A family travelling to Florida were barred from their flights because of a mix-up with their boarding passes.
Tina Cribb, 56, and her family were forced to fork out $A18,000 for nine new plane tickets to Orlando in the US after being turned away by Aer Lingus staff at Manchester Airport, The Sun reports.
The family was heading on the “holiday of a lifetime” but when they arrived at the airport they were told the names on their boarding passes didn’t match those on their passports.
According to the Mirror, the party wasn’t aware that their first names had been mixed up with their surnames until they arrived at the check-in desk.
Having booked their holiday via Trip.com, an online travel agency, the family from Norfolk in the UK were unable to get through to the correct department to rectify the mistake as they say it was closed.
The family praised Aer Lingus staff who kept the check-in desk open for as long as possible, but the family were still left gutted by the mistake.
“It took the shine off the holiday. I just think it’s wrong, and I think it could’ve been put right” Tina said.
“[I’m] shocked and appalled at how we’ve been treated”.
Tina believes that she entered the booking details correctly because an email sent from the online travel agent shows their forenames listed before their surnames.
The family haven’t received a refund as Aer Lingus refused to make changes to a booking through a third party.
A spokesperson for Aer Lingus apologised, saying: “Unfortunately, we are not able to make changes to bookings made via third parties such as Trip.com.”
“While we do allow names on bookings made directly with Aer Lingus, terms and conditions may vary between online travel agents.
“In order to be accepted for travel the name on a booking must match that of the passport.”
Sun Online has contacted Trip.com for comment.
This isn’t the first time a family’s dream holiday was ruined at the airport.
Sheldon Miller had to fork out over $A4500 to salvage the trip after an airline blunder forced them to miss their flight to Orlando, Florida.
And another passenger was left thousands out of pocket after being incorrectly told his daughter’s passport was out of date.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission