A GRIEVING pensioner was banned from a Ryanair flight and made to feel “like a criminal” because of a harmless mark on his passport.
David Burton, 70, was trying to fly from Exeter to Faro, in Portugal, last week when the low-cost airline said a tear meant his travel document was invalid.
The expat was back in the UK to attend his closest friend’s funeral in Cornwall, but was blocked from returning to Portimao, where he has lived for 30 years.
David had planned to get the 5.35pm Ryanair flight to the holiday hotspot but was turned away at check-in when staff spotted the mark – caused years ago by a luggage sticker.
It tore off the surface paper of David’s official observations page, even though there are none listed.
The father-of-two said he had travelled across Europe for years using the passport and never had a problem at border control.
Yet his treatment at the hands of Ryanair’s staff left him “shook up and startled”.
Retired David told The Sun: “I gave the agents my passport and they just went off with it.
“He came back and said it was being checked, to see if it’s valid.
“Eventually they came back and said that Ryanair is very strict with documents.
“He came back with another young man and he said, ‘You won’t be travelling to Portugal today from this airport. You might be able to travel from Bristol or Gatwick’.
“He was trying to assert himself, so I thought there was no point in arguing.
“Not that they would know, but I’d just laid one of my friends to rest.
“My wife told me to go outside and get some fresh air. I wouldn’t treat anyone the way I was treated.
“They were looking for a problem and a reason not to let me fly. You can use the word criminal, but it certainly felt like they had been trained to boot me off.”
The rejection, for which David was not offered a refund, meant he had to book a new Jet2 flight from Bristol the next morning, setting him back hundreds of pounds in train and bus fares.
The next day, David sailed through check-in with no issues, and agents told him his passport was perfectly valid to fly.
The shocked pensioner added: “Once I got to Faro, I asked the border agent if there was anything wrong with my passport.
“He looked at me like I was stupid, said no, stamped it, and sent me on my way.
“I’m just staggered this happened, and it’s really shaken me.
“I’m lucky I could re-book the flight, or I really would have been stuck.”
A Ryanair spokeswoman said: “This passenger was correctly refused travel on this flight from Exeter to Faro by the gate agent at Exeter Airport as his passport was damaged and therefore not valid for travel.”
What are passport rules?
What are passport rules?
The Sun’s Head of Travel Lisa Minot has explained exactly what Brits need to know.”
Travellers used to be able to roll over up to nine unused months from their old passport onto a new one.
“But post-Brexit, anyone wanting to travel to the EU can no longer rely on those extra months.”
In order to travel to the EU, all passports must be no more than 10 years old on the day you arrive in your European destination.
“And you’ll need at least three months on your passport on the day you head back to the UK.”
Figures have shown up to 100,000 holidaymakers a year face being turned away at airports if their passport is more than 10 years old.
“The 10-year rule only applies to countries in the European Union but every country may have different rules on what is accepted – some countries like South Africa, for example, insist you have at least six months left on your passport when you travel and a full clear page.”
