One of my friends, who is a Greek (and therefore EU) citizen was prevented from boarding an Aer Lingus flight from Barcelona (in Spain and therefore in the EU) to Cork (in Ireland and therefore in the EU) until she'd taken a language test.

This is a flagrant breach of European law on the freedom of movement between EU states.

Aer Lingus's apology was a standard letter with a derisory compensation of a 200 Euro discount off her next flight.


Irish Times report on the incident

Unbelievable

Appalling ! One of my work colleagues is Greek (though he's lived in Leeds 8 yrs), and fluent in English. He would have been horrified if this happened to him (He also has a short temper....)

But surely she would have been speaking fluently in one language or the other? Shouldn't that have been proof enough?

I see Aer Lingus being hauled through international courts over this.

Unfortunately not. She is fluent in both languages, an educated professional woman. She was travelling with her husband and kids (who are all Irish citizens) and it didn't make any difference whatsoever.

How disgusting! That just has to be illegal.

AerLingus should be ashamed of themselves. That and several thousand pounds lighter as a result of a heavy compensation bill...

Quite apart from being outrageous, this just seems strange.

Surely if biometric passports were really unreliable, from Greece or any other country, the immigration service should know about it by now. What is the point of biometric passports if they are not reliable, (and I have I have never heard that they are not). And what on earth is an airline getting so up itself about them for, it is just bizarre.

I find this decidedly scary.

My opinion is that this lady should lodge a formal complaint with the relevant body and the airline finedat least a four figure sum.

This is disgraceful! Should it matter where a paying customer for your company's flights comes from? It's not like you have a good ol' knees up and party with all the other pax. on board? :s

All the other what?

pax. is shorthand for passengers

Well, that's a relief. To be honest, it sounded racist. But to answer the orevious question, it wasn't where the passenger came from that was an issue, it was whether she really came from where she said - in other words whether it was a false passport.

Even so, isn't that a matter for passport control rather than the airline?

It's a tricky one for the airlines as they get fined heavily if they carry someone with a forged passport so they have to make checks before letting people board. They are being given the job of the immigration services but presumably don't have the same powers or access to biometric passport reading equipment so have devised their own test.

Shocking for the passenger though who has my every sympathy.

Edit: after reading Linda's post, yes, it is the job of passport control but since they have removed that via Schengen, the job has been passed to the airlines in the same way that responsibility for card fraud rests with retailers instead of banks.

I wonder if the flight was overbooked by one seat?

All airlines seem to treat their customers with utter contempt these days, and they will use any opportunity to deny boarding if it suits them.

I waited in a queue for over forty minutes to check in for an EasyJet flight, and in doing so missed the flight. I was not alone There were only two check in assistants on duty on a Friday evening, with several busy flights departing within half an hour or so. Only when it was too late did six more staff come on duty.


SB

Did you get reimbursed?

They will already be tens of thousands of Euros lighter as a result of lost business. We should all write to their head office telling them why we will never ever fly with them, until this woman gets a proper (grovelling) apology and more substantial compensation.

Latest news: Aer Lingus have backed down....

Associated Press report

Good news!

So Aer Lingus should do. Disgraceful behaviour in the first place...

I wonder; how many British passport holders speak fluent English?

Perhaps the UK Border Agency should try these language tests on passengers bound for Stansted from Falaraki and such places.

SB

Question 8 of the test really amused me - at least, the Greek version did: [from the Irish Times article]

They would have got a mini-essay from me in that case, patiently explaining that one would hope that Ireland's oldest airline might have some awareness that if one were attempting to catch a flight to Ireland, one is not actually going to England!

Maizie - me too! SB - excellent point.

If it is true that airlines now have the responsibility for identifying false passports, and that they don't have access to passport agency equipment to help them do this, then the question remains as to how they should identify false passports.

(My question shouldn't be taken as an indication that I agree with how the airline treated this passenger, just a recognition of the difficult situation in which the airlines find themselves.)

