A mother was left in tears after she was prevented from boarding a Jet2 flight she had paid £2,500 for, due to a little-known European Union passport rule. The incident occurred at Gatwick Airport last month.
Passport Issue Ruins Family Holiday
Jansen Porter, a 29-year-old property maintenance apprentice from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, was attempting to fly to Kefalonia, Greece, with her partner and daughter Lulu Smith on May 11. She claims that as their bags were being checked in, Jet2 staff told her that her passport was not within the EU's 10-year validity limit. Although her passport expires in December 2026, because it was issued in March 2016, under the post-Brexit rule, it actually expired in March 2026.
Jansen said that Jet2 staff explained that passports no longer have a nine-month carry-over, meaning she could not board the plane. The situation was particularly distressing as the trip was to celebrate her daughter's fourth birthday and had been saved for since Christmas.
Devastation and Frustration
Speaking about the holiday, Jansen said: "I was absolutely devastated and heartbroken. This was our first holiday. I booked Kefalonia because it's where my mum took me for our first holiday when I was young. My daughter was really looking forward to it, we had this planned for a good couple of months and we saved for it. It ruined it for us. How is that legal? You pay for a passport, it gives you an expiry date, why does nothing tell you? Clearly the expiry date doesn't count for anything, it's all about the issue date. That's insane, why is there nothing to tell you about this?"
Jansen added that she was surprised she could not board because she had no issues checking in online, and the problem was only flagged at the airport. She said: "They looked at mine, because mine was a burgundy one, and they were like 'yeah yours is not within the EU 10 years'. I said 'it's not expired' and they were like 'but the EU doesn't care'. We [had] Brexit. Why has this not been sorted? It should've been an automatic thing sent to everyone saying if you have a passport you need to go and get it renewed."
Emotional Breakdown at Airport
The sudden blow caused Jansen to burst into tears at the airport. She said: "I was in tears in the airport, I just had a complete breakdown. You're having to go against the tide of people walking in, you kind of hit hysterical a bit. I'd seen nothing about this on travel [news], there were no warning signs when you go through check in."
Although her original holiday plans were scuppered, Jansen was able to reorganise the trip by spending an additional £800. She has since encouraged others to check their passports to avoid similar issues. She added: "Make sure that your issue date is 10 years. I think it needs to be more well known, I think companies need to make it mandatory to make sure they're saying this. Expiry means expiry. Nobody else on this planet looks at an expiry date and goes 'oh the expiry date is January, I should change it now in March', it doesn't work. Just check your passport. It's not well known enough."
Jet2 have been approached for comment.
