Holidaymakers travelling to the EU are being warned not to get caught out by the 'passport 10-year rule'. Since the UK left the EU, travellers heading to all countries within the bloc—including Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland, but not Ireland—must have a passport issued less than 10 years before their departure date. It must also be valid for three months after their planned return date.
However, if a UK passport was issued before September 2018, it could be valid for up to 10 years and nine months. This is because before 2018 the passport office used to add up to nine months from an old passport on to a new one. As a result, some people have passports that have not officially expired, and are valid for travel in the rest of the world, but not in parts of Europe because they were issued more than ten years ago.
One of those affected is Nathan Barnes, a 31-year-old paramedic from Norwich, who was refused boarding on a flight to France. Despite checking in online and going through security and passport control, he was stopped at the departure gate. 'My passport had been issued more than 10 years previously,' he said. 'They were very matter of fact about it, they just said sorry you can't board, off you pop.'
Jane Opher, a 61-year-old architect from London, was due to fly to Barcelona with her partner at the end of February. They had both checked in online, gone through security and had lunch at the airport only to be refused boarding at the gate because her passport was issued on 10 February 2014, more than ten years ago, even though it does not officially expire until 10 August 2024. 'It was very stressful—I was traumatised—being told I couldn't board,' she told the BBC.
Simon Calder, travel correspondent at the Independent, says based on his own research 'easily a couple of hundred people a day' are being turned away from their flights. 'Across the year you could easily find that there's over 100,000 people who lose their holidays as a result of these rules,' he said. He has written to the airlines, urging them to do more to make people aware.
