Britons are blasting pen-pushing airline check-in staff for stopping them from boarding flights because their unexpired passports were issued ten years ago and ‘breach EU rules’ – but Brussels says the passengers are allowed in and and the UK government ‘is issuing the wrong advice’.
Caroline Smith is one of a number of people who have had their flights scuppered in recent weeks because of the post-Brexit changes, whereby the UK government says the EU requires visitors’ passports to have been issued within the last nine years and nine months, regardless of their expiry dates.
But the EU says this is a strict interpretation of its rules, which has seen check-in staff turning passengers away if their passports were not issued within the last ten years – despite the EU Commission saying Britons will be allowed in if their passports are older.
However, the situation is fuelling anger at the added layers of bureaucracy post-Brexit.
It comes days after British expats in Spain were banned from driving after Madrid officials declined to convert their DVLA licenses to the Spanish equivalent – despite every other EU country doing so.
Mrs Smith, 40, had booked a flight from Stansted Airport to celebrate the anniversary as well as her husband Dan’s 40th birthday on April 28.
She had already checked in online before arriving at the airport, where no issues had been flagged, but Ryanair staff would not allow her to board the flight.
Her passport expires in March 2023, but the issue date was June 2012 and so passes its ten-year deadline in fewer than the required three months – which presented a problem with the airline.
It came after Brian Williams, 82, was turned away from a British Airways check-in desk at London City Airport after booking a flight to Nice, France, for his wife’s birthday on April 13 because his passport was issued in March 2012.
And retired chartered surveyor Ian Glover, 66, was turned away from the Ryanair’s check-in desk despite also having a year left on his passport – because his passport was also issued in 2012.
Mrs Smith was able to board a flight to Ibiza using Jet2 an hour after she was originally scheduled to fly with Ryanair after the airline had no issues regarding her passport.
She said the issue is ‘very conflicting’ and ‘not super clear’.
‘My sister-in-law works for Jet2 and she checked it on a system and it says it’s fine to fly and it’s valid so I went over to the Jet2 desk and they said ‘it’s fine, we’ll fly you’ which I did, fortunately’, she continued.
‘So it just doesn’t make much sense – in my view there’s something fundamentally wrong if one airline’s saying yes and the other is saying no, it’s bizarre.’
She described Ryanair as ‘really unhelpful’ as staff provided little information beyond telling her she would not be able to fly.
Mrs Smith’s ordeal comes after Brian Williams, 82, was turned away from a British Airways check-in desk at London City Airport after booking a flight to Nice, France, for his wife’s birthday on April 13.
He told MailOnline that he had to cancel his trip altogether. His passport did not expire until December 20 later this year, but fell foul of the rules because it was issued on March 19, 2012.
He said: ‘I have travelled most of my life, so I know a lot about flying and the frustrations that come with it. British Airways have my passport details, so surely it should flash up telling me that I am not able to make this trip before I am able to go online and book it?
‘I booked this trip because it was my wife’s birthday and I thought it would be nice to go away as we had not been since before the pandemic. The check-in staff took my passport away, then came back and explained I wouldn’t be able to board the flight.
‘Tens of thousands of people have or are going to have the same thing. It is extremely rare for the expiry date and issue date to be the same. The thing is, I am 82, what threat do I pose? It is all ridiculous.’
Retired chartered surveyor Ian Glover, 66, was turned away from the Ryanair’s check-in desk despite also having a year left on his passport.
Mr Glover had been due to fly to Portugal on April 25, but was told the issue date of his passport was not close enough to the end of his travel.
He had renewed his passport in 2012 when it had a year remaining, meaning the document was due to expire in April 2023.
He told DerbyshireLive: ‘As I was going through the Ryanair check-in desk, she said that your passport isn’t valid.
‘I said it was because I looked at the Government website and it said that it shouldn’t have been issued more than ten years ago, and it was issued in July 2012, which means the ten years is July this year, and it also stated you needed to have three months from expiry, and the expiry is the April 6, 2023.
‘I’d read stories about people having problems so I’d looked into it but thought I was fine. What Ryanair were saying was that the expiry date is irrelevant, it’s the issue date that matters.
‘What they’re saying is that ten years after the passport expires obviously, but they also want three months from the expiry of the date of issue. That’s not being made clear at all.’
And a 15-year-old fell victim to the confusion at Glasgow Prestwick Airport this week.
Parents Lisa and Neil, their 13-year-old daughter Lily and son Zak had been due to fly to Tenerife with Ryanair on Monday.
But were told after their arrival at the airport that 15-year-old Zak would not be able to join them on the flight.
His passport still had five months to run after being issued in March 2017, The Independent reports.
But staff explained that, due to Brexit, passports were now only valid for five or ten years from the issue date.
They were eventually told Zak needed six months on his passport prior to travelling to the EU and three months on his passport for the return flight.
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