A mum-of-one was forced to make a 650-mile trip to Glasgow to renew her passport after falling foul of the three month rule.
Monique Shaw, 19, didn’t realise her passport for her flight from Manchester to Portugal on April 30 wasn’t valid three months after her return date on May 7. She tried to get a fast-track appointment in Liverpool but the only available one was in Glasgow – the cost of the journey there from the Llyn Peninsula added to the passport came to almost £400.
People travelling to the Schengen area of the EU, which includes Portugal and 25 other European countries, must have a passport valid for at least three months after the day they plan to leave, according to the government’s website. The three months may need to be within 10 years of the passport’s issue date, reports NorthWalesLive.
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The 19-year-old from North Wales was originally meant to fly to Albufeira in 2020 for her 18th birthday but it was pushed back on two occasions due to covid. Her passport was due to expire on July 21, meaning that it was valid for only ten weeks of the three-month period.
Monique was left with no choice but to travel to Scotland and pay £177 for a passport renewal as her passport was not valid three months after her return date on May 7. She said Jet2 did not make her aware she might be turned away at the airport when they issued the boarding passes. But the travel company argued there is no way for an airline for check the true validity of a customer's travel document until it is physically examined at the airport.
She said: "It was all just a massive pain, to be honest. We had already given Jet2 the passport details and they accepted them and released our boarding passes.
"If we hadn't seen an article online about a woman being turned away from the airport, we wouldn't have known there was an issue. They didn't make us aware at all and neither I nor my family had any idea that we needed three months left after returning.
"It was frustrating because if we had been able to travel when we initially planned, my passport would have been well in date. Obviously no one could have predicted the outbreak but surely there should be some leeway if the holiday was booked before the new rules even came into play?
"What's worse is that my passport was valid for the flight out but because it expired 10 and a half weeks after our return journey I had to have it renewed or I couldn't go. I have a 10-month-old baby and I didn't want to risk risking it at the airport to just be turned away.
"I think airlines need to be making people aware of the issue as it seems so many people don't know about it. It was impossible to get an appointment any closer to home.
"Ideally I'd have gone to Liverpool but there weren't any appointments and the few that did pop up went again straight away. I did consider travelling to Durham but that was for a one-week passport and I still would have had to change my flights out.
"Thankfully it's sorted now and I have my new passport, but it cost me £177 to get the passport, plus the cost of fuel to travel to Glasgow and back was in excess of £150, and £63 for a hotel. My appointment was at 9:30am so we didn't have much of a choice but to travel up the night before."
A Jet2 spokesperson said: “When a customer checks-in online, there is no way for an airline to be able to check the true validity of a customer’s travel document until it is physically examined at the airport.
"As part of our pre-departure communications, we always remind customers to check the validity of their passport, in line with Government advice. We also point them to our travel requirements page on our website, where they can find more information on how to ensure that their passport is valid for travel and in line with Government advice.”
