A MAN was forced to leave his 6-year-old twins at the airport after a Ryanair passport mishap.
Jon Compson missed the start of his holiday and had to fork out an extra £1,200 for a later flight because the airline misinterpreted a passport rule.
Unlike some holidaymakers who have fallen foul of the new rules, Jon's passport was in fact valid and legal.
Unfortunately for him, this was only discovered two days after he waved goodbye to his children and girlfriend as they left for Portugal without him.
It was only when Jon was completely sure that Ryanair had made a mistake that he was allowed on a different flight to sunny Portugal.
He told The Mirror: "The financial expense is bad enough, but because of this error, my family and I spent two days under extreme stress and anxiety.
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"I haven’t yet received a response back from Ryanair, however I am not very hopeful that they will pay out, so will most likely have to continue my claim through the financial ombudsman service.
"It caused all of us a huge amount of stress, my girlfriend had to travel with all of our luggage including two big suitcases and two car seats.
"My twins were very upset and couldn’t understand why I was not with them. It’s the first time we’ve been apart since they were born."
Before he arrived at Stansted Jon checked with the Portuguese consulate and UK Consular Services Department that his passport – which expires in October 2022 – would be okay to fly on.
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Despite being assured that it was, staff at the Ryanair check-in desk refused to let him onboard.
Jon is not the only holidaygoer to run into passport troubles with one Ryanair passenger refused entry despite having over a year left on his documents.
Since the UK left the EU, a number of European countries in the Schengen Area have required passports to be no more than 10 years old from the point of issue.
However, most countries also require passports to be valid for at least three – sometimes six – months after the dates of travel.
Believing that his travel document was indeed invalid, Jon booked a £177 emergency passport appointment along with a £262 easyJet flight.
Three days before he was due to get the new passport, he rang immigration services and consulate offices only to be told that his passport should in fact be valid.
At this point Jon decided to have another go at getting through Ryanair check-in and so booked himself onto a £282 flight the following day.
He made it onboard with no problems with his passport.
Once all of the last minute bookings, non-refundable appointments and more expensive car hire are taken into account, Jon is more than £1,200 out of pocket.
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Ryanair has been contacted for comment.
It comes after travellers to France are being warned about new passport checks that will cause chaos for Brits going on holiday.
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