My two children and I hold British passports and my husband, who is from the Middle East, has a travel document issued by the Home Office. We booked an easyJet flight from Gatwick to Berlin and checked in at the airport without a problem.
However, at the boarding gate, the easyJet rep insisted my husband needed a visa to travel. We then had to wait hours for our luggage to be retrieved. The following day, my husband visited the German embassy to apply for a visa and was told he didn’t need one to travel to Germany. I forwarded an embassy letter confirming this to easyJet which still insisted otherwise and referred me to a website which details the documents required by different countries. However, it also stated that a visa was not required in our case. EasyJet then claimed it had been following Gatwick airport procedures, but Gatwick has denied this. They’ve also refused to refund our tickets as they blame us for not having the documentation.
Other airlines have confirmed they would not insist on a visa for this trip. It has made us wary of travelling and, as we have received no proper explanation, makes me feel this was down to racial profiling.
AW, Southall
Only six weeks after your ordeal does easyJet admit it was wrong and that, disgracefully, was only after pressure from the media.
If the press office hadn’t got involved it seems you would never have received an explanation or your money back.
“We are sorry that the passenger was incorrectly denied boarding as a result of a misunderstanding with travel documentation at the gate,” it says. “We have since apologised and refunded the cost of his booking and fully compensated him in line with EU261 regulations.”
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