Susan Rumsby, 55, accidentally brought her daughter’s passport to Bristol airport on 27 July, but Ryanair’s ground handler, Swissport, failed to notice her the change in identification, the Independent reported on Tuesday.
Mrs Rumsby was able to board the Boeing 737 without border control personnel in the UK and Spain noticing and only found the snafu after reaching her hotel in Spain.
“I was obviously then in a position that I could not travel back home,” Ms Rumsby said.
She said that Ryanair had been contacted and her husband had “suggested he could get my passport to them on the outgoing flight so I could return on the incoming flight” but that Ryanair “did not want to know or offer any assistance”.
— Eamonn Medlar (@_alias_root) August 6, 2019
Mrs Rumsby’s travel agent later told her she would need to obtain an emergency travel document in Malaga, which is 100 miles away from Seville. But her husband offered to fly to meet his wife in Spain with her passport.
“I have contacted my insurance company re my husband’s incurred costs of £642 but because the passport was not lost or stolen I cannot claim,” she told the Independent.
She added: “Although this is entirely my fault from the start I find it unbelievable and worrying that I managed to travel to Seville on the wrong passport and incorrect boarding pass which must question national security.
A spokesperson for Swissport said that the company was “aware” of the incident and that the passenger had been “allowed to travel incorrectly on her daughter’s passport”.
— Mark McElligott (@Mark_McElligott) August 6, 2019
“A full investigation into how this happened is now underway and Swissport will take all necessary steps once this process is complete”, the spokesperson said.
“All front of house staff are being re-briefed on the full procedure to follow when checking passenger’s documentation”, the spokesperson added. “We would like to apologise to the passenger and her family for the inconvenience this has caused them.”
The news comes after UK native Mr Allan Poole flew with KLM from Prague to his home in Newcastle using his friend’s passport. Mr Poole was able to pass four airport security checks in Prague, Amsterdam and the UK before realising he had the wrong travel document whilst checking into his accommodation. The safety of passengers and crew had “never been compromised”, KLM said in February.
