Two Palestinian women barred from boarding EasyJet flights to Cairo at London airport
Two Palestinian women have reported that they were refused boarding on easyJet flights from London to Cairo in February and March by staff citing recent "rule changes".
Rana Baker, a lecturer in the history of the Middle East at King’s College London, who was travelling from London Luton to Cairo on 7 March for a work trip, was denied boarding and informed that policy changes now required her to have a visa in order to travel to Egypt.
Baker, who has family in Cairo and is in the UK on a work visa, regularly travels to the Egyptian capital and has previously only been required to obtain an entry visa on arrival.
"I know that these are not the rules, I go multiple times a year," Baker told Middle East Eye. "I told them that I go to Cairo all the time, I was there in December, I don’t need a visa to go.
"I'm very used to going to check in and staff members calling someone or looking on the system, and then they always see that a prior visa needs to be held by Palestinian men, not women. I explained this, and I said, just check, I've done this a million times, and they kept giving me the same answer.
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"I felt like there was something else going on.
'I thought, I'm stranded in London forever, and how am I going to see my family?'
- Rana Baker, academic
"If I want to go home to Gaza, I need to go to Cairo first. It would be really odd if they had this rule that I need to go through this process because that’s just how I get home."
Baker spoke to multiple staff members who all confirmed that she was required to obtain a visa before travel.
Finally, one staff member admitted that "rules had been changed" following "recent events" in Palestine, referring to the five-month-long Israeli assault on Gaza that began on 7 October.
"I don't understand how these events are relevant when just before my flight there was a plane full of Israelis going to Tel Aviv and there seemed to be no problem," Baker said.
"I kind of believed it for a second," she said. "I was like, rules have changed and I'm not aware of it and maybe I actually need a visa. So then I thought, I'm stranded in London forever, and how am I going to see my family?"
A ‘misunderstanding’
Baker then went to Heathrow to try to catch an EgyptAir flight. The airline staff told Baker there had been no rule changes for visas and allowed her to board the flight and obtain her visa in Cairo.
In a series of emails to Baker, easyJet admitted they had wrongly denied Baker boarding but repeatedly failed to acknowledge the rule changes and insisted that "staff were only following the information provided".
On 6 March, the airline informed her that they would be conducting an investigation into her case, promising to call her on 13 March with the outcomes of the investigation. Baker did not receive the call.
On 15 March, Baker contacted the airline threatening legal action and promptly received a call from easyJet promising that the investigation would be launched imminently and that her ticket would be refunded in full, along with payment of compensation and reimbursement of expenses.
EasyJet had initially only refunded Baker the tax amount of her ticket, despite telling MEE that they would "refund her for her original flights, reimburse her expenses and provide the compensation she is due."
During the phone call, the easyJet staff member said she was not "entirely sure" why Baker was denied boarding.
In response to a request for comment regarding Baker's case, easyJet denied that staff had cited policy changes and attributed the incident "to a misunderstanding of travel documentation requirements by our ground handling provider".
MEE reached out to EasyJet's ground handling provider at London Luton, Menzies Aviation, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
A precautionary measure
Alia, who asked for her real name not to be revealed, was also barred from boarding an easyJet flight with her three children from London Luton to Cairo on 22 February.
"I'm here on a [UK] spouse visa. So I've got my residence permit with me, but they said no, you cannot travel with us without getting a visa," she told MEE.
"They told me the rules had changed recently, without mentioning the recent war."
Alia then went to the Egyptian consulate who informed her that the rules had not changed and she did not need a visa to fly, but advised her that as a precautionary measure, she should obtain visas before travel because some airlines were not familiar with the rules.
"Even for my kids, I put [the visas] in their passports. They are British citizens and have British passports. But the consulate told me that it's better to put it now for them," she said.
Alia contacted the airline twice requesting a full refund, which they refused, only offering to refund the tax amount.
Easyjet did not provide comment on Alia's case by the time of publication.
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