An NHS employee and her partner were stranded in Amsterdam and forced to shell out £900 to get home despite being fully vaccinated.
Kaitlyn Jones, from Garston, went to Amsterdam with her other half Sam Southall to celebrate her 21st birthday earlier this month.
The couple provided an antigen test to fly out but were told they did not need one for their return because they are fully vaccinated.
However, this turned out to be incorrect and they weren’t allowed to board their Easyjet flight, reports LiverpoolEcho.
She told ECHO: "We flew out with easyJet on December 7 and when we were over there we were checking every day to see if we needed a test to come home.
"We went to a testing centre and they said no because we were double jabbed so we left it. We hadn't heard from easyJet so thought we'd be ok."
The UK government requires all arrivals to have completed a covid test before arriving in the country, but Kaitlyn said she was unaware of this.
She said: "On December 10 we'd been at the airport all day for our flight at 9.25pm and we go to get on the flight and easyJet wanted to see a negative covid test.
"But they hadn't told us we needed one and they didn't accept the covid pass. They were awful, they gave us no direction on what to do next, just told us we weren't allowed on.
"I have a little boy at home that I needed to get home to and they sent us away, wouldn't let us on the flight at all. It was just the lack of communication and mixed messaging. Surely they should all be saying the same thing."
With the added worry of not knowing how she could get home, the pair had to pay an extra £100 for a hotel for the night plus £200 for a change of flights for the next day.
They then found themselves out of pocket for a further £500 to take the covid test they needed to be able to board the flight and get their result within two hours.
Kaitlyn added: "The holiday cost £600 and we had to pay an extra £900 just because there was no communication. We were stuck in Amsterdam with no help.
"They basically said the proof of vaccination wasn't good enough. They emailed us about the antigen test we needed before we flew out which was fine, so why can't they email to say we needed one coming back?
"I was so worried. I work for the NHS as well and was due in work on the Saturday and needed to get home. We then had to take another test when we got home and isolate for a few days until it came back negative so I ended up missing work.
“EasyJet didn't tell us about that either, if they had I would have booked extra time off work but instead, I lost a couple of days wage.
"The whole experience has been shocking and it has put me off going away until covid has gone.
“EasyJet should know the rules and know what we need to do and tell us but they didn't tell us anything. We went away for my 21st and it just ruined it.
“We've lost memories now because of this because instead of remembering the good time we had we will think about the bad things and the loss of money."
EasyJet said: "Like all airlines, easyJet is required by the UK authorities to ensure that all passengers arriving in the UK are able to present verification of a negative PCR test on departure to be able to travel. Unfortunately, as Ms Jones wasn’t able to provide the required test results, we were unable to allow her to travel.
“Due to the fast-changing, complex and widely ranging Government travel requirements and restrictions in place across Europe, we are alerting customers to the importance of checking current local travel requirements ahead of their flight via email and on easyJet.com via our Covid-19 Travel Hub, where they can also find access to government website links and the most up to date travel information.
"We always remind customers that it is their responsibility to ensure they meet entry requirements and will continue to advise them to check the local Government requirements prior to departure.”
