“I want to refuse six people every day to buy outdated passports” – a clear claim to a ground handling program working for Norwegians at Gatwick Airport.
The staff simply unnecessarily undermined a family’s surprise birthday trip by misrepresenting the rules for passport validity for UK travelers over the past four years.
Caroline Wright of Brighton and daughter Tess arranged a surprise trip to Copenhagen’s 60th birthday for her husband Steve.
He only learned about his destination when he arrived at London Gatwick Airport at 6.45am on Friday and boarded the plane for Norway 3511 to the Denmark capital.
This family is in line with the post-Brexit rules of the UK traveler to the EU:
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On the day of outbound travel, the date of issuance is less than 10 years away.
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At the expected return date, at least three months remain before the expiration date.
independent These rules were informed of the rules shortly after they came into effect in 2021.
But Caroline Wright said ground personnel were confused about whether the passport was valid.
“The Norwegian ground crew in the area looked at their passports and thought they might have problems – but were unsure and seemed to know the rules.”
“She thought it might be mine because it expired in June this year. She asked me to talk to a male colleague stationed at the luggage check-in table. He wasn’t sure, but took my passport and Steve and sent it to his supervisor.
“While we were waiting, another colleague next to him asked him this question and she said they should be fine.
“At this point, it’s a roller coaster of emotions.”
Strangely, the supervisor decided to apply rules that never existed.
“They claimed Steve’s passport was invalid because there were three months left until the date of March 31, 2025, when she said she said “expired” due to the 10-year rule being issued.”
There is no such rule. Mr. Wright’s passport, independent It has been seen that until the end of March, the validity period is valid for one month.
Mrs. Wright said: “At this point, my stress levels have passed through the roof and I feel very weak. Until this first 10 minutes, my husband didn’t know where he was going because it was a surprise trip for his 60th birthday, so it was devastating to be told that we can’t go.”
As often happens in this case, passengers are blamed for this decision – even if they are obviously right.
“The lady supervisor came over and explained that there was nothing they could do, that the passport was just invalid and that it was our responsibility to make sure we had the right documents.
“She repeated that the passport expired on the 10th anniversary of the issuance, and it was less than three months until this date. She said she bypassed six people a day for the same reason.
“She was determined and seeing how upset I was, she suggested we ring out and see if we could get an emergency passport appointment in London and book another flight because Steve’s birthday was till Wednesday.
“It’s no comfort – my daughter will take the exam next week, so on the half-term flight date.
“We left the train and returned to Brighton, but I certainly couldn’t let it go and started researching to understand how I missed this ‘rule’.”
Ms. Wright is independent In a similar case about the same day, involving KLM – they rejected a couple from Hull, who were heading to Paris for birthday celebrations from Humberside Airport.
The Wright family is close to £1,300 due to ground staff mistakes.
A Norwegian spokesman said: “After research, we found that we did make a mistake and provided a sincere apology to Mr. Wright.
“The claims issued by the Wright family will be expedited and they can get our answers within a few days.”
