Who knew that having a spot of tea could be so harmful? A UK couple has accused Ryanair employees of kicking them out of the airport after barring them from flying due to a minuscule tea stain on one of their passports. “It’s just a stain on her passport,” Rory Allen, 29, told Kennedy News of the “embarrassing” incident, which occurred July 7 while he and his girlfriend Nina Wilkins were preparing to fly the budget airline to Costa Brava, Spain for a week. The seven-night vacay had been a Christmas gift present from Nina’s 57-year-old mum Sarah Wilkins.
Things began innocuously enough with the Warwickshire natives presenting their passports to the Ryanair check-in at East Midlands Airport, before proceeding to security. “She [the desk clerk] looked at all of our passports and didn’t really bat an eyelid and then we went through security,” said Allen, who was stoked to go on vacation with his soulmate. The couple reportedly spent over $250 on food, drinks and other airport concessions, unaware that their dream jaunt was about to take a major left turn.
“We weren’t even thinking about the possibility of not being let on the plane,” said Allen. Things went south during boarding after the gate staff examined Wilkins’ travel document and declared that they wouldn’t let the lovebirds on the plane because of a tea stain. “This passenger was correctly refused travel from East Midlands to Girona (7 Jul) as their passport was damaged and therefore not vali.