A four-year-old boy was left in tears at the airport after he was refused boarding to a Ryanair flight to visit his nana.
The incident apparently came down to a booking issue, but young Jacob's uncle Ben, who was taking him, says he is furious with the airline after it proved nearly impossible to get hold of them before their trip.
Jacob Thomas was "holding hands and laughing" with his cousin at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport just days ago on July 28 as he was about to jet off to Spain to see his nana.
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However, moments later the excitement ended in "tears" as the family was told he could not board the flight.
The trip was planned by Jacob's uncle, Ben, who is from Ormskirk, in West Lancashire. Ben was flying to Alicante with his wife and daughter when his brother Justin Thomas opted to let them take his son Jacob along for the trip.
Having spent nearly €480 on Jacob's holiday, the family said they were told they needed to book him as a separate flight which would then be linked to theirs.
Ben told the Liverpool Echo he spent a week trying to contact Ryanair to link the bookings before they arrived at the airport.
He explained: "It was separate bookings but I spoke to Ryanair when we first discussed it and they said we needed to book him as an adult, book in as a new booking and then call back when it's sorted and they will link them and change the names.
"So my brother paid £400 and got it sorted and we called Ryanair to link them. But we spent a week and half trying to get through to them and it would just cut off.
“A couple of times we managed to get through but they needed to transfer us or they couldn't access it because it was coming up as suspicious which I don't understand because we had all the booking references and everything.
"We were told we needed to verify it through a website which we tried but were given no instructions so we kept trying to call to get help but nothing. In the end we had to gamble and go to the airport to check in and then they said they couldn't do it."
The family says it was told that the query could not be completed by the staff at the airport and there was no one else available to do it. This was unbeknownst to little Jacob who couldn't "wait to see nanny".
Ben said: "The woman at the desk told us there were no Ryanair staff at the airport which we couldn't believe. It was going back and to and in the end we had to get my brother to turn back and come and pick him up.
"The poor lad had to hug his cousin goodbye and go home. We posted online and someone else commented that they have the same problem and they are going away soon.
"It should be easy enough to do. It was terrible, the kids are a similar age and were so excited, holding hands in the airport and laughing and saying they can't wait to see nanny.
"It was awful. They were crying.
"Luckily my brother dropped us off and wasn't too far away otherwise none of us would have been able to go. It was unbelievable no Ryanair staff were at the airport."
Jacob’s Dad Justin told the ECHO: "It's all very disappointing. He's asking why he can't go with his cousin.
"I'm taking him away to Wales but he keeps asking why he can't be on the plane, he's gutted. He wanted to see his nanny more than anything."
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: "As it is not possible to add a child under 16 to an existing flight reservation, this child was booked on a new separate reservation which needed to be ‘linked’ to a supervising adult’s booking before travel.
“However, the handling agent at Liverpool Airport failed to link this passenger’s booking and incorrectly denied him travel from Liverpool to Alicante on July 28.
"The handling agent at Liverpool Airport have agreed to compensate the passenger and a member of our Customer Service Team will be in contact directly to assist."
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