Man banned from flying with easyJet ‘because of his name’ after airline confusion - here’s why

A 21 year-old man claims he was mistakenly banned from his easyJet flight one day before flying due to his name.
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Kieran Harris, from Cheshire, was due to fly to Alicante on May 25 with easyJet, having made the booking the month before. However, the airline contacted him the day before the flight from Liverpool to tell him that he was banned from boarding “due to disruptive behaviour”, and that he had in fact received a “10 year no-fly sanction” with the carrier, lasting “until 15/03/2031”.

According to Mr Harris, easyJet confused him with a man who shares the same name and birthday as him, who was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison after “behaving aggressively and abusively” on a flight in 2021. Speaking to the Mirror, he said: “My friend got an email at 6pm the night before the flight, saying I had this 10-year flight ban. I was gutted.

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“I wasn’t on the booking anymore, I didn’t have a seat on the flight. We’ve had this previously. It’s this person who obviously has the same name and date of birth as me.”

Mr Harris confirmed that the problem was eventually resolved after the airline requested a picture of his passport in order to confirm his identity. However, this only left him with a few hours to get to the airport.

Mr Harris described the experience as “incredibly stressful” and admitted it has made him less likely to fly with easyJet in the future. He added: “We’d booked the holiday a month ago and we even checked in online over a week ago, so there has been so much time for them to contact us.

“I was gutted because I’d booked a day off work [for the flight] and I’ve basically not been able to work today because I’ve been spending the whole day trying to ring easyJet to get this sorted”.

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An easyJet spokesperson said: “We are very sorry that Mr Harris was incorrectly advised he couldn’t fly with us. We made this decision in good faith as Mr Harris shared the same name and date of birth and was flying from the same UK region as a passenger we’d previously banned for a serious offence onboard.

EasyJet has launched a new route from Gatwick Airport to a brand new destination in Iceland. Picture by Hollie Adams/Getty ImagesEasyJet has launched a new route from Gatwick Airport to a brand new destination in Iceland. Picture by Hollie Adams/Getty Images
EasyJet has launched a new route from Gatwick Airport to a brand new destination in Iceland. Picture by Hollie Adams/Getty Images

“As soon as Mr Harris contacted us we resolved the matter and while he flew as originally planned we understand the frustration this will have caused so our team are in touch with him and will offer a gesture of goodwill in light of his experience”.

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