In an experience described as "very embarrassing," an easyJet customer was mistakenly put on the airline's no-fly list, leading him to be threatened with arrest ahead of a recent international flight, the Daily Mail reported.
Forty-two-year-old Sean Reilly was preparing to board a flight from London to Bilbao, Spain with his daughter when a pair of police officers escorted him to the customer service desk.
"An airline employee told me I had been refused to board the plane because of an incident with two passengers," Reilly told the Daily Mail. "He said he was going to get the police to arrest me as he had powers under the Terrorism Act. I said 'I'm not a terrorist and this flight had been booked since January' but he didn't seem interested."
Reilly's nightmare stemmed from an altercation between airline staff and two business associates that took place on a March 2015 easyJet flight, one he wasn't even on. In a case of mistaken identity, Reilly was cited for "abusive behavior" and placed on the British budget carrier's no-fly list.
"I've never been so humiliated in all my life," Reilly told the Daily Mail. "I just cannot believe the easyJet guy had to get the police involved at the airport. It seems symptomatic of the way easyJet try and bully people. They're not answerable to anyone."
"...it was all very embarrassing," he added.
Reilly's daughter eventually boarded the flight along with her grandparents, but Reilly had to fly out to Bilbao the following day on British Airways.
In a statement issued after the incident, an easyJet spokesman admitted that the airline was at fault and offered an apology to Reilly: "EasyJet would like to apologize to Mr. Reilly for the inconvenience caused by denying him boarding on a flight from London Stansted to Bilbao on July 13. Unfortunately, he was mistakenly refused travel due to being incorrectly identified as a disruptive passenger on an earlier flight from London Gatwick to Toulouse," said the spokesman.
"We are currently in discussions with Mr. Reilly with regards to compensation and associated costs."
The troublesome mishap comes amid allegations that the airline has been overbooking thousands of flights and violating European rules regarding offloading passengers.
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