A mum was left devastated after she was booted off a Tui family holiday due to an “issue” with her passport.
Anna Laffin, 46, was unable to board her flight from Manchester Airport to Morocco on July 25 when the company applied passport rules for the wrong country.
Laffin was told that her passport issued in May 2014 was too old and she could not board the plane.
She said that she had six months left on the ID and that, according to Morocco’s passport rules, she only needed three to visit the country for her 11-night holiday.
A mum was left devastated after she was booted off a Tui family holiday due to passport problemsGETTYThe 46-year-old nurse claimed that staff didn’t listen to her and she sadly had to watch as her family, composed of her daughter Ariane Laffin, 11, her partner Mark Elliott, 48, and his daughter Errin Elliott, 18, boarded the aircraft without her.
Laffin said she was then escorted away to collect her luggage that Tui had removed from the aircraft and the “humiliated” mum left the airport alone, seemingly missing out on her £7,000 family holiday.
She then paid £200 for an emergency passport and was given an appointment in Liverpool four days later.
However, the next day a customer service agent from the firm apologised to the mum and said that she had been wrongly denied boarding.
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Tui admitted that the mum had wrongly been denied boarding
PAThe mum said that staff had applied a rule from the European Union, not Africa, which meant the document needed to be less than 10 years old for visitors to be able to enter successfully.
She explained: “I didn't bother renewing my passport because I thought I would get another holiday out of it. They checked it at the bag drop area and we spent three and a half hours in the departure lounge until one member of staff challenged it at the gate.”
Laffin said that the staff member told her that her passport was invalid but she stressed that she had a 10-year-and-nine-month passport.
“I think the confusion is that people don't know passports can be valid after 10 years either. I was trying to explain to her that 'I'm not going to an EU country, I'm going to Morocco' but she said it doesn't matter and if she let me through I'd get deported and they'd get a fine,” she explained.
She was told that her passport issued in May 2014 was too old and she could not board the plane
GETTY“This was in front of everyone boarding and it was humiliating. I was worried and the kids were at the gate ready to go so they pressured us and didn't give us time to think so I just told them to go and that I'd sort it out.
“I was tearful and angry but I wanted to keep calm so it didn't give them a reason not to put me on the flight. I had to sit there and watch the plane reversing on the runway.”
Tui paid for a taxi and hotel so Laffin could fly to Morocco from Birmingham two days later - though she is still waiting for them to pay for her flight from the Midlands airport as they said they would.
A TUI spokesperson said: “We were very sorry to hear about Ms Laffin's situation.
“Unfortunately, she was incorrectly denied her boarding at the gate by our airport partner and not TUI.
“We are in touch with her to resolve the situation and ensure that she is refunded and adequately compensated.
“This is not how we want our customers' holidays to start, so we would like to once again apologise to Ms Laffin for the mistake. We hope she was able to enjoy the rest of her holiday.”