A British couple resident in Soller were this afternoon refused their travel discount on their return flights to Barcelona despite having their TIE cards and the travel discount certificates from Soller Council.
The couple, who own a business and a property in Mallorca and whose son attends to institute in Soller, their daughter is at university in Barcelona, had booked a long weekend away to escape the heat.
The initial flights, booked with the airline on line, which accepted their resident discount, originally cost 140 euros return for the two.
This afternoon they were charged 450 euros more taking the total to nearly 600 euros.
They spoke to the Guardia Civil and the National Police at the airport but there was little they could do.
And, having booked hotels etc. they decided to lodge an official complaint at the airport with the airline, pay the extra and take the matter up with the relevant authorities on their return.
They said it was an “absolute outrage.”
“It appears the problem at check-in is that it says ‘temporal’ on our TIE cards, but the card is still valid for five years plus we have our certificates from the local council, which is surely a binding document,” they told the Bulletin from the Palma airport.