“We’re very sorry for our customer’s experience after an error by one of our colleagues meant they were incorrectly denied travel” – so says British Airways, after its floor employees wrecked yet one more vacation by inventing their very own guidelines on passport validity.
In September 2025, BA turned away Chris Taylor and his spouse Cathy from their flight from London Heathrow to Palma. Airline employees had been so insistent the couple had ineligible trave paperwork that they went on a 200-mile spherical journey to resume their passports – regardless that the paperwork had been completely legitimate.
It’s an identical story with easyJet, Britain’s greatest funds airline, whose employees additionally seem alarmingly unaware of the post-Brexit passport guidelines. Even taking into consideration the big variety of passengers that easyJet handles, the airline appears significantly liable to wrecking folks’s holidays needlessly – corresponding to a fiftieth birthday household journey to Paris.
Four years on from the post-Brexit passport guidelines coming into impact, journey corporations are inflicting unnecessary upset and expense to people who find themselves totally documented to journey.
What must you do if this occurs to you? This is a step-by-step information.
Know the foundations
After the UK determined to depart the European Union and make British passport holders “third-country nationals” together with Americans, Australians, Venezuelans and Samoans, the passports of UK travellers should meet two situations:
- No older than 10 years on the day of outbound journey to the EU.
- At least three months to expiry date on the meant day of leaving the EU.
Many individuals are being accurately turned away – often for breaching the primary of those situations. If your passport has had its tenth birthday for the reason that date of problem, you might be not eligible to journey to the European Union (besides Ireland) or wider Schengen space – which incorporates Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
But inexplicably some folks working within the journey business insist that no British passports are legitimate for journeys to the EU as soon as they attain 9 years and 9 months from the difficulty date. While that is the case for UK passports issued for precisely 10 years, many are legitimate for months longer.
No different nation exterior the Schengen space has any curiosity within the problem date of your passport; they solely take a look at the expiry date.
For different nations, the foundations on passport fluctuate extensively. Many key locations for British travellers, together with Australia, Canada, Mexico, Tunisia and the US, don’t have any minimal validity requirement. Others require six months earlier than expiry.
I do know my passport is legitimate however the airline says it isn’t
This is an especially anxious and upsetting place for any passenger to be in. It is made all of the harder as a result of these errors are usually made whereas boarding, with the minutes ticking away. And if somebody who works in aviation is telling you that you’re within the flawed, it’s difficult to show in any other case.
But please stay well mannered and respectful always. If a member of floor employees wrongly says your legitimate passport isn’t acceptable, it’s not the errant particular person’s sole accountability – there may be clearly a critical administration failing by the airline.
What are my choices if I’m challenged?
If time permits and you’ve got a smartphone at hand, draw the employees member’s consideration to the official Foreign Office steerage (search FCDO plus the identify of your vacation spot nation) for entry necessities.
You may refer them to pages 28 and 29 of the Schengen space’s Practical Handbook for Border Guards, which makes the foundations doubly clear.
Try, in case you like, linking to this explainer from The Independent. You may level out the fee to the airline of wrongly denying boarding: a minimal of £220 in money compensation, plus the extra bills triggered by the error.
Ask for a supervisor to be consulted. In all too many circumstances, although, the supervisor sides with the inaccurate floor employees – once more, revealing huge efficiency administration points. In a current case, the bottom employees supervisor referred to an iPad which appeared to repeat the flawed reply.
Unfortunately, if a member of airline employees says you aren’t getting on the plane, all you are able to do is settle for the choice and plan your subsequent transfer.
But I’m travelling with household/mates …
If you might be travelling with others, they usually resolve to not fly, there isn’t any assure that they are going to be financially compensated. Were the case go to court docket, although, a choose may effectively conclude the airline is liable for the entire celebration’s prices.
Initially on this newest incident, easyJet declined to supply compensation for the relations, arguing that they may proceed with the birthday journey to Paris – regardless that the individual whose fiftieth it was was wrongly denied boarding.
What occurs subsequent?
Ideally the error could have occurred at bag drop relatively than on the departure gate. In this case you may instantly attempt to rebook on one other airline whose employees perceive the passport guidelines.
Mostly, although, such issues are created on the departure gate. In this place you will want to be escorted from “airside” to the worldwide arrivals space, retrieving any checked baggage alongside the best way.
While this occurs, use your smartphone see what different flights can be found to your vacation spot – ideally, after all, from the identical airport.
Whatever the fee, the airline that has wrongly turned you away might want to reimburse you. If solely enterprise class seats can be found, take a screenshot to supply proof when challenged, however go forward and purchase.
As lengthy as you might be assured that your passport is legitimate, don’t try to get an appointment for an emergency renewal. There is not any want, and it’ll merely complicate issues.
Once you arrive at your vacation spot, you may get pleasure from what’s left of your journey.
Budget airways corresponding to easyJet don’t mechanically cancel the inbound leg if you don’t take the outbound flight, however different carriers could accomplish that – you’ll have to examine. If the return leg has been cancelled you will want to purchase one other ticket house.
How do I’m going about claiming?
It must be a simple matter of contacting the airline’s customer support crew and supplying the mandatory proof: reserving reference, scan of the photograph web page of your passport to show it was legitimate, and receipts for added prices.
You are entitled to reimbursement of the monetary losses the journey agency induced, plus – within the case of a flight – money compensation of between £220 and £520, relying on the size of the journey.
Regrettably, there have been repeated circumstances of airways, significantly easyJet, doubling down when contacted – insisting the passenger is flawed and the bottom employees are proper.
I don’t advise going to different dispute decision (ADR) as a result of I’ve seen too many examples of adjudicators additionally getting the foundations flawed.
You could must go to Money Claim Online to get well what’s owed to you – although earlier than you do that, ship a Letter Before Action to sign your intention.
What motion is taken in opposition to the airline?
None. Under current laws, there isn’t any penalty for carriers past paying recompense and compensation for denying boarding wrongly, nor for rejecting official claims.
What about compensation for the needlessly induced emotional upset?
That is unlikely to be forthcoming, although a contrite journey agency could select to give you a complimentary journey to make up for his or her error.
Will journey insurance coverage assist?
It shouldn’t be crucial to assert in your insurance coverage, as a result of the journey agency is solely accountable. You could, although, be capable to declare for the odd £50 or so for delayed arrival.
I paid a fortune to resume my passport as a result of the journey agency wrongly stated I wanted to take action. Can I declare?
Yes. Under the Consumer Rights Act, firms are purported to act with “reasonable care and skill”. Getting the EU passport guidelines flawed – 4 years after I advised them what the situations had been – doesn’t point out a lot professionalism.
For instance, Tui – Europe’s greatest vacation firm – advised a buyer on its official recommendation web page: “You no longer get the extra months due to the 10-year rule, so your passports expiry will be 10 years from the issue date, making it 02.11.25 and not 02.05.26 as printed on your passport.” After The Independent intervened, the false info was renewed.
How lengthy will these circumstances maintain occurring?
I concern till September 2028 – 10 years after the final UK passports legitimate for over a decade had been issued.