Having wrecked countless summer holidays by imposing non-existent passport validity rules, easyJet has been compounding the misery for passengers by routinely rejecting their valid requests for compensation.
Since the UK left the European Union, British passports must meet two independent conditions:
- Issued less than 10 years before the day of travel to the EU
- Expiring at least three months after the intended departure from the EU
Airlines including easyJet and Ryanair bizarrely chose to impose more stringent rules until The Independent convinced them to comply with the actual European regulations. Typically they conflated the two conditions, falsely claiming that no passport could be older than nine years and nine months on the date of outbound travel. Some staff also said children’s passports expired after five years.
Once the carriers accepted their mistakes, victims could pursue claims for recompense. But staff working for easyJet continued to misrepresent the rules to avoid paying out compensation due to passengers.
Earlier this month The Independent was assured twice in two weeks that customer service staff at Britain’s biggest budget airline had been reminded of the law. But new evidence has emerged of easyJet staff systemically blaming passengers and refusing compensation claims that are clearly valid.
Three recent cases expose the severity of the problem.
After the airline wrongly deprived a 70-year-old grandmother of a family celebration holiday to Disneyland Paris in April, easyJet repeatedly refused compensation.
When The Independent contacted easyJet on the family’s behalf, the airline blamed a “misunderstanding” by both the airport staff and the customer service agent and paid the compensation that was due.
The airline said it was “reissuing guidance to our customer teams, to ensure current passport validity rules are clear”.
Yet a week later, Tracey Robbens from Penzance in Cornwall, was blamed by easyJet for being unable to fly from Gatwick to Ljubljana in mid-January.
In rejecting her valid claim, an airline customer service agent gave a nonsensical explanation: “I can confirm that the issue date of your passport is 24th Jan 2022 and was valid till the issue date but it was not valid for six months upon arrival.”
Again, easyJet insisted wrongful refusal of compensation would not happen again, telling The Independent: “We have followed up on this case to ensure all of our team are clear on current passport validity rules.”
Within days, though, an easyJet passenger pursuing compensation for wrongful denial of boarding was incorrectly told twice by email and once by phone that the airline had been justified in wrecking a family holiday.
Passenger Claire Chapman was booked on a Tui package holiday departing from Southend airport to Mallorca in July. Her passport was fully compliant with European Union rules. But she was turned away by easyJet ground staff at the Essex airport.
Tui, Britain’s biggest holiday company, immediately accepted that Ms Chapman had been wrongly turned away. Staff tried to find an alternative departure and, when that proved impossible, issued a full refund for the entire cost of the holiday.
As the airline that had deprived the travellers of their holiday, easyJet was liable to pay cash compensation under European air passengers’ rights rules.
But when the lead passenger, David Fossey, took up the case he was repeatedly told Ms Chapman was to blame.
On Saturday 20 August – the day after easyJet assured The Independent all its team knew the rules – Mr Fossey was wrongly told: “As per confirmation from our airport staff they have documented that you were refused carriage due to insufficient or invalid documentation (Passport) which is required to travel with easyJet.
“Therefore, this instance of ‘Refusal of Carriage’ does not meet the eligibility criteria for Compensation or Expense claims under the Regulation guidelines.
“I understand this is not the outcome you would like but we need to work within the guidelines.”
Mr Fossey immediately challenged these false assertions, and was told by email on Tuesday 23 August: “Our records show that you were refused carriage due to travel documents passport hence I am afraid you are not eligible for any compensation.”
He then called the airline, and after a conversation lasting nearly an hour, he told The Independent: “They are still doubling down on the fact the passports should have had three months left before they reached 10 years old.
“I explained the government guidelines again and again and they said it was easyJet policy and that I should complain to the aviation authority.
“I repeatedly asked if they could send me any evidence of their rule in any government or EU guidance. The agent said someone would email it to me when they follow up on my call.
“I asked to escalate and was told that the person I was talking to was the final point of contact in this and they were still refusing compensation.”
After The Independent intervened once more, easyJet immediately offered Ms Chapman compensation.
The airline now says it is checking back through its records to identify previous cases in which compensation has been wrongly refused, and will contact any affected passengers.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “We are sorry there has been a small number of further cases since easyJet has updated its guidance to its customer service staff to make the correct rules clear, alongside re-issuing clear and urgent guidance to UK airports.
“We are looking at all cases of denied boarding due to passport validity to check that other cases have not occurred, and if we identify any we will be proactively contacting the customer to provide compensation where it was incorrectly rejected.
“We are further bolstering our process so that a senior manager will review any cases which will then be verified by our immigration specialist.”
