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.
Having lived in Edinburgh since 2005, the family were surprised to be stopped in Lisbon Airport as they prepared to head home from their trip, with staff reportedly unhappy at their testing paperwork.
Edinburgh Live reports that the family were told UK travel rules did not apply because of their Polish nationality, and demanded Piotr's youngest daughter Ameila take a test in the airport.
Scottish Covid rules did not require Amelia to take a test - but Ryanair officials insisted they adhere to English rules.
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 a country.
Furious with their treatment, Piotr, who runs the Lemon and Thyme restaurant in Jedburgh in the Borders, 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."
Ryanair has since apologised for the incident and confirmed that Piotr and his family had been wrongly prevented from boarding their flight.
A spokesperson said: "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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