Mum criticises Qatar Airways as son, 13, denied Thailand trip due to passport issue

Meghan Law, 33, was left fuming after check-in staff at Edinburgh Airport told her there was a ‘luggage sticker mark’ on her son Alix Dawson’s passport, which they said constituted ‘damage’

A mum has slammed Qatar Airways after her 13-year-old son was refused boarding on their flight to Thailand.

Meghan Law claimed there was “no justification” for her ordeal at Edinburgh Airport, which “ruined” the start of her £3,000 family holiday. Check-in staff informed Meghan that a “luggage sticker mark” on her son Alix Dawson’s passport constituted “damage”.

The mother was instructed to head to Glasgow Airport – approximately 50 miles away – to obtain a new emergency document. In a desperate bid to rescue her family’s holiday, Meghan reached out to TUI, the tour operator she had booked the trip with, for guidance.

TUI found no issues with the passport and arranged for them to be on the next available flight to Thailand.

But now, 33-year-old Meghan has sworn off using Qatar Airways ever again. The NHS nurse, a mother of two, stated: “If I hadn’t booked through TUI and booked it myself, we just wouldn’t have been able to go on holiday. One way from Glasgow on the same day of travel would’ve been £2,800. There’s no way I would’ve been able to pay that,” reports the Mirror.

“I’d never had an experience like that at any other airport. There was no justification for it. I’ll never fly with Qatar again. It ruined the start of the trip – it was so stressful.”

Meghan, who resides in Aberdeen, has now returned from her fortnight getaway, but is keen to highlight her ordeal. HM Passport Office deems a passport damaged for various reasons, including when details cannot be read, when pages are missing or loose, and when there’s chemical or ink spillage on any page.

However, Meghan insisted Alix’s document had none of these problems, and had been accepted countless times previously at airports.

She went on: “I said I’ve used this umpteen times. No one’s ever mentioned any damage on it before. There were no rips or stains, I don’t know what she was trying to imply. I was really shocked.

“She told me that I need to get an emergency passport from Glasgow Airport. Then she said actually it’s not your passport that’s the problem, it’s your child’s, Alix.

“What they were trying to say was that the luggage check-in stickers that had been stuck on one of the pages [and] had damaged the page. But it wasn’t even on the photo page.

“There were no rips, it was just where the sticker marks had been. They said we couldn’t travel with it. I knew there were no issues with their passports. We’d probably travelled over a dozen times with those passports. We were just left in the airport with no help and no advice.”

Daily Star has contacted Qatar Airways for comment.

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