EasyJet incorrectly blocked mother from family holiday

Ellie Boltman, her husband Alex Stone and their two children were looking forward to a pre-Christmas holiday in the Canary Islands, flying with easyJet to Tenerife.

- SIMON CALDER

They turned up at Luton airport on 16 December last year, in good time to drop their cases. All of them had valid passports that comfortably met both requirements for a holiday in the EU:

• Issued no more than 10 years ago

• At least three months to the expiry date

Ms Boltman’s passport was valid for travel to the European Union until late February 2025 – yet she was denied boarding by a member of easyJet check-in staff.

Mr Stone said: “She took one look at my wife’s passport and said Ellie wouldn’t be able to fly. She said that since Brexit the rules had changed and the expiry date was no longer relevant. She went off to ‘check with a colleague’ but returned very quickly and confirmed we couldn’t fly.

“She said the expiry date was actually the 10th anniversary of the issue date and we needed to be returning home at least three months before that date.”

No such rule has ever existed, though easyJet pretended it did for many months after the UK left the European Union in 2021. Eventually, after pressure from