Hi, I hope this is the right place, and I'll try to keep it short. Basically, a lack of knowledge of the law led to my being denied entry on a flight I had every right to be on, and I subsequently received the worst service I've ever experienced by any company, and I'm not sure how to respond.

I was in Spain on a long term visa until this weekend. Although the visa was expiring, I wanted to stay in the Schengen zone as a tourist for two extra months. I asked the Spanish immigration authorities, and a Spanish immigration attorney, and they all said that I would have no problems. This is confirmed by reading the actual Schengen border code, which states here:

"1a. For the purposes of implementing paragraph 1,
the date of entry shall be considered as the first day of
stay on the territory of the Member States and the date
of exit shall be considered as the last day of stay on
the territory of the Member States. Periods of stay
authorised under a residence permit or a long-stay
visa shall not be taken into account in the calculation
of the duration of stay on the territory of the Member
States.";

They also told me that to avoid overstaying the original visa, I should book a trip outside the Schengen zone when it expires and reenter to totally get rid of it. So, this weekend, I booked a round trip EasyJet ticket between LGW and BCN. Leaving was totally uneventful, so I had no worries when I went to the airport tonight. I asked an EasyJet employee about the gate assignment, and she asked to see my passport to look it up. I gave it to her, and while going through it, she noticed my expired student visa. She immediately got a scared look, told me I wouldn't be able to fly with no visa and called her supervisor. I got on the phone with the supervisor and tried explaining that my visa wasn't relevant, even reading the section in the border code I quoted, but they weren't having it. They were citing the IATA manual, which states American citizens can enter Spain visa free for 90 days in every 180. I'm not sure whether the manual is wrong or their interpretation was, but they told me I would absolutely not be allowed on an EasyJet plane, and that I would need to be escorted out of the secure area.

Here's where this gets even dumber. I asked to speak to the duty manager to figure out what my options were. I explained to her that it seemed like there was some confusion about the law, but that I had already spoken to Spanish immigration, and they directed me to the specific paragraph that allowed me to enter. I don't know why, but this enraged the manager. She began literally yelling at me that she's denying me boarding, and it doesn't matter what the law says because her book says otherwise. I told her it was obvious we didn't agree, and asked whether I would be compensated if it turned out I was correct. This made her even more angry, and she started quickly walking away with my passport and boarding pass, saying if I wanted to file a complaint, she was taking them to her office to make copies. I loudly and very clearly told her I was not giving her permission to take my passport anywhere, and to give it back to me immediately. She refused, and I'm not exaggerating, widened her shoulders, turning away from me and physically preventing me from even taking my passport out of her hands, and took a picture of it on what I can only assume was her personal iPhone. This is obviously a huge invasion of my privacy, and I'm disgusted thinking about it even now.

I understand this probably isn't the everyday thread here, but does anyone have any advice? Now I'm stuck paying for another night in a hotel, not to mention out the money from the flight, and the next flight I'll have to book. I also have a picture of my passport on the personal cellphone of someone who seemed mentally unstable. I feel like EasyJet is absolutely responsible, and at an absolute minimum should refund my flight and severely discipline that manager. Opinions?