Rule change: BA makes passport mistake

British Airways has added two more flights to its already expanded Cape Town summer schedule.

British Airways has added two more flights to its already expanded Cape Town summer schedule.

Published Jan 20, 2016

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London - British Airways has been turning away passengers with valid passports from Austria-bound flights, citing "new rules" designed to control the flow of migrants.

A family of five were wrongly stopped from boarding at Gatwick airport last month.

Gary Preston, his two sons, his partner Karen and her mother arrived in good time for their flight to Salzburg. "We got to the check-in desk... and started to load cases on as the BA clerk checked our passports," said Preston. "She stopped on my partner Karen's. She said something had come up on her computer... She then called a colleague and broke the news to us."

The BA official told him that the Austrian government had changed the immigration rules to insist on a minimum of three months' validity, and that his partner's passport expired marginally too early, in March 2016.

"She also informed us that BA themselves would be fined up to £50,000 if they let Karen on board," said Mr Preston.

The Independent is aware of at least one other BA passenger also wrongly barred. But Tamara Frahmann, consular officer for the Austrian Embassy in London, confirmed that the regulations were unchanged. "British passports only need to be valid during the stay when travelling to Austria," she said.

At Gatwick, Preston checked the advice from the Foreign Office, which confirmed that a British passport is valid in Austria up its expiry date and went to the ticket desk to explain a mistake had been made, but with no luck.

BA's action appears to be based on a misinterpretation of a recent change in legislation aimed at controlling migrant flows across Europe. Intended explicitly for non-EU citizens, it reads: "The validity of the travel document shall last until at least three months after the intended date of departure from the territory of the member states."

BA issued a statement saying: "We are very sorry that on this occasion we made a mistake. We are currently investigating this case to ensure that it does not happen again. We have apologised to our customer and will be in contact to explain what happened."

The Independent

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