Prevented from leaving for Morocco, she recounts her ordeal

A British woman was prevented from boarding her flight due to passport rules after arriving at Manchester Airport to fly to Morocco with her family for a £7,000 holiday. She has filed a complaint with airline TUI following the incident.

Anna Laffin had a bad experience at Manchester Airport. As she was about to fly to Morocco with her family on July 25, she was refused boarding because her passport, issued in May 2014, was too old. “I didn’t bother renewing my passport because I thought it would allow me to have another holiday. They checked it in the baggage drop-off area and we spent three and a half hours in the departure lounge until a member of staff challenged it at the gate. She took me aside, called me over and said: ‘Your passport is not valid because it was issued ten years ago’,” she tells Online mail the 46-year-old nurse. Her passport, which was ten years and nine months old at the time of the planned trip, was due to expire in February 2025. She says she explained that she only had three months to spend in Morocco. “I had six months left and I only needed three months. (…) I tried to explain to her that I was not going to an EU country, that I was going to Morocco, but she told me that it didn’t matter and that if she let me through, I would be deported and they would give me a fine.”