Britt Jones
A mum alleges that she was booted off a £7,000 family holiday by TUI due to an 'issue' with her passport.
Anna Laffin, 46, was ready to hop on her Manchester to Morocco flight on 25 July when she claims that she was told her passport was too old to be accepted.
Her passport was issued in May 2014, and Anna claimed that she still had six months left on the passport, and that according to Morocco’s passport rules, she only needed three months to be accepted.
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However, she claimed that staff didn’t listen to her and she had to watch as her daughter Ariane Laffin, 11, her partner Mark Elliott, 48, and his daughter Errin Elliott, 18, boarded the flight without her.
The mum, from Eccles, Greater Manchester, claimed that they applied a rule for visitors to the European Union, not Africa, which meant the document needed to be less than 10 years old.
Laffin said: "I didn't bother renewing my passport because I thought I would get another holiday out of it.
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"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.
"She took me to one side, made a call then said 'your passport is invalid because it was issued 10 years ago'.
"I have a 10-year-and nine-month passport and my expiry date is February 2025 so I had six months left and I only needed three months.
"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.”
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Laffin also claims that she was escorted away to collect her luggage which TUI had removed from the plane.
After having to book herself a taxi home, Laffin paid £200 for an emergency passport after leaving the airport and was given an appointment in Liverpool, Merseyside, on 29 July.
The following day (26 July), she then decided to call up to the TUI customer service line the next day to explain the situation.
Even though she received an apology by the customer service agent and they'd confirmed that her passport had been valid for the trip, she said she was left angry at the staff member’s insistence on the day she was booted off.
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Plus Laffin also doesn’t think that there was enough time to research the issue before her family boarded without her.
Thankfully, TUI paid for a taxi and hotel so she could travel to North Africa from Birmingham Airport two days later on 27 July, to meet her family there.
"I was still angry but I felt relieved at that point because I knew I was going to get to Morocco." she said. "I was exhausted when I got there because of the travel and the stress. It was one of the most stressful times.
"It took a while for me to settle in because I was so angry."
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According to the UK government's website, visitors to Morocco need their passport to be valid for another three months after the date you arrive and doesn’t have a 10-year limit.
The airline went on to blame their 'airport partner' for the issue and said they were in touch with the family to resolve the issue so that she could be 'adequately compensated'.
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."
LADbible reached out to Manchester Airport for comment.