EasyJet fly refusal

bern1506

Hello,

on the 8th on June my wife & I were booked for a wonder holiday in the italian dolomites flying from Manchester with EasyJet.  My wife's passport had a small bit of damage to one corner where our dog had got hold of it and chewed it a little.  There was no damage to the details page nor the embedded biometrics.  She had used it on different airlines for the past 5 years with the small damage. But EasyJet just said no to flying despite pleading.  The floor manager just walked away.  We've lost £4000.  The travel insurance wouldn't cover it.  Would anyone have any advice how we could get some money back?

Newbie_John

You can get few pounds back by asking EasyJet to refund the APD taxes for your flights.

If travel insurance is a no, then I don't see any other options here sadly - damaged passport is seen as lack of it, you were allowed to continue (but not your wife) but you chose not to - so only the cost of her flights is lost because of the damaged passport. It's also a fair amount of time after - so no chances od trying to cancel the hotel, book another flight and hope for better luck there.

Sorry.

la531983

Just because you were allowed to travel on it for five years doesnt mean Easyjet were wrong to deny you, you could have been extraordinary lucky in the first place to have got away with it for that long.

Caz3121

bern1506 said:

 My wife's passport had a small bit of damage to one corner where our dog had got hold of it and chewed it a little.  

https://www.gov.uk/renew-adult-passport/replace

If your passport is damaged you must replace it. You may not be able to travel with it.

HM Passport Office will consider your passport damaged if:

• you cannot read any of your details
• any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing
• there are holes, cuts or rips in the cover
• the cover is coming away
• there are stains on the pages (for example, ink or water damage)

I am guessing that the passport was deemed by EasyJet to fall under the bolded part. I am not sure anyone can be liable for the financial loss and it is unfortunate this had not been denied earlier (on a less expensive holiday)

Westin

la531983 said:

Just because you were allowed to travel on it for five years doesn't mean Easyjet were wrong to deny you, you could have been extraordinary lucky in the first place to have got away with it for that long.

Agreed.

If the damage had just happened I can perhaps understand the upset more. The fact that this happened 5-years ago and your wife did not replace it in those years seems a little foolish IMO.  You might have gotten away with it in the past but clearly this time your good luck ran out and now you are sadly £4k down.  HM Passport Office lay down what the deem as a damaged passport and when it needs replacing, again you have 5-years to research this and take action.

Sorry to appear unsympathetic but it does come across that you/your wife want to blame easyJet rather than take ownership of the problem yourself.

"But EasyJet just said no to flying despite pleading.  The floor manager just walked away." - I guess only so many times they can explain the issue and tell you the problem.

la531983

The OP also has to remember that Easyjet would be on the hook if they got to the destination and the passport was rejected there, so you can understand their caution.

NoodleDoodleMan

Unfortunately this scenario has arisen on these forums more than once in recent times.

The harsh reality sadly is as above.