Woman left ‘traumatised’ after being banned from her flight over simple passport mistake

A WOMAN was denied a flight because of a careless passport error.

Gemma Elliot and her family flew from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Alicante in Spain.

2

At the gate, Gemma was told she was not allowed to board the flight as her passport was over ten years old.

Under the new passport rules, Brits will no longer be allowed to use extra months on passports older than a decade.

Instead of going on holiday with her husband, sister and nephew, Gemma was taken away by security and “sobbed” as she was led back through passport control.

She was stuck at the airport and had to pay £400 to get an emergency passport.

Gemma told it the leader: “Looking back, I can truly say that it traumatized me.”

“I held it together at the gate to make sure my family could still get on the plane and still enjoy their vacation as much as possible.”

“But the stress and embarrassment was very overwhelming and I’m now afraid to go to the airport.”

But Gemma is not the only holidaymaker affected by the new passport regulations.

At the security gate, she was told by a member of staff that at least one person would be turned away from their leave each day due to the rule.

And vacationer Kirsty Hayes was also surprised by the new passport rule earlier this week.

Kirsty had spent £1,000 on her all-inclusive holiday in Mallorca.

Like Gemma, she was turned away at the gate because her passport was ten years and a day old.

Meanwhile, teacher Rosie Simpson was barred from boarding her flight to Paris earlier this year for a similar reason.

she said the guard: “I had no idea about the 10-year rule. I had checked the expiration date and found my passport had eight months left. What happened at the gate was absolutely horrible.”

And even travel journalist Jenny Southan made the same mistake and had to pay £700 out of pocket after being prevented from traveling.

2