Woman left 'traumatised' after being banned from her flight over simple passport mistake | The Sun
08/27/2023A WOMAN was banned from her flight because of an easy passport mistake.
Gemma Elliot and her family were flying from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Alicante in Spain.
At the boarding gate, Gemma was told that she wasn't allowed onto the flight because her passport was more than 10 years old.
Under new passport rules, Brits are no longer allowed to use any additional months left on passports that are over a decade old.
Instead of heading away on holiday with her husband, sister, and nephew, Gemma was escorted away by security and "sobbed" as she was led back through passport controls.
She was left stranded at the airport, and forced to pay £400 to get an emergency passport.
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Gemma told the Leader: "Looking back, I can genuinely say I think it has traumatised me.
"I kept it together at the gate, to ensure my family still got on the plane, so they could still enjoy their holiday as best as they could.
"But the stress and the embarrassment was very overwhelming and I now have anxiety about going to the airport."
But Gemma isn't the only holidaymaker who has been affected by the new passport rules.
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At the security gate, she was told by a member of staff that at least one person was being turned away every day from their holiday because of the rule.
And holidaymaker Kirsty Hayes was also caught out by the new passport rule earlier this week.
Kirsty had spent £1,000 on her all-inclusive holiday to Majorca.
Like Gemma, she was turned away at the gate because her passport was 10 years and a day old.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, teacher Rosie Simpson was banned from boarding her flight to Paris for a similar reason.
She told the Guardian: “I had no idea of the 10-year rule. I’d checked the expiry date, and my passport had eight months remaining. What happened at the boarding gate was absolutely awful."
And even travel journalist Jenny Southan made the same mistake, and was left £700 out of pocket after being stopped from travelling.
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