva for a week’s holiday in the Alps. On December 17, 2023, shortly after 6 p.m., they passed through Swiss passport control.
Which according to easyJet they should not have done. Earlier that same day, the airline had rejected them from a flight between Gatwick and Geneva.
Yet easyJet immediately sold them flights for a further £198 and let them on a plane from Hampshire airport.
The four-year-old, his two siblings and their parents live in Guernsey. They were all booked on easyJet’s morning flight from London Gatwick to the Swiss airport, paying just over £150 each.
Just days before their holiday, the parents had realized that the four-year-old’s passport would not meet the post-Brexit passport validity requirements that Britain was asking for after leaving the EU.
Fortunately, the Guernsey Passport Office can issue temporary passports for children that are valid for one year throughout Europe. They duly obtained the document and traveled to Gatwick.
The father describes the events at the departure gate at Sussex airport: “We were trying to board the easyJet flight. The gate noted that my son had a green covered British/Guernsey passport valid for one year.
“The gate staff called their office and the office refused to allow him to board. We tried to explain it, but to no avail. So my wife had to stay with our four-year-old, who was distraught, while I traveled with our other two children, who were also distraught.
“As my wife and son were escorted from airside to landside, an immigration officer from Gatwick asked what was happening. The gate staff said it was an invalid passport. When the immigration officer checked, he said, ‘No, this is a valid passport’ – and the ground staff told him the flight had taken off anyway and hurried my wife and son away.”
Knowing the document was valid for travel to Switzerland, his wife booked a same-day flight with easyJet from Southampton to Geneva. The pair traveled without incident. Due to their late arrival, they had to take a taxi for the last part of their journey.
On their return, the father asked for compensation for the additional costs and denied boarding compensation they owed.
The airline’s response mirrored the case of Jacqueline McGeough, who refused to allow easyJet on a holiday flight to Italy. The airline told her six times that she had been rightly denied boarding, even though a check of her passport and travel dates would show she was allowed to travel. Only when The independent became involved, easyJet accepted its mistake.
In the case of the Guernsey family, easyJet customer service again repeatedly rejected the father’s requests.
The airline initially said: “After checking the booking, your details show that the passenger on the booking was refused carriage due to insufficient or invalid documentation (passport) required to travel with easyJet.”
When he challenged that decision, he was told: “We have received an update from our senior team, they have investigated and confirmed that a temporary passport will not be accepted for travel to Switzerland and has been rightly refused. Therefore, under regulatory guidance, we cannot reimburse your claim for expenses and compensation.”
The father was stunned because easyJet itself had demonstrated that his son could travel well.
His last attempt before reaching out The independent was also denied: “Our review team has reviewed your claim application and investigated all available information and documented that you were denied transportation due to insufficient or invalid documentation (temporary [sic] passport) required to travel with easyJet.”
Once The independent When he contacted easyJet, the airline accepted it was wrong to send the four-year-old away, blaming a third-party documentation system.
A spokesperson said: “Like many airlines, easyJet uses an automated verification system called TravelDoc to validate passengers’ travel documents, using immigration data collected from various sources, including government agencies.
“Unfortunately on this occasion the system incorrectly informed the ground agent that the passenger was unable to travel on his flight from London Gatwick to Geneva and the same information was then provided to our customer service team.
“We raised this with TravelDoc who corrected this and we have contacted Mr Newark to apologize for his experience, reimburse him for his flights and any travel costs he incurred and provide the compensation who owes it.”
It appears that the Southampton ground staff, who knew the passport was valid, did not consult TravelDoc and were therefore unaware of the false information.
EasyJet says TravelDoc has now corrected the error.
The mother and four-year-old child are each owed £350 in denied boarding compensation and a refund for unused easyJet flights from Gatwick, as well as additional costs caused by the airline’s mistake.