A man from York is warning all travellers to be very careful filling in forms for flights and visas after he was turned away at the airport for a simple mistake.
Thomas Tunstall was going away with friends on a “once in a lifetime trip” to Pakistan.
But his name cost him his dream holiday. His friends usually call him Tom, His mum calls him Thomas and he uses both.
However what he totally forgot was that flight documents and visa papers have to match passports. They didn’t, so he was refused boarding at London.
Thomas runs The Vintage Rose Café in College Street in York, with his mum.
He told YorkMix Radio’s Sunday Late Show his sad and frustrating story.
“I got to the airport hoping to fly out to Pakistan, and sadly wasn’t on the flight – because I’d written Tom instead of Thomas on my flight,” he said.
“I now know my name is Thomas, as it didn’t match up on my visa which did say Thomas as did my passport.”
He discovered the problem at the last possible moment.
“We were literally at the gate. The woman said to me, you need to get in touch with British Airways to change your flight.
“At that moment, British Airways actually rang me to ask me where I was, and they had an argument over the phone – the woman from Qatar Airways saying she should change it on British Airways, and the woman from British Airways saying that she should change it on Qatar Airways.
“Regardless, it didn’t get changed, and I didn’t get on the flight.”
Thomas said it was a devastating moment: “It was like getting dumped at the airport.
“Three of my friends flew off to Pakistan for the journey of a lifetime, and sadly I was left holding my luggage, so I got back on the Elizabeth Line.”
His only other option was to pay for two entirely new flights.
Thomas wants to warns the “Bens and Benjamins” out there to be extra careful when booking their trips abroad.
“In future I now know everything I have to write in an official capacity will be Thomas, but almost everyone outside of my family calls me Tom.
“Follow your passport name, and then you won’t go wrong.”
He’s lost out this time after his friend sorted the trip. “His family are from Pakistan, and he very much organised us to go up into the north, into the mountains. So it was a once-in-a-lifetime trip, because he said himself he won’t be going again.
“But there are many more adventures to be had, and hopefully we’ll get on another one by the end of next year.”
And he added: “I think I will be Thomas on everything for all time now.”
