A woman says she was denied boarding for a cruise she'd paid more than £3,000 for because of a passport rule. Christine Bentham, 67, had travelled to Southampton to board the Baltic cruise with her husband John, 76.
They were joining her brother and sister-in-law, both 74, on what was supposed to be an exciting holiday. But excitement turned to huge disappointment when Christine was told her passport was invalid despite, she says, checking online 10 days earlier.
Christine had checked that her passport had six months' validity left on it for travel to Europe. However, she said she was not aware that passport also had to be less than 10 years old. This meant she was turned away from a holiday that had cost £3,198.
Speaking to the Daily Star, Christine said: "I was aware of the six months remaining time on your personal passport ruling to visit the EU at the time of travel, which apparently I have since learnt is just three months, but not aware of the fact that any extra months that had been added from a previous passport that extended it beyond 10 years would not be recognised.
"For me personally this meant that I had an expiry date of January 15, 2024, when we recently attempted to board a cruise ship for a special holiday with older family members, but what was required was to be within nine years and six months of the original issue date on the passport, which was April 15, 2013.
"This meant that my passport was invalid for travel to Europe. We lost our holiday, without being eligible for any refund or apparently being covered by our holiday insurance."
The UK government sent out more than one million text messages to people to make them aware of the post-Brexit change, but Christine says she did not receive the alert.
She added: "Sadly for me I did not receive this text message. We are speaking to people all the time who are still not aware of this change. I am understandably upset by our own circumstances. I am also very concerned that this could happen to so many more people in the next several years if they renewed their passport before Brexit."
Christine questions why she was able to get a boarding pass when she entered her passport details into the check-in system - and says that she was also allowed to travel in February when she did not have three months still remaining on the validity period. She alleges that they was a "total lack of care" at the port terminal, where they were stuck 227 miles away from their home in Llandudno, North Wales, with no vehicle.
Speaking about the passport rules, she said: "It has been extremely upsetting and I am meeting people every day that don't know or understand the changes, both younger as well as older people. I tell people every day to help to spread the information and several people have already appreciated the situation that they could have found themselves in had I not informed them.”
Passport guidance for travel is detailed on the Passport Office website, which states: "Firstly, travellers will need to have at least six months left on their passport. Secondly, any extra months on a passport over 10 years may not count towards the six months needed. A passport may have extra months if the holder renewed their previous passport before it expired."
Daily Star contacted P&O Cruises and the Home Office for comment.
