A mother has criticized Qatar Airways after her 13-year-old son was not allowed to board their flight to Thailand.
Meghan Law expressed frustration over her ordeal at Edinburgh Airport, which jeopardized her £3,000 family vacation. Check-in staff informed Meghan that a “luggage sticker mark” on Alix Dawson’s passport was considered “damage.”
Subsequently, she was instructed to travel to Glasgow Airport, approximately 50 miles away, to obtain a new emergency document. Desperate to salvage their holiday, Meghan sought advice from TUI, the agency through which she had booked the trip. TUI found no issues with the passport and arranged for them to board the next available flight to Thailand.
Despite the resolution, Meghan, a 33-year-old NHS nurse and mother of two, has vowed to never fly with Qatar Airways again. She expressed that without TUI’s assistance, the cost of last-minute travel from Glasgow on the same day would have been prohibitive at £2,800.
Meghan, residing in Aberdeen, has recently returned from her two-week vacation but aims to raise awareness of her experience. She highlighted that HM Passport Office defines passport damage based on criteria such as indecipherable details, missing pages, or ink spillage, none of which applied to Alix’s passport.
She emphasized that the passport had been accepted numerous times previously at various airports without issue. Meghan was taken aback by the airport staff’s insistence on obtaining an emergency passport for Alix due to sticker marks on a non-photo page.
Despite their past trouble-free travels, the family found themselves stranded at the airport without guidance. The Mirror has reached out to Qatar Airways for their response to the incident.