An easyJet passenger was forced to take out a loan to by replacement plane tickets after making an error at the airport.
Chanel Gaston was flying back from Egypt with her partner and two children when she was stopped from boarding the plane.
The Briton was stunned when she was told she would be unable to get on the flight because her boarding pass had not been validated.
Gaston has checked-in to the flight online but under rules imposed by the Egyptian authorities, passengers must get their boarding passes validated on bag drop.
Problems with the validation were first noticed at airport security, with staff helping to get the family’s passes validated and then escorting them to the gate.
However, by the time the family arrived to board it was too late and they had missed the flight.
“There was no one to be seen from easyJet, four easyJet staff had no clue what to do. I really did not know what to do at this point,” Gaston said.
“We stood in the airport until nearly 11.30pm with no idea what the hell to do. There was no one to help us.
“I have got two kids with me, one being very sick.”
She added: “EasyJet should be giving back what I am owed, [I am] just being passed back and forth.”
However, easyJet say they are not responsible for the error and highlight that all customers are informed prior to arrival at the airport that they will need to get their boarding passes validated in order to fly.
The airline said that it had provided Gaston with documentation to help provide context to the situation so that she could lodge a case with her insurance company.
However, the mum of two said that her insurance company was refusing to pay out the claim because the issue was a human error.
An easyJet spokesperson said: “Ms Gaston and her family did not arrive at bag drop to validate their boarding passes as is required when travelling from Egypt, in line with the requirements of the local authorities.
“Airports in Egypt have a strict policy which requires passengers to present themselves at bag drop at least one hour before departure to validate their boarding passes before going through to security and we inform customers of this in the communications we send to them ahead of departure, to ensure they are aware of these local security requirements.
“If a customer arrives at the airport after check-in closes, in line with local regulations they aren’t able to pass through security, which is why Ms Gaston and her family were initially held up at airport security.
“We understand they were then escorted to the gate to help get them to their flight as quickly as possible, however they were not able to arrive at the gate before boarding closed and we were unable to delay the flight as this would have impacted the departure slot and caused a delay for the flight and all other customers onboard.”