AN 81-year old Brit was banned from boarding his Ryanair flight – after making a big passport mistake.
John Constable was due to fly to Spain from Bournemouth Airport with all of his family.
John Constable missed out on a holiday due to damage to his passport Credit: BNPS
John’s passport had been through the washing machine and had a small tear Credit: BNPS
However, he was left at the airport while his entire family of 16 others went to Spain because of a ‘small tear’ on his passport.
It was then referred to Ryanair officials who refused his travel despite the family asking for ‘exceptional circumstances’.
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Talking to Bournemouth Echo, John’s stepson Scott Palmer-Read said: “John freely admits his passport went through the washing machine.
“But he has been able to travel with the passport in the same condition.
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“He had only recently been accepted by British Airways, Air Canada, UK Border Force, Canadian immigration, US immigration and cruise operators without any issue.”
The family of 16 then had to make the difficult decision to travel without him to Girona but said it felt like a “piece of the puzzle was missing”.
He added that the family would “not make the conscious choice to book Ryanair ever again.”
John isn’t the first passenger to miss out on a holiday due to passport damage.
Donna Fairclough was due to fly out of Manchester Airport and was ‘heartbroken’ to miss out on an £820 holiday to Malta in January.
However, Donna was turned away from the flight by easyJet because of a sizeable tear in her passport.
Ryanair denied John boarding due to the damage Credit: Peter Byrne/PA Wire
The damage was across the photo page of her travel document and the size of the tear meant that she wasn’t allowed to board the flight.
A Ryanair spokesperson talking about the situation with John said: “This passenger was correctly refused travel on this flight from Bournemouth to Barcelona Girona (27 July) by the gate agent at Bournemouth Airport as his travel document was damaged (tear in the biodata page of the passport) and therefore not valid for travel.”
Advice on the government website reads:
HM Passport Office will consider your passport damaged if:
you cannot read any of your details
any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing
there are holes, cuts or rips in the cover
the cover is coming away
there are stains on the pages (for example, ink or water damage)
