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British Airways Ground staff is continuing to invent its own rules Passport validity To deny boarding the passengers who are properly documented.
Latest event exposed by IndependentBa with his flight from London to remove Chris Taylor and his wife Kathy Heathro To Palma. In September, the couple of Elton of Hampshire planned to fly to Mallorca to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Both of his passports were valid for 90 days till the middle of November for the visit of Spain and the rest of the European Union.
But in the repetition of previous mistakes made by British Airways Ground staff, they were told that they could not travel.
63 -year -old advertising executive officer Mr. Taylor said: “My wife and me were taken to one side at the gate during boarding. BA Lady told me that my passport was invalid because it was finished.”
A member of the British Airways Ground Staff incorrectly claimed that the UK passport issued nine years and nine months later is not valid for the European Union visit. This has never happened.
“I said it was completely valid and last month we had flying to France with BA,” said Mr. Taylor. “This was no use.”
At this point, Mr. Taylor’s wife joined him – where a member of the ground staff incorrectly declared both passports.
The couple was asked to go to the executive lounge of the British Airways, as Mr. Taylor is a BA Gold Cardholder, where customer will assist service. “In fact the lounge had no customer service and was directed to us in Gate 10,” said Mr. Taylor.
“BA employees were very surprised in Gate 10 and could not understand why we were denied boarding. But by then the aircraft had gone away and we had to get out of the airport.”
At this point, he could fly with another airline with another airline on the same day with another airline to Palma, as their passports were valid. But because the British Airways had assured him, incorrectly, that his documents had gone out, he determined to find an express passport appointment.
As soon as possible, Newport, South Wales required a round-trip of 200 miles two days later and paid hundreds of pounds. He then re -booked a flight for 20 September.
“We missed our wedding anniversary dinner in Mallorca on 19 September and spent a lot to get back to get a new passport,” Mr. Taylor said. “Not to mention stress and disruption.”
When he tried to extend the case with the British airways, the standard pattern of behavior that emerged as a standard pattern was repeated.
Customers resist their treatment, but BA does not examine; There was airline to do this, it would quickly discover error. Instead, the airline’s customers service employees citing non-existent regulations and blame passengers.
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Mr. Taylor says that he contacted the British Airways five times, trying to get compensation, which, according to the facts, looks because of his and his wife. But he has been told from time to time that passports were not valid.
Given his position as a gold member of the BA club, he was dealt with by the British Airways Premium escalation team. But they were told: “Your passport was valid only till November 2025.” The team member said, “It is known as a 10 -year passport rule.”
Such a rule does not exist. But, blaming the passenger incorrectly, stood up to avoid his obligation to pay each £ 220 in boarding compensation denied to BA and reimbursed hundreds of pounds, reimbursing the costs resulting from mistake.
after Independent Contacted the British Airways on behalf of the couple, a spokesman said: “We are very sorry for our customer experience that we were denied travel incorrectly after an error by one of our colleagues. We are in touch with our customer to apologize and correct things.”
At the top of the statutory compensation to deny boarding, the BA has offered a doubles reimbursement of expenses caused by the ground staff error.
Mr. Taylor said: “I am not sure that compensation does us justice with inconvenience and disruption that we suffer.
“This situation raises the question as to why so many emails were needed and only your intervention received the correct response.
“It is deeply related to the fact that a company like BA will employ strategies that intentionally avoid the truth. It is a very disappointing behavior.
“I have been flying a loyal with BA for more than 30 years. Why did he not do the right work after the initial mistake and just apologize?”
Post-Brexit Rules on passport validity for the European Union were effective in 2021. To travel anywhere in the European Union (except Ireland), a British passport will have to fulfill two conditions:
- The day of departure for European Union is not more than 10 years old
- The desired day of departure from the European Union is at least three months left
In June, British Airways Ground Staff refused to board Claire Hannington in Gatvik45, who was flying to Ibisa.
On the same day in September 2024, BA staff in Gatviks wrongly refused boarding two separate passengersOne was going to Spain for a golf break, the other was traveling to America – where there are no minimum termination date requirements for British passport holders.
In all these cases, passengers made several appeals to the customer service employees to correct the mistakes, but they were ignored.