EasyJet rejects compensation claim from woman who was wrongly denied boarding despite having valid passport

Exclusive: Airline carried on rejecting valid claims after saying, ‘We are reissuing guidance to our customer teams, to ensure current passport validity rules are clear’

A week after easyJet assured The Independent it would comply with European air passengers’ rights rules after wrongly turning passengers away, the airline continued to refuse compensation when it was due.

Tracey Robbens from Penzance in Cornwall was booked on a flight from London Gatwick to Ljubljana in January. She and her husband Tommy were planning to spend a week exploring Slovenia.

But ground staff working for easyJet turned her away, claiming her passport was not valid – even though it complied with both the post-Brexit conditions for travel to the European Union.

The travel document was under 10 years old on the day of outward travel to the EU, and had over three months remaining after her intended day of return.

The airline was notified of the official European Union rules by The Independent in 2021. But for many months, easyJet – and Ryanair – chose to impose more stringent requirements of their own invention.

In April 2022, easyJet finally aligned with the actual EU policy. From that point victims of wrongful denial of boarding appeared able to secure the cash compensation due to them under passenger rights’ rules.

But Ms Robbens’ claim was repeatedly turned down by easyJet. The final rejection of her claim arrived on 18 August, when a member of customer relations staff made a series of false assertions.

The passenger was told: “As per the guidelines, British passport is valid only for 10 years from the date of issue and should be valid for six months upon arrival.

“I can confirm that the issue date of your passport is 24th Jan 2022 and was valid till the issue date but it was not valid for six months upon arrival.

“Hence I'm afraid to say that we would not be able to honor [sic] your request as you were correctly denied to board.”

Ms Robbens’ passport was under 10 years old on the intended date of travel to Slovenia and valid for over six months on the planned day of return; in any case there has never been a requirement for UK passports to be valid for six months upon arrival to the EU.

A week before the final rejection was sent to Ms Robbens, The Independent had investigated a similar case in which a grandmother who had organised a family holiday to Disneyland Paris was turned away from her flight.

Mary Rankin had planned a multi-generational trip to France to celebrate her 70th birthday but was wrongly denied boarding at Glasgow airport by ground staff working for easyJet. The airline blamed “a misunderstanding” for spoiling the trip and agreed to compensate Ms Rankin.

Given the high number of similar cases surfacing, with valid claims being rejected on spurious grounds, The Independent asked easyJet for an assurance that there would be no repeat of legitimate claims being rejected.

An airline spokesperson said at the time: “We are reissuing guidance to our customer teams, to ensure current passport validity rules are clear.”

Yet customer relations staff continued to misrepresent the rules and blame the passenger. After The Independent contacted easyJet on behalf of Ms Robbens, she was swiftly contacted and offered compensation of over £800.

An easyJet spokesperson said: “We are very sorry that Ms Robbens was incorrectly denied boarding to her flight and for the incorrect information she received, as a result of a misunderstanding of current passport validity rules by the advisor assisting her.

“We take our consumer responsibilities seriously and will always pay compensation when it is due.

“We issue regular guidance to our customer services teams on current policies and regulations and we have followed up on this case to ensure all of our team are clear on current passport validity rules.

“We are in touch with Ms Robbens to apologise for her experience, reimburse her for any expenses incurred and provide the compensation due.”

After easyJet thwarted the couple’s plans, Tracey and Tommy Robbens “ended up staying a night in Reading then going home the next day”.