“I’m turning away six people a day for out-of-date passports” – that was the stark claim from a ground handler working for Norwegian at Gatwick airport.

The staff member had just needlessly wrecked a family’s surprise birthday trip to Copenhagen by misrepresenting the passport validity rules that have applied for British travellers for the past four years.

Caroline Wright from Brighton and daughter Tess had arranged for a 60th birthday surprise trip to Copenhagen for her husband Steve.

He learnt of the destination only at 6.45am on Friday morning when they arrived at London Gatwick airport to check in for Norwegian flight 3511 to the Danish capital.

The family all had passports compliant with the post-Brexit rules for British travellers to the European Union:

The Independent informed all the leading airlines of the rules in 2021, soon after they took effect.

But Caroline Wright says the ground staff were confused about whether the passports were valid.

“The Norwegian ground crew lady in the area looked at the passports and thought there maybe was something wrong with them – but was not sure and did not seem to know the rules,” she said.

“She thought it maybe mine as it expires in June this year. She asked me to talk with her male colleague who was stationed at the baggage check-in desk. He was not sure, but photographed both mine and Steve's passports and sent them to his supervisor.

“Whilst we were waiting, another colleague next to him asked him the issue and she said they should be OK.

“By this point it was a rollercoaster of emotions.”

Bizarrely, the supervisor decided to apply a rule that has never existed.

“They claimed that Steve's passport was invalid since there was not three months left until the date of 31 March 2025 when she said it 'expired' due to the 10-year-rule of when it was issued.”

There is no such rule. Mr Wright’s passport, which The Independent has seen, is valid for travel out to the European Union up to the end of March for a stay of up to a month.

Mrs Wright said: “By this point my stress levels were through the roof and I was feeling very faint. Up until 10 minutes previous to this my husband had no idea where he was heading as it was a surprise trip for his 60th birthday, so to be told we could not go was devastating.”

As often happens in these circumstances, the passengers were blamed for the decision – even though they were clearly in the right.

“The lady supervisor came over and explained there was nothing they could do, the passport was simply invalid and it was our responsibility to ensure we had the correct documentation.

“She repeated that the passport expires on the date of the 10-year anniversary of issue and there was less than three months until this date. She said she was turning around six people a day away for the same reasons.

“She was adamant, and on seeing how distraught I was, suggested we ring to see if we could get an emergency passport appointment in London and book another flight, since Steve's birthday was not until Wednesday.

“This was of no comfort – my daughter has exams next week, hence the flight dates during half term.

“We left and took the train home to Brighton, but of course I could not let this go, and started researching to understand how I could have missed this ‘rule’.“

Ms Wright found an article in The Independent about a similar case on the same day, involving KLM – who turned away a couple from Hull who were heading from Humberside airport to Paris for a birthday celebration.

The Wright family are almost £1,300 out of pocket as a result of the ground staff’s mistake. The Independent has asked Norwegian for a response.

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