A YOUNG man has revealed how he was banned from flying with easyJet for a decade after they got him confused with a convicted criminal sharing his name.
Kieran Harris also had his home raided by police after they made the same mistake – but has finally won apologies from both the budget airline and the Metropolitan Police.
The 21-year-old graduate only learnt of his travel ban a day before a planned holiday to Alicante in Spain, he told the Mirror.
He believes easyJet had him mixed up with a convicted criminal also called Kieran Harris and with the same date of birth.
Despite booking the May 25 flight a month in advance, he received an email from the firm on the eve of his trip from Liverpool saying that "due to previous disruptive behaviour" he had received a "10-year no-fly sanction until 15/03/2031".
The criminal with the same name was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for behaving aggressively and abusively when drunk on an easyJet flight in 2021.
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The innocent Mr Harris, from Parkgate in Cheshire, is now considering a name-change after a series of mishaps – including police storming his home in bulletproof vests last year after misidentifying him.
The trainee auditor said of the email from easyJet: "I was gutted. I couldn't quite get my head around it.
"I wasn't on the booking anymore, I didn't have a seat on the flight and there was no point in me even going to the airport.
"We've had this previously. It's this person who obviously has the same name and date of birth as me.
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"The police turned up at my family home last summer trying to question me. It was quite serious, but within five or ten minutes they knew that it wasn't me.
"News articles are published with a photo of this person and you can see that it's not me.
"They're accusing me of doing something, whereas if they saw me in person any human being would be able to see that it's not me, it's just a bit frustrating.
"I'm thinking of getting a name change if this continues to happen."
EasyJet eventually lifted the ban after asking for a picture of his passport to confirm his true identity – but Mr Harris called the ordeal "incredibly stressful".
He added: "This has made me less likely to want to fly with easyJet in the future. I definitely don't want to fly with easyJet again."
And his mother Sheena Harris, 54, told how the wrongful Met Police raid last year was "very frightening" and "quite traumatising".
She recalled: "Last May, in the early hours of the morning, the Met Police turned up at the front door.
"They burst into the house, burst into his bedroom and got him to come downstairs.
"Then their attitude started to shift, and it became quite obvious that they'd seen him and his physical appearance and started to back off slightly.
"They sat him down and explained that there is someone else with his name and his identical date of birth who lives somewhere in the North West, and this person has committed some sort of crime.
"They said that the information they had been given had led to Kieran's doorstep.
"It's quite upsetting. He's a young man who has done nothing wrong and it's not very nice to think that there's someone out there who has the same details.
"Kieran will change his name if he has to in order to move forward in his life without having this hanging over him."
An easyJet spokesperson said: "We are very sorry that Mr Harris was incorrectly advised he couldn't fly with us.
"We made this decision in good faith as Mr Harris shared the same name and date of birth and was flying from the same UK region as a passenger we'd previously banned for a serious offence on-board.
"As soon as Mr Harris contacted us we resolved the matter and while he flew as originally planned we understand the frustration this will have caused so our team are in touch with him and will offer a gesture of goodwill in light of his experience."
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: "This complaint did relate to police attending an address for a Kieran Harris and it appears to have been a mistaken identity, for which we have sent an apology in writing."
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