By Anna Akopyan • Updated: 03 Aug 2024 • 12:21 • 2 minutes read
British passports Credit: Mikhail David, Flickr
British travellers must now check their passports for validity, as “200 people a day” are being denied holidays in the EU due to a commonly missed regulation.
As British families prepare for their dream holidays in the EU, hundreds of people arrive at the airport only to find that their passports have expired; even when it shows there´s time left.
Many British passengers have taken to social media after being declined from boarding the plane to the EU. Travel expert Simon Calder noted that as many as “200 people a day” were being denied from flying due to unknowingly carrying expired passports.
In June, a couple from Nottingham were refused their TUI flight to Spain for a 10-day holiday as both of their passports were more than 10 years old; not according to the time left on their passports but according to the Government policy which was implemented after Brexit.
TikTok user, Fran Hainingg shared her experience as she was denied from boarding a plane to Greece; “I got declined to get on the flight because my passport was two days out of date from being 10 years old. So now we´re driving to London from Bournemouth, which is going to take us three hours.”
Since the UK left the European Union, British passport holders must adhere to European rules. Until September 2018, the UK Passport Office would transfer any existing validity on your current passport over to your new passport when it was renewed. After Brexit, the existing validity will no longer be counted when travelling to the EU´s Schengen Zone.
To avoid a ruined holiday, make sure that your passport has been issued less than 10 years before the day you enter the EU zone and that it is valid for at least three months after the day you plan to return.
The Head of Commercial and Travel expert at Travel Republic, Gemma Brown advised; “The likelihood is that travel insurance providers would not cover any costs associated with expired passports. Our advice would be to ensure that your passport is within the 10-year issue date and is valid for at least six months from the date of departure to ensure you will be accepted into most countries.”
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From Moscow to Costa Blanca, Anna has spent over 10 years in Spain and one year in Berlin, where she worked as an actress and singer. Covering European news, Anna´s biggest passions are writing and travelling.
This is just a nonsense rule, if the passport has extra days and was legally issued by a government then it should be accepted. It makes no differense to anyone if you have extra months or days on your passport, computers accept these days so why is it an issue? Due to all my travelling around the world my passport (s) have extra months in them and it it works without any problem until now. I should be able to leave Spain with the exta days on my passport but I will not be allowed back into Spain unless I change the passport. Then my dear wife as a different problem, her tin pot country only issue 5 year passports, this is to raise revenue and of course control the people of the country so it makes no sense. Maybe the usless UN can introduce a law say all countries must issue 10 year passports as the minimum requirement, I am sure that will help
Unfortunately, like many laws, it makes no sense.
Well the joys of Brexit. It’s in black and White ignore at your peril.
Never gave back 2 years to passport expiry date .when COVID stopped travelling
To PJ, it has nothing to do with Brexit. It is to do with stupidity and is all about control. There is no logical reason for this rule. But I bet you are still one of those bitter remainers.
Of course it’s to do with brexit, before that we could use the passport until the end date!
This is one of the many consequences of a rubbish Brexit feal which failed to honour all those promises made by the leave politicians when they conned people to vote to leave.
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