A couple, who spent almost £1,800 on a Benidorm holiday, were left fuming when they were turned away from check-in – despite having an in-date passport.
Penny Priestly, 59, and her husband Dug from Nottingham were stunned when TUI refused to board them because their passports were 10 years old.
"We just turned up and were waiting an hour in the queue, I think we were about fourth from last and the girl on the checkout said to the other girl, can you check those dates?" Penny told NottinghamshireLive.
"She checked and said 'no they can't fly'. Then a bloke came over, a supervisor or something, and he said our only alternative is to go to Jet2 and ask them if we can fly."
Vouching they will never fly with the airline again, they claimed TUI staff said if it was a few days earlier, they would have been fine to fly.
Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
"They said if we had gone on Saturday we would have been alright," they told the publication. This date would have marked the 10-year point from when their passports had been issued.
The pair were still able to go forward with the holiday with a different airline – but at a price. They managed to secure flights with Jet2 for £860 but were unable to be refunded on the TUI flights due to it being a package deal.
A spokesperson for TUI said: "We're sorry that Mr Priestly was unable to fly with TUI as planned as his passport did not meet the required government passport guidelines.
"Government rules state that for customers travelling to certain EU countries, passports must be issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country and must also be valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave. We strongly advise that our customers check their passports are up to date before booking any flights.
"Details of passport validity guidelines can be found here."
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
