A mum and daughter's plans to be reunited on holiday were dashed by a post- Brexit passport rule.
Mhairi, 50, hadn't seen her daughter Iona, 24, for more than two years due to the pandemic.
The family members had planned to spend time together on Lanzarote to catch up after a difficult few years, the Express reported.
They both ended up in tears as the daughter had to fly alone when airline staff refused to let the mum board the plane.
Mhairi had flown from Glasgow to Gatwick airport where she met with her daughter in a blissful reunion, catching up with her over coffee.
The pair went through security control together and arrived at the boarding gate, ready for their trip.
When Mhairi tried to board the plane, she claims that members of the airline staff told her they wouldn't allow her to fly despite having a valid passport, since she didn't meet the entry requirements for Spain.
"Everything was going super smoothly until we went to boarding," the gutted mum said.
"There, the guy said 'I'm afraid you're not going to be able to board the plane', because of an issue with my passport.
"At first I assumed that the problem was my expiry date, as my passport expires soon, in May 2023.
"But then I realised the problem was the issue date, which was August 2012. It seems that the rules have become really strict after Brexit."
Since the UK left the bloc, Spain has implemented strict new laws on British travellers.
Anyone who enters the country from outside the EU must have a valid passport that was issued less than 10 years before the date they enter the country.
It must also be valid for at least three months after the day they plan to leave.
Mhairi continued: "We stood on the side as we waited for a manager or supervisor of the airline staff to talk to us.
"Obviously, at that point, we were still hopeful that maybe, somehow, they will let me on. But then this woman came and told me the same thing.
"They even said that if I go they will send me back and then the airline will be fined."
The mother and daughter were gutted as they said goodbye, Iona boarding the flight in a bid to avoid losing more money.
Mhairi said: "My daughter paid for the flights herself and booked a beautiful, gorgeous Airbnb, in the middle of a national park, which she managed to book for a low price as it's off-season.
"It would have been stupid for her not to go because then we would have lost everything. I encouraged her to go but she was a weeping mess.
"When I left her at the gate she was crying her eyes out. And it's my fault. I should have checked."
Mhairi has argued that the rules aren't widely known enough, and aren't spoken about hugely because the Government wants to avoid bad publicity.
"They don't want to tell that Brexit wasn't such a wonderful thing after all," she continued.
"That's one of the kickbacks of Brexit. They're coming down hard on the regulations. They are not making it easy for us at all."
Iona described her frustration as she had to watch her mum leave the gate and then boarded the plane on her own.
She said: "I burst into tears when the EasyJet staff told my mum she would need to stay behind.
"We haven't seen each other for over two years, so this trip was supposed to be mother-daughter bonding time.
"Now my mum and I are separated, again, and who knows for how long.
"All this because of an arbitrary post-Brexit passport rule which meant that her passport had 'expired three months ago according to the 10-year issue date when the expiry date beneath it clearly stated there were over six months left on her passport."
A spokesperson for EasyJet said: "Unfortunately (Mhairi) was unable to travel with us to Lanzarote due to her passport not meeting current validity rules and easyJet follow rules on passport validity as set out by the authorities where we operate.
"We always remind customers during booking and before they travel via email to ensure they are aware of the requirements for the destination they are flying to and it is customers’ responsibility to ensure they have the correct, valid documentation for travel."
The change of rules around travel documents since the UK left the EU has impacted thousands of people in the UK, as well as on the Continent.
One change is the number of people who are visiting the country on school trips.
The number of foreign student trips organised to the UK by specialist European tour operators this year is down 83% compared to pre-pandemic 2019, new research has found.
The 2019 figure of 1.2million European students travelling to the UK to learn English and about the country's history has been cut in five, at a huge cost to tourist destinations and hotels.
Three years ago they were pumping about £1billion into the economy and supporting 17,000 jobs, the New Tourism Alliance has said.
