An Edinburgh family were forced to miss their flight home from Portugal after airport staff told them Scotland was 'not a country.'
Piotr Dziedzic, a local chef, was left furious after Ryanair colleagues kept them back from boarding the plane home and questioned the travel laws they were abiding by.
Following all Scottish travel laws correctly, Piotr and his family explained they have full Scottish residency, but hold Polish passports.
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Having lived in Edinburgh since 2005, the family were stopped in Lisbon Airport as they prepared to head home from their trip, with staff unhappy at their testing paperwork.
Despite having Scottish residency, the family were told UK rules did not apply if they were Polish, and demanded Piotr's youngest daughter, Ameila, take a test in the airport.
Only 13-years-old, Scottish Covid rules at the time (January 10) did not require Amelia to take the test, however Ryanair officials claimed they should be following English rules.
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According to the Southern Reporter, the family's eldest daughter Karolina, 23, was then questioned, with staff asking her who the Queen of the UK was as well as telling her Scotland was not in fact a country.
Furious with their treatment, Piotr, who runs the Lemon and Thyme restaurant in Jedburgh, said: “Amelia was in fact born in Scotland therefore we do have to follow Scottish guidelines.
"Which other country’s rules could we possibly follow when entering our home in Scotland?
"My older daughter tried to present the above information which clearly states children under 18 in Scotland do not have to do a test before arrival but only a day two test, which we had proof of booking.
"After receiving this information, [the staff member] came back with printed rules for England (which are, of course, different to Scotland) and tried to argue that Scotland is not a country and we should follow English rules.
"Even a Google search to prove that Scotland is in fact a country was dismissed by them; it is incomprehensible we had to even argue this. Suddenly the initial problem that we are Polish wasn’t the cause of concern, but rather that we were following Scottish guidelines as opposed to English. Pointless excuse after excuse, as if looking to create a problem out of nothing.”
Despite paying for Amelia to take the coronavirus test, the hold up meant the family went on to miss their flight to Edinburgh.
Left with no other way of getting home, they were forced to fork out hundreds of pounds to rebook additional flights to get back to Scotland.
Claiming that Ryanair staff treated them with "racism and a complete lack of professional behaviour", Piotr put a complaint into the airline.
He added:: “We had to pay £550.96 to get the next flight to Birmingham, and then travel 560 miles (an extra large expense) to get to Edinburgh.”
Responding to the claims, Ryanair apologised for the incident, with a spokesperson stating: "Ryanair does not tolerate any form of racial prejudice; all of our customers are treated equally.
"Having addressed this matter with our Lisbon Airport handling agents, it has been verified that this passenger was incorrectly refused boarding due to the handling agents’ misinterpretation of the travel requirements, believing that a pre-departure Covid-19 test was required for Mr. Dziedzic’s daughter to board this flight.
“We sincerely apologise to these passengers, and our Lisbon Airport handling agents have agreed in this case to compensate Mr Dziedzic.”
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