Martin Lewis: Going abroad soon? Two passport checks to stop you being turned back

eskbanker

It's just been pointed out on another thread that this article is at best misleading, but is really actually wrong!

This is the wording used:

So, the first check is:

1. "On the day you enter the country, are there less than six months left on your passport? Or if you're going to the EU, less than three months left? If so, that's a big problem.

"But there's another rule...

2. "Even if you had seven months, and this is what I think may have happened in Mary's daughter's case (seven months left on your passport). If your passport is over 10 years old, many countries won't let you in.

whereas the definitive rules, on sites such as gov.uk and the EU equivalent, are:

Your passport must: 

• have a ‘date of issue’ less than 10 years before the date you arrive – if you renewed your passport before 1 October 2018, it may have a date of issue that is more than 10 years ago
• have an ‘expiry date’ at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area (the expiry date does not need to be within 10 years of the date of issue)

The fact that ML chose to paraphrase the rules in the wrong order is unhelpful, but the key message is that there are two completely independent checks, one on entry and the other on departure, whereas he suggests that both relate to entry.  If you enter the EU with three months and a week until expiry, but leave with less than three months to go, that won't be permitted, but his mangling of the rules misses this fact.

To be fair, the main MSE article is more accurate, but it may be worth appending a correction to the ML piece?

molerat

Item on BBC Morning Live this morning of people being refused boarding with valid passports due to poor staff training at the check in.  Less than 10 year old passport with 10 year date expiring whilst in EU but within validity period and the EU rule being applied to non EU destinations.  So if your passport is coming up to 10 year since issue best get it changed to prevent problems at check in.

postmanbill

Last month we were going to Portugal with Saga. We had given them our passport information in advance, both passports had until February 2026 on and issue dates of June 2015  and we would have been home before then, and this met with the information Saga had sent to us. At check in we were refused boarding because of the issue dates we were told. Why did Saga not tell us in advance having had this information well in advance. 

We thought we had made sure every thing was correct and now find ourselves out of pocket by a lot of money.

Surely Saga have some responsibility to ensure that what they tell their customers is correct and not leaving them out of pocket?

Caz3121

postmanbill said:

Last month we were going to Portugal with Saga. We had given them our passport information in advance, both passports had until February 2026 on and issue dates of June 2015  and we would have been home before then, and this met with the information Saga had sent to us. At check in we were refused boarding because of the issue dates we were told. Why did Saga not tell us in advance having had this information well in advance. 

We thought we had made sure every thing was correct and now find ourselves out of pocket by a lot of money.

Surely Saga have some responsibility to ensure that what they tell their customers is correct and not leaving them out of pocket?

It sounds like you were incorrectly denied boarding by the airline
If you were travelling in May 2025 and your passport was issued in June 2015 then that test is a pass
If you were returning before November 2025 and your passport showed an expiry date of February 2026 then that test is also a pass
Airline was wrong and you should be due denied boarding compensation.

Lexilucylottie01

I was due to travelt to Lanzarote wih my hubby and 2 sons on Friday 6th June. I was not aware of the 10 years from iddue date rules and as such when I was checking on EasyJets website I though my passport was valid until Jan 2026. I turned out it expired 10 yeas from the issue date meaning it actually expired in April 2025. I was refused boarding and so had to wave goodbye to my family and return home. What my biggest issue is is that this was never ONCE flagged up by the easejet website when adding the passport info at check in or by Booking.com when passport infomation was requested. That would have given me at least SOME chance of getting a renewal in time to fly. WHY IS THIS NOT HAPPENING?????

NoodleDoodleMan

You would like to think that the travel operator's website could handle proposed travel dates which conflict with passport validity - however it still remains the traveller's responsibility to ensure all is in order.

TUI have an online webpage for checking this - I wonder if it kicks in automatically when doing an online booking, or if it requires a separate check ?  

katejo

Caz3121 said:

postmanbill said:

Last month we were going to Portugal with Saga. We had given them our passport information in advance, both passports had until February 2026 on and issue dates of June 2015  and we would have been home before then, and this met with the information Saga had sent to us. At check in we were refused boarding because of the issue dates we were told. Why did Saga not tell us in advance having had this information well in advance. 

We thought we had made sure every thing was correct and now find ourselves out of pocket by a lot of money.

Surely Saga have some responsibility to ensure that what they tell their customers is correct and not leaving them out of pocket?

It sounds like you were incorrectly denied boarding by the airline
If you were travelling in May 2025 and your passport was issued in June 2015 then that test is a pass
If you were returning before November 2025 and your passport showed an expiry date of February 2026 then that test is also a pass
Airline was wrong and you should be due denied boarding compensation.

That's exactly what I would say. If I had passport with an issue date in 2015, I would take a printout of the current rules to the airport with me.