As Aer Lingus have been subjecting those with Greek passports to these tests for a year, it's interesting that it has only now come to light. Presumably most people find it easier to do a questionnaire than make a big fuss which causes their family stress. It's as well that there are still those around who will make a fuss anyway! However, I'd argue that those more in need of compensation are the cowed individuals who submitted to the test, rather than katyjay's friend, who has the education, nous and confidence to complain about it.

So what is new about Governments placing legal obligations on councils, groups, individuals, then denying them the means of meeting those obligations?

Why would they need compensation? They may - or may not - have found it slightly time-consuming and even patronising, but if there's no evidence of ill-treatment or being denied a flight, what have they lost that needs compensation? Will we be asking for compensation for askng people proof of age, or random baggage checks?

I did wonder what language the original spoken instruction to fill out the questionnaire was in. The Aer Lingus desk would presumably have had English speakers on it, or would it? They didn't want to know if she understood Greek, but "either Greek or English" - so in what langauge did they ask her to do the questionnaire, and in what language did she protest? Were the staff allowed no discretion in this matter?

Surely the ill treatment comes in requiring the test in the first place, if that is illegal. If Katyjay's friend had submitted to the test like all the others did, she wouldn't have been denied a flight either.

I don't think the language tests are illegal. The newspaper says that :

"Culhane (the spokeswoman) said Aer Lingus received the tests from the United Kingdom Border Agency in early 2011 as part of a British warning that illegal immigrants were increasingly using fake Greek passports, particularly through Spain and Portugal, to gain entry to Britain and Ireland".

Although obviosuly just because the UK Border agency thinks they're a good idea does not make them legal for Ireland which is part of the Schengen countries (unlike the UK).

And the compenstaion is just a fob, an apology for distress caused about the way it was handled i.e. pretty badly.

However, using the language tests purely for nationals of one or two countries may well be illegal (laws of discrimination).

And ignoring the biometric passport was idiotic - that's the whole point of them, un-forgeable (supposedly).

But I do have a little sympathy for the airlines. Within the Schengen countries, they are now expected to act as border control. The language test actually seems very reasonable to me. Obviously some legal Greek nationals would fail it (like the lady's daughter) or someone who is functionally illiterate (a significant number of adults which is often overlooked). And checks would have to be put in place so these people were not penalised. But, first off, the vast majority of Greek people will pass it in 10 seconds (whereas the non EU persons claiming to be Greek presumably wouldn't). And this does seem a very rapid spot-check.

Don;t understand why she needed to complete an English test as well though - the article I read said : But Dislis was told she must fill out two tests, one in English and the other in Greek . .
If it's her Greek passport they are worried about being forged, then all she has to prove is that she's Greek - her level of English is irrelevant.

If we all rolled over and did whatever we were told by various officials, regardless of whether their requests were legal or not, life would soon become unbearable for everybody. It is only through the actions of a thinking minority such as this lady that comparative freedom is maintained for the majority.

I think we have to accept that a lot of people are trying to enter Europe by illegal means, and that some form of control is therefore necessary. However, the problem, it seems to me, is that security personnel (including airline staff) are afraid to target those who they genuinely believe may be travelling on fake passports, or who may pose a security risk, because in doing so they would leave themselves wide open to claims of discrimination. The result is that people travelling legally are routinely subjected to unnecessary and inappropriate examination just to show that the system is working fairly.

I travel around Europe very regularly by air, and time after time I see the most unlikely people being subjected to unnecessary and inappropriate security checks simply because the security staff must be seen to treat everybody equally; which generally means treating everybody equally badly. This is especially the case here in the UK.

What frustrates me all the more is that whenever I return to the UK from the USA, British passport holders have to wait in a very long line with all other EU passport holders, who always seem to be subject to very close scrutiny. This is far from welcome at 5.00 am after an overnight flight! Meanwhile, 'all other passport holders' are waved through with little more than a cursory glance.

SB

I agree entirely, and made this point in my first post. Quote: "It's as well that there are still those around who will make a fuss anyway!" But most people would accept that airline checks are necessary, just as we all submit to CRB checks - though I think you are right that most such checks would be more effective if targeted at likely offenders rather than applied blanket fashion.