A mum’s dream trip to Lapland was shattered when she collapsed in despair at the airport when TUI staff told her a slight tear on her passport prevented her from travelling.
Claire Page, 37, was devastated after being told at the airport that she and her family could not board their flight to Finland due to the minor passport damage. Despite having used the passport multiple times before without issue, the beautician and mother of two had booked the festive getaway a year in advance as a special surprise for her husband Justin, 39, a car salesman, and their sons Ashton, 11, and Grayson, 7.
The holiday package with TUI promised an enchanting stay at the Snowflake Hotel, complete with a reindeer sleigh ride, a snowmobile adventure with huskies, and a magical visit to Santa Claus.
Speaking to Manchester Evening News, Claire from Bolton said: “It was quite simply my dream trip. It’s one you always think about and want to do with your kids in your lifetime. I had been saving for it since Ashton was a baby. My husband always said it was too much but it was something I wanted to do for them all so I paid for it with my own money.”
The family revealed the surprise to the children on Ashton’s birthday, just a day before their scheduled departure, leaving them “amazed.”, reports the Daily Record.
However, their excitement turned to disappointment when they reached Manchester Airport early on Sunday, December 1, for their 6am flight to Ivalo.
Claire’s holiday excitement turned to distress at check-in, where staff dressed as elves questioned her passport due to a tear on the photo page. She recounted that the damage occurred about “five or six years ago” at a Spanish airport and insisted she’d travelled multiple times since without issue.
This time, however, after the passport was inspected by another staff member, Claire was informed she was unable to travel.
Claire shared her turmoil: “By this point I was crying, my kids were crying. I fell to the floor. Two other ladies from TUI came over and picked me up and took me to the side. The kids just kept asking ‘are we not going? ‘. Then when we got to the other desk, TUI said ‘there’s nothing we can do, there’s no other flights, we can’t change your holiday’.”
In a distraught state, Claire urged her husband to go ahead with their children although it was against his wish, knowing how much the trip meant to her. She recalled: “My husband said he couldn’t do it, as he knew it was my dream. But I told him we had to think of the kids. I said ‘you have to get on that plane, or I will never forgive you.’ We’d only told them the night before so there was no way they weren’t going.”
“If they had let me through, I am certain nothing would have been said as it hasn’t any of the other times,” she added. “The person who flagged it can’t have been a mother, as no mother would do that. They told me I could be turned back or held in immigration and I said that’s fine. I was happy to take the risk. I was having to watch all the other families checking-in and doing what I should have been, it was heartbreaking.”
The UK Government website states that damaged passports must be replaced and cautions that you “may not be able to travel with it”. It is considered damaged if there are ‘holes, cuts or rips in the cover’ or ‘any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing.
TUI consulted Finnish immigration about Claire’s passport by sending them an image, but they declined it, according to the airline. Claire added: “They said to me, someone has gone to tell your husband, I will show you the way out’. And that was that.”
She was collected by her mum, and together they hurried to Liverpool in hopes of getting an immediate replacement from the passport office. “You couldn’t write it, but all the streets were closed because of a Santa dash,” she explained.
“We had to abandon the car and were literally running across the city.”
With the passport office shut, she managed to secure an appointment for the following Monday. However, she was informed that it would take a week to issue the passport, by which time her husband and children would have already returned from their trip.
She shared that although her family enjoyed the activities, they often felt saddened by her absence.
“I will never get this opportunity again, because my oldest goes to high school next year so it will likely be his last year of believing,” Claire said. “So even if we could afford to go again it wouldn’t have that full, magical Christmas feeling. It’s just heartbreaking. I am gutted. It still doesn’t feel real.”
TUI stated that their staff ‘tried their best’ to facilitate Claire’s travel, but after liaising with the Finnish immigration department, the request was unfortunately declined. They added that their representative stayed with her until she was collected at the airport.
A spokesperson commented: “We were very sorry to hear that Mrs Page was not able to travel with the rest of her family earlier this month. Government regulations do not allow passengers to travel with damaged passports, and after our teams spoke with the relevant authorities her passport was unfortunately denied. We encourage all customers to check their documents are valid and not damaged before they travel.”