Girl aged 16 f lying alone to Portugal is turned away under ‘Maddie law’
A GIRL of 16 was prevented from boarding a flight to Portugal after airline staff told her there were restrictions ‘because of the Madeleine McCann case’.
Eilidh Strathie was flying out to stay with a friend’s family when she was stopped at the boarding gate.
She was told she could not fly unless she had a letter of consent from her parents and details of who was picking her up in Portugal. ‘It was so embarrassing,’ said Eilidh.
The airline Jet2’s website says it ‘allows persons aged 14 or over to travel alone’. It adds that ‘special conditions apply to some countries’, but Eilidh’s parents said they were not warned while booking.
Her mother Corinna, 42, said airline staff later ‘explained that the reason Portugal is so strict is that the authorities there were criticised after the Madeleine McCann case, but it seems like an overreaction’.
The British girl has been missing since May 2007, when she vanished, aged three, from a holiday flat in Praia da Luz in the Algarve.
Eilidh has heading off for a week in a villa near Albufeira, in the same region, when the fiasco happened at Edinburgh airport last Tuesday.
Mrs Strathie, who had left after dropping her daughter off for her first flight alone, was given a chance to email the required consent and details to airline staff, but was unable to do so because of poor mobile reception. ‘It was heartbreaking and so frustrating,’ she said.
She eventually got a call to say the plane had taken off and she had to go back to collect Eilidh.
‘It didn’t cross my mind that you wouldn’t be able to fly to Portugal alone at that age,’ said Mrs Strathie, from Lundin Links in Fife. ‘You can get married and leave home but you need a letter from your mum and dad to fly to Portugal.
‘I was so angry. At no point when I was booking the flight online did it flag up that people need written consent to travel to Portugal at that age. I was told the information was in the FAQ section, but when I checked later it was not clear you are considered a minor at 16.’
The Jet2 website says: ‘Any person under the age of 14 can only travel if accompanied by a person aged 16 years or over who will take full responsibility for them.’
In the section on Portugal’s ‘special conditions’, it adds: ‘All minors entering or leaving Portugal must be in possession of a letter of parental consent.’
Jet2 did not allow Eilidh to transfer to another flight, so her parents had to pay £225 for a Ryanair flight to Faro the following morning.
The airline has apologised for the ‘frustrating experience’ and said it would refund the cost of the flight. A spokesman added: ‘Jet2.com fol lows the clear advice set out by the Portuguese authorities, which can also be seen on the Foreign Office travel advice website.
‘We have to ask for the letter of consent and details of who is meeting someone of this age as it is possible the Portuguese passport control may deny them entry into the country without such documents. In that case, the airline can also be subject to a large fine.
‘We acknowledge our FAQs could have been clearer and will be taking steps to change them.’
The British Air Travel Association said: ‘We encourage parents of minors who will be travelling unaccompanied to check with their airline before travel.’