One couple were hoping to celebrate a birthday in Tenerife, but were turned away at the gate for one small issue that forced them to turn around and go back through the airport
A woman revealed her annoyance after her husband was denied entry to a Ryanair flight due to a small error with his passport.
Abriella Monroe, 32, planned to celebrate her partner’s birthday in Tenerife with her husband Sebastien before everything took a turn. The couple, from Wythenshawe, Manchester, were pulled up at the airport due to the small error. Glue appeared to have worn away on Sebastien’s passport which resulted in a small tear along its spine. According to officials, this was against the rules.
He was denied entry to the flight and turned away. Abriella, who is wheelchair bound, was deemed okay to board the flight – but could not due to her husband being refused.
Following this, they turned around and went back through passport control to leave the airport. There, they claimed Border Force officials said the passports were fine to travel with.
Ryanair said the couple were “correctly refused travel.” However, Abriella and Sebastien are complaining.
As a mother of three, Abriella is paraplegic and her husband is also her carer. Apart from the small tear, Sebastien’s passport was fully in date and displayed his photo clearly.
She said they had to wait for an hour to get their checked-in luggage and her wheelchair back, which were taken off the plane. Speaking to the Daily Mail, they were sure everything was okay before travelling.
“We checked in at special assistance check-in. We showed our boarding passes and our passports and there was no problem. My husband also used his passport to exchange some money at Travelex at the airport and we got some duty free,” Abriella said.
She added: “His passport was accepted and there was no issue.”
They made it through security and all the way to the gate before they were turned away. First of all Abriella’s was approved before her husband was denied.
Government guidelines say HM Passport Office consider a passport to be damaged if details cannot be read or if any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing.
They’d also be denied if there are holes, cuts or rips in the cover, the cover is coming away or there are stains on the pages like ink or water damage.
They last went on holiday with them six years ago, and got through with no problems. Ryanair, in response to their complaints said the passport was ripped on the identification page at the seam and across the page.
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