“Whereas standing on the gate with a queue behind us, with our son Ned in tears, I attempted to make it clear to Karen that this was an error on easyJet‘s half and he or she ought to simply meet us in Amsterdam by flying on a reliable airline.”
So says David Woodhouse, whose spouse Karen was turned away from a birthday journey to the Netherlands as a result of workers working for easyJet at Stansted airport invented their very own guidelines on post-Brexit passport validity. As soon as once more, Britain’s greatest funds airline has wrecked a household vacation as a consequence of misunderstanding situations for journey to the European Union.
David and Karen Woodhouse had booked a three-day journey to Amsterdam for his or her son’s Ned’s twelfth birthday, together with their daughter Connie, 14.
They paid nearly £1,300 for the easyJet return flights to Amsterdam Schiphol, and arrived at London Stansted in good time for his or her night flight on 9 April.
All 4 had passports that met the situations for “third-country nationals” that the UK signed up for:
- Issued not more than 10 years in the past on the day of outward journey.
- A minimum of three months to the expiry date on the supposed return date.
Ms Woodhouse’s passport was legitimate for journey out to the European Union as much as 1 June 2025 for a keep of as much as 90 days. However workers working for easyJet stated in any other case.
Mr Woodhouse stated: “The gate brokers stated Karen’s passport was not legitimate for journey as a result of it was issued in June 2015, and wanted to have three months left till it was 10 years outdated. I informed the agent that she was improper, and that the validity was effective, however she known as her supervisor – who additionally stated that Karen couldn’t journey.”
Ms Woodhouse was informed she would want to depart the airport. Mr Woodhouse then boarded the airplane with the kids. “Earlier than Ned had completed crying, and earlier than I needed to put my telephone into airplane mode, Karen texted me that she was ‘heartbroken’,” he stated.

No different flights had been departing to Amsterdam that night, so Ms Woodhouse booked a KLM flight from London City early the next morning and travelled with out a drawback to affix the household.
Even then, easyJet workers made life tough. Mr Woodhouse wished to make sure that his spouse could be allowed on the flight house, however the airline’s name centre refused to substantiate it until they had been despatched {a photograph} of her passport.
After the household returned house, Mr Woodhouse stated: “I perceive that errors occur, however this is not only a easy ‘mistake’ on easyJet’s half. They’ve performed this a number of instances, they usually have had loads of time to ensure their floor workers know the principles. That is wilful.
“We had the sources and the arrogance simply to pay for an additional flight and make the most effective of the time we had left; a number of households wouldn’t have had that choice.
“I assume they’ll pay the naked minimal of compensation and bills, and I’ll see one other story in a couple of months about them doing it once more to somebody much less lucky.”
As is now customary, easyJet has promised to look into the incident.
A spokesperson for the airline stated: “We’re very sorry that Ms Woodhouse was incorrectly denied boarding on her flight from London Stansted to Amsterdam on 9 April. The steerage was not accurately adopted and so we’re wanting into this with our floor dealing with accomplice at London Stansted airport.
“We’re in contact with Ms Woodhouse to reimburse her in full for her various journey bills and course of the compensation she is due.”
In December 2024, easyJet passenger Ellie Boltman was wrongly told she could not travel with her husband and their two children to Tenerife for a pre-Christmas vacation within the Canary Islands. The denial of boarding happened at Luton airport, location for easyJet’s HQ. The airline later apologised.
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