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David Muir was furious when British Airways ruined his golfing holiday to Spain to celebrate his retirement. BA staff at Gatwick wrongly denied him boarding, by applying a rule of their own invention about passport issue and expiry dates.

After Mr Muir, 65, contacted The Independent, British Airways apologised – blaming human error.

Under air passengers’ rights rules he was entitled to £350 in cash compensation, with BA liable to pay the expenses he incurred as a result of the denial of boarding.

But instead British Airways’ customer-service staff initially said he could not have his money back because he didn’t have his passport with him.

The email sent to him after BA had apologised read: “We know the documentation needed for each country can be complicated, but as you’ll appreciate, we must follow all the relevant legislation when allowing customers on board.

“It’s the customer’s responsibility to make sure they have all the documents they need.

“As you didn’t have your passport with you, I’m afraid we can’t offer you a refund.

“We hope to welcome you back on board soon.”

Mr Muir responded: “This response is so inadequate that it hardly bears responding to.

“If you had looked at the issue you would have seen that I did have a passport with me but was stopped from travelling by BA agent on spurious grounds that it was not valid.

“I had been advised by Simon Calder that BA were going to apologise and resolve this. You have certainly not done either.”

After The Independent approached British Airways again, the airline apologised for the error.

The airline has since offered Mr Muir a £500 voucher as well as reimbursement of his costs.

Mr Muir said he has also secured £350 in cash – but only after he had been offered an initial £220. He reminded BA that the distance from Gatwick to Seville was over 1,500km, so the higher amount applied under passenger-rights rules.

British Airways must pay out £520 in compensation, plus other costs, to another passenger who was also wrongly denied boarding at Gatwick on the same day, 20 September.

Kathleen Matheson was turned away from a flight to Orlando in Florida despite having a valid passport and Esta permit.

She and her husband later flew on Virgin Atlantic. BA has apologised.

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