A furious NHS worker claims her family were treated like criminals when officials refused to allow her to board a holiday flight because of a passport problem. Meg Gordon was refused permission to get on the aircraft and her family marched from the departure gate after officials ruled her passport was invalid.
Mrs Gordon, who lost £2,000 as a result of the mix-up, has insisted her travel documents were in date and complained that Cornwall Newquay Airport displayed a lack of compassion. Along with husband Andy and their 16-year-old twins Jasmine and Dylan, they arrived at the airport on Saturday night (July 23) to catch a Ryanair flight to Portugal.
She told CornwallLive : "We checked the bags in, had the passports checked and scanned - no problem, went through security and sat in the departure lounge and watched it fill up with other eager, excited passengers. When a member of the ground staff checked my passport she told me it’s out of date. I replied, ‘sorry I think you are mistaken it’s valid until April 2023’. ‘No it’s not’ - the ten years run from the issue date, in my case July 8, 2012.
"I was then abruptly informed that as the UK are no longer in the EU the rules have changed and I would not be able to travel. I was marched back through the busy departure gate in front of everyone while my family were still waiting to board the plane."
Portugal is within the Schengen Area of free movement and the EU is insisting passports must be no more than 10 years old from the point of issue. This has meant many who think their passports are valid because they are not due to expire for some time may be denied entry to EU countries.
Meg, who believes these details haven't been made clear to British travellers, added: "We were completely unaware of it. I asked how I got through check-in over two hours ago without it being noticed, plus I entered my passport details when I purchased the flights. They couldn’t answer."
She was then met by an airport supervisor to be told that they had to get her bags off and to make a decision if the rest of her family were going to fly without her. Subsequently our bags arrived very quickly and we were escorted out of the airport like criminals," added Mrs Gordon.
She said: "There was no being taken into a side room and told, 'we'll get your baggage for you' or 'we'll call Portugal for you and do whatever we can.' It can be a discretionary decision by the destination country. No discretion was made, no suggested calls were made to immigration in Portugal. I would hate anyone else to go through what we have just experienced."
Husband Andy has written to the managing director of the Cornwall Council-owned airport, chief executive Kate Kennally, and Newquay MP Steve Double with their concerns. In the email, Andy wrote: "We were in a state of shock, distress and embarrassment. I am unable to truly explain how distraught, upset and devastated our family were and still are with the way that we were treated by the airport staff."
Newquay Cornwall Airport told CornwallLive its terminal team is liaising directly with the family involved as "we investigate further internally".
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