Hajj travellers turned away at airport as chaos continues for British Muslims

British Muslims who booked travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage have been turned away at UK airports amid chaos over a new booking system introduced by the kingdom.

Frustrated travellers told of being denied boarding as airlines had no record of their bookings despite paying thousands of pounds through a Saudi government system.

A last-minute overhaul to Saudi rules means European Muslims must book Hajj through an official government website called Motawif instead of travel agents, as the kingdom cuts down pilgrim numbers from 2.5 million in 2019 to only 1 million this year in response to the Covid pandemic.

Would-be pilgrims are then entered into a lottery which allocates places, but the system has been beset by problems which has left travellers in limbo and some thousands of pounds out of pocket. The late rule, announced in April, meant many people who had already arranged their own travel for the Hajj are now unable to go and tour operators have been left been left facing liquidation.

But even those who secured places for the pilgrimage through Motawif have encountered problems. One Muslim from Bradford told The Independent her group of seven was twice turned away from their flight from Mancheser airport despite paying £66,500 between them for travel and accommodation through the Saudi system.

“We had no reason to believe we wouldn’t get on their flight,” said the woman, who asked not to be named.

But despite multiple attempts at contacting Motawif, the group still had not received their flight booking confirmation less than 24 hours before they were due to take off. With “terrible” communication and no way of contacting the agency, the group decided to go to the airport and hope they could sort the booking there.

As they headed to the airport on Saturday morning, the group called the company and after waiting for an hour on hold, Motawif told them their Saudi Airlines flight from Manchester airport had been cancelled.

“They told us it’s a technical fault and no one will be travelling,” she said. “But I thought they were being dishonest.”

At the airport, airline staff confirmed the flight was not cancelled but was overbooked. “We asked if we could be put on business class because we knew there were 12 empty seats, but they refused. We had to go home.”

The group was advised by Motawif to head…