EasyJet reviews procedures after wrongly banning passenger
EasyJet has apologised to a man who was stopped from boarding a flight with his five-year-old daughter after being wrongly identified as a blacklisted passenger.
Lawyer Sean Reilly, from Golders Green, London, was checking in at London Stansted for a flight to Bilbao when easyJet staff refused to let him on and took him to a customer service desk where two armed police officers were waiting.
The 42-year-old was told he was on a ‘no-fly’ list and check-in staff threatened him with arrest under terrorism laws.
Eventually he was allowed to take a taxi home and flew out to meet his family the following day on a British Airways flight, according to the Mirror.
The mistake arose because of an incident on flight to Toulouse four months earlier when two of Reilly’s business associates had been accused of being in an altercation with easyJet staff.
Mr Reilly had been scheduled to be on that flight but had, in fact, made alternative travel arrangements and was not on the plane.
After the incident, Mr Reilly had been warned he might be on a blacklist but he informed the airline he was not even on the flight. After not getting any response, he assumed there was no problem.
After booking his flight to Bilbao, he was sent emails by Easyjet about car hire and seat upgrades.
It wasn’t until he got to the airport that the trouble started.
An easyJet spokesman said: "EasyJet would like to apologise to Mr Reilly for the inconvenience caused by denying him boarding on a flight from London Stansted to Bilbao on 13th July.
"Unfortunately, he was mistakenly refused travel due to being incorrectly identified as a disruptive passenger on an earlier flight from London Gatwick to Toulouse.
"We have in place a robust procedure with measures to be followed which allows us to refuse future travel to passengers who are particularly disruptive.
"Unfortunately, in this particular case these haven’t been followed which has led to a case of mistaken identity.
"Although easyJet has never had an instance of this happening in the past, we are currently reviewing this case so we can ensure it does not happen again.
‘Whilst they are rare, we take all incidents of disruptive behaviour on board very seriously and we will be following up with the correct perpetrator retrospectively."
The spokesman said the airline was currently in discussions with Mr Reilly about compensation and associated costs.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025