Ryanair has apologised for not allowing a teenager to board a flight, admitting its airport handling agents had been wrongly briefed.

The Independent reports that the 15-year-old was turned away at Glasgow Prestwick airport on Sunday when he tried to board a flight to Tenerife. His passport was issued just over five years ago, with five months until expiry.

He and his family had to book new flights with Jet2.com.

A Ryanair spokesperson has now told The Independent: “Our Immigration Department have now clarified this case with the EU Commission.

“We now accept that our handling agents at Glasgow Prestwick airport wrongly believed that this teenager’s passport was not valid for travel as they wrongly believed that a child’s passport must be no more than five years old on the date of travel, whereas in fact, all UK nationals travelling to the EU, regardless of age, must meet the same entry requirements for travel to the EU, which are:

Passports must be issued within 10 years of the date of arrival into the EU.

The passport must be valid for at least three months from the return date of travel from the EU, unless the passenger has a Schengen-issued residence permit or a Schengen long-term visa.

“In light of this clear error on our part, we have written to his family and given them a full refund of £ 413.24 and as a gesture of goodwill we have also given them a travel voucher for another £415 which we hope they will use to book more Ryanair flights for the family in the very near future.

“We apologise sincerely for the error we made in this case and we have updated our briefing notes to all our airport handling agents.”

Travel Gossip has asked Ryanair to clarify whether it has also changed its interpretation of the EU rules for adult passports.