BA wrongly turns away two passengers over passports

Four hours after British Airways staff at London Gatwick airport incorrectly prevented a passenger from boarding her flight to Florida, they wrongly turned away another traveller, who was heading for a golfing break in Spain.

- SIMON CALDER

On both occasions, the passengers had UK passports valid for their destinations. They made multiple appeals for customer service staff to correct the mistakes, all of which were ignored. Both passengers then contacted The Independent, which confirmed that they were entitled to travel. But by then, their holiday plans had been wrecked.

The incidents raise serious questions about the competence and management of the British Airways operation at Gatwick and possibly more widely.

The first victim of a wrong decision by BA ground staff at the Sussex airport on 20 September was Kathleen Matheson, 62, from Skye. She was denied permission to board her flight to Orlando in Florida, because staff invented a requirement for British passports to have a minimum of six months remaining in order to be valid for the US. The American authorities have no such rule, and will accept UK documents up to their expiry date.

Ms Matheson and her husband Allan, 56, showed proof from the Foreign Office website that her passport was valid. The ground staff ignored the evidence. She then called the British Airways helpline – where the agent agreed with her interpretation of the US rules, but said they could not overrule the ground staff at Gatwick.

The couple travelled two days later on a Virgin Atlantic flight to Orlando, having lost 48 hours of a two-week holiday because of BA’s decision. Ms Matheson said she was “devastated and exhausted with what has happened”. After The Independent

investigated, a British Airways spokesperson said: “This was human error by one of our colleagues, and we’re in touch with our customer to apologise and put it right.”