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Mum wrongly turned away from easyJet family holiday flight over EU passport rules

Brexit and beyond

Ellie Boltman, her husband Alex Stone and their two children were looking forward to a pre-Christmas holiday in the Canary Islands, flying with easyJet to Tenerife. They turned up at Luton airport on 16 December last year, in good time to drop their cases. All of them had valid passports that comfortably met both requirements for a holiday in the EU:

  • Issued no more than 10 years ago
  • At least three months to the expiry date

Ms Boltman’s passport was valid for travel to the European Union until late February 2025 – yet she was denied boarding by a member of easyJet check-in staff.

Mr Stone said: “She took one look at my wife’s passport and said Ellie wouldn’t be able to fly. She said that since Brexit the rules had changed and the expiry date was no longer relevant. She went off to ‘check with a colleague’ but returned very quickly and confirmed we couldn’t fly.

“She said the expiry date was actually the 10th anniversary of the issue date and we needed to be returning home at least three months before that date.”

No such rule has ever existed, though easyJet pretended it did for many months after the UK left the European Union in 2021. Eventually, after pressure from The Independent, the airline started applying the actual requirements.

But in Ms Boltman’s case, easyJet yet again reverted to its false interpretation of EU rules.

Mr Stone described the upsetting events at Luton airport: “We stepped to the side and spent 15 minutes deliberating what to do. We were travelling with our eight- and four-year-olds so you can imagine the scenes.

“We ultimately decided that I would take the children on the holiday and my wife Ellie went home.

“I checked in our cases and took my distraught children through security.”

Ms Boltman then travelled from the family home in London to Peterborough Passport Office to obtain a replacement. She flew out to join them three days later.

Meanwhile, her husband contacted easyJet to complain about the family’s treatment and seek the compensation to which they were entitled.

But the airline doubled down on its original wrong decision, telling Mr Stone: “Following the escalation of your case, it has been determined that our team refused your wife correctly due to her passport validity.”

EasyJet insisted Ms…

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