EasyJet turns away couple minutes before flight due to ‘unfair’ Covid policy

A couple whose holiday plans were thrown into confusion by Covid-testing policies say the rules are is "unfair" and “illogical”.

Jayne Nicholls and Alexander Doory said they were not allowed to board their easyJet flight to Naples this week at Luton Airport due to an "unclear" ruling by the airline.

The couple, from Kirby Muxloe in Leicestershire, were told on Monday, October 4, that their fit-to-fly covid test result would not be accepted due to test result being "out of time", LeicestershireLive reports.

Miss Nicholls said: "We had our fit to fly test at 8.02am at Colington's at East Midlands. They asked us where we were going and where we were flying so we thought we were sorted.

"But when we got to the gate, we saw a young lad before us getting turned away. He looked really panicky, but he could only speak Italian so we couldn't find out what was wrong."

The 55-year old and her partner were told that the ruling meant actually meant that the test result had to be valid 48 hours to when they landed in Italy – not 48 hours ahead of their departure time.

The flight was scheduled for 6.10am and was due to land 8.40am UK time, meaning the duo were 40 minutes shy of meeting the policy requirements.

She told LeicestershireLive: "The whole thing was really confusing. It should be called "fit-to-land". It wasn't logical or fair and that's the worst thing."

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"Some passengers were given a 30 minute leeway," she added, "but we were still out by 10 minutes so we were turned away.

"To me, it's just not clear. We lost money for airport car parking, flights plus we had to purchase new flights, new covid tests and new airport parking.

"I'm strong, I'm not a stressed-out person – but the situation actually pushed me over the edge.

"There wasn't any apologies – we weren't allowed to ask questions, and there wasn't anyone that would help us or answer a question."

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However the airline said the requirement was put in place by the Italian government and customers are asked to research Covid-related restrictions for destination countries prior to their flights.

A spokesman for EasyJet said: "Passengers travelling from the UK the Italian authorities require a negative Covid test result to have been taken within 48 hours of arrival which unfortunately the passengers didn’t have.

"Like all airlines, easyJet is required to comply with the requirements of the local authorities in all destinations where we operate.

"Unfortunately, as the passengers were unable to provide negative test results inside the timeframe required by the Italian authorities, they were unable to travel.

“Due to the fast changing, complex and widely ranging Government policies around restrictions in place across Europe, we are alerting customers to the importance of checking current local travel requirements ahead of their flight via email and on easyJet.com via our Covid-19 Help Hub, where they can also find access to government website links and the most up to date travel information.

"We always remind customers that it is their responsibility to ensure they meet entry requirements and will continue to advise them to check the local Government requirements prior to departure.

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority.”

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