“At home or online testing is NOT accepted for travel” – so read a large hand-drawn sign at McCarran airport in Las Vegas over the weekend.

The sign warned British Airways passengers that only a professionally administered test was acceptable for travel to the UK.

It is understood the sign was put up by a member of staff of a ground handling agency at Las Vegas airport.

Some BA passengers who had self-administered tests – some of which had been sold by the airline – say they were told to pay around $200 (£152) for a second at an airport testing centre.

The writer and photographer Toula Mavridou-Messer tweeted: “Stopped from flying home by @British_Airways from Vegas despite our tests bought via the BA site being negative.

“Have to pay $200 each to do the same test at a lab. BA cannot provide us with any official guidance that states that as necessary.”

Pre-departures tests from the UK to US must meet stringent rules about how they are administered: either professionally conducted or video-supervised by an authorised company. But tests for travelling from the US to the UK are much more relaxed, so long as the traveller does not use an NHS test.

The government says: “You must check with your test provider that the test meets the standards.” There is no requirement for medical supervision, and photographic evidence of a lateral flow test having been taken by the traveller is acceptable.

Ms Mavridou-Messer later added: “Meanwhile, the $200pp test that they accepted due to it having a lab logo was taken unsupervised at our hotel – in the exact same way that our original test was taken – despite it stating that it was done by a doctor in a surgery on the emailed results.”

One contributor on Facebook wrote: “People have been re-booked on the next day’s flight, had to source and pay for an expensive PCR test, pay for an extra night in a hotel and food.”

A spokesperson for British Airways said: “Like all airlines, we ask customers to check the gov.uk website for information on testing.”

The Independent understands that the sign has now been taken down.

Passengers who feel they suffered financial loss as a result of an incorrect decision by airline ground staff can seek recompense.

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