Briton detained and deported from Morocco after leaving passport on Ryanair plane
Ryanair says the traveler misplaced her passport onboard and was denied entry; the case highlights confusion over plane sweeps and waits for deportation.
Rebecca McCurry, 22, from Lochgilphead, Scotland, arrived in Marrakesh with three friends on July 31 and realized within minutes that her passport had been left on her Ryanair flight from Edinburgh. She says she immediately told airport staff and asked to reboard to retrieve it, but Ryanair staff would not permit her back on the plane. The airline later acknowledged that the passenger misplaced her passport onboard and was correctly denied entry to the country.
McCurry says the incident escalated into an 11-hour ordeal in Marrakech. She describes being questioned by four Moroccan border police for hours, with officers allegedly laughing at her and calling her a “little girl.” She says she was told she might be deported and that there would be no flight back to Edinburgh for at least five days, even though the inbound plane remained on the runway. After about three hours of questioning, she was left in a fast-food restaurant while officials determined her fate.
The 11-hour detention ended with McCurry being deported to Manchester. Her father, Brian, drove six hours to collect her, and she spent the following weeks trying to recover her passport. She says a friend on the return flight found the passport exactly where she had left it, but Ryanair staff took it from them. It took more than a month of back-and-forth to retrieve it, including a 30-pound payment when she went to the airport to reclaim the document.
McCurry has attempted to file a complaint with Ryanair but says the process has been opaque. She argues that there is a protocol requiring a proper plane sweep, which she claims did not occur in her case. The experience has left her anxious about flying again, she says.
Ryanair issued a statement saying the passenger misplaced her passport onboard the Edinburgh-to-Marrakesh flight on July 31 and was denied entry into Marrakesh as required by authorities. The carrier said it reaccommodated the passenger on the next available UK flight that day and noted that all passengers must present valid travel documentation for the destination country. The airline added that the passport was handed over to lost property at Edinburgh once recovered. Morocco’s Office National des Aéroports said it had been contacted for comment.