Warning for holidaymakers as British Airways wrongfully turns away passengers

British Airways staff at Gatwick Airport have mistakenly turned away two passengers, citing incorrect passport validity rules, which caused both to miss their holidays

British Airways staff have been criticised after incorrectly turning two passengers away from boarding their flights, it has been reported.

Workers for the airline blocked one passenger when they were attempting to board their flight to Florida at at London Gatwick Airport. Later the same day, they wrongly turned away another passenger, who was due to go on a golfing break in Spain, according to the Independent.

Both of the passengers had UK passports, which were valid for their destinations. The customers made multiple appeals to staff, but all attempts were ignored by staff.

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The customers then both contacted The Independent, which confirmed the passengers should have been allowed to travel.

Kathleen Matheson, 62, from Skye, told the publication that she was "devastated and exhausted with what has happened". She claimed that staff had wrongfully told her that she needed to have a minimum of six months left on her passport in order for it to be valid for her to travel to America. However, the American authorities do not have such a rule, and will accept UK document up to their expiry date.

Travelling with her husband Allan, 56, the couple presented proof to the staff from the Foreign Office website that her passport was indeed valid. Yet, staff ignored the evidence, she claimed.

After calling British Airways' helpline, she was told by the agent on the phone that he could not overrule the ground staff — despite agreeing that she was in the right. The couple had no choice but to not board the British Airways flight, and instead, flew to Florida with Virgin Atlantic two days later.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “This was human error by one of our colleagues, and we’re in touch with our customer to apologise and put it right.”

David Muir, 65, who was due to head to Spain for a golfing trip, had a same experience at the same British Airways check-in area in the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport, he claimed. David was due to celebrate his retirement with four friends, golfing in Spain, after being a chartered surveyor for 35 years. However, British Airways staff once again expressed the same incorrect rule, claiming his passport was not valid for the EU after reaching nine years and nine months.

David, from Oxford, told The Independent how he was directed to customer services, where it was confirmed to him he was not allowed to travel. After getting on a bus to travel back to Oxford, David decided to research for himself the rules and learnt that he was entitled to travel.

He British Airways and even took a bus to Heathrow to enlist help from staff, but had no luck. David described the customer service as "shocking" and spent the weekend at home instead of Spain.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “We are extremely sorry for the disruption caused by this genuine error. We are contacting our customer to apologise and resolve this for them.”

According to the rules governing air passenger's rights, David is entitled to £350 in cash compensation, as well as recompense for out-of-pocket expenses.

As 'third-country nationals', British travellers to the European Union and wider Schengen area (not Ireland) must have a passport that meets two conditions:

• Not older than 10 years on the day of outbound travel to the EU
• At least three months’ validity before the expiry date on the intended day of return