I was banned from EasyJet flight & had to take my pals to Wetherspoons for stag do over confusing passport blunder

A GROOM missed a flight for his dream stag do after a passport blunder meant he was banned from an EasyJet flight.

Ollie Bernard, 27, and several pals had checked on to a flight from Manchester to Copenhagen, but eagle-eyed air crew noticed his passport wasn’t valid as he tried to board the plane.

Ollie’s dream stag-do was cancelled after a passport mishap

The groom was denied access to boarding the plane after a crew member noticed his passport expiry date

Ollie and his mates ended up spending his stag do in Manchester and visited a Wetherspoons

It meant that Ollie from Manchester, was turned back and had to drag all his mates off the flight with the trip in ruins.

And the groom and his friends opted for a weekend of partying in Manchester instead, with Ollie having to bring his friends to budget boozer Wetherspoons.

Since Brexit, rules on passport validity for Brit visitors to the EU have tightened with some Member States insisting passports must not be older than ten years. One of these countries is Denmark.

Even though Ollie’s passport doesn’t expire until January, 2023, it was issued on May 4, 2012 meaning he missed out by days for the May 6 trip.

Ollie said EasyJet had even checked him in without mentioning any issues and he sat in the airport and downed a couple of pints while waiting for the early morning flight.

“I was literally the last person to get on the plane and the woman said, ‘hang on a minute, we have to check this’,” he recalled.

“She said my passport wasn’t valid, but I had eight months left on it, it didn’t even cross my mind it would be an issue.

“I was absolutely devastated, it was awful. I felt really bad because people had spent money on flights and accommodation.”

The digital marketer, who missed the passport rules change, said his stag do weekend in Copenhagen included go-karting, boating and paint-balling totalling up to £270 each.

“My best man organised it all and we had loads of stuff planned out, so we lost money on the flights and activities. 

“And some friends had come from all over for the trip including my brother from America and the best man was coming from Sweden so he had to fly to Manchester instead.”

But I had no clue about the new rules, it seems so ridiculous, absurd. I do feel guilty though, I kinda ruined the whole thing for everyone.”

The devastated groom said he and his 11-strong stag group visited pubs in Manchester city centre instead – including a Wetherspoons in the city’s Piccadilly area. 

“It ended up going really well in the end, we went into Manchester and started drinking in the sun, we even went to Wetherspoons,” he said.

“We rented a football pitch on Saturday and had a game of six-a-side and went go-karting on Sunday. We had a great weekend, so we pulled it back.”

Ollie is set to marry on July 30, but plans to make sure his passport is fully valid for his honeymoon in Canada.