Expired passport - travel tomorrow?

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988244#Comment_81988244

Glad you had a good trip.

Could you share your experience of EES at VIE?

QrizB

Could you share your experience of EES at VIE?

It was quicker (tho' not exactly quick) and easier than I had expected.

On arrival, our flight was a full Airbus 319 and maybe 100 pax needed to use the "other passports" lane. Due to a necessary loo stop enroute through the terminal we were pretty much at the back of the queue. (Somebody has to be last!)

Once we got to the front of the queue, it was straightforward enough. Walk up to the desk, present passport, have your fingerprints taken (four fingers on my right hand) and a photo (a machine a bit like the ones at the e-gates at Heathrow). All done in a couple of minutes.

Checking my WhatsApp message history it was about 30 minutes from deplaning to clearing immigration.

Departure was simple, helped by no queues when we were leaving. Walk up to the desk, present passport, another photo (same sort of machine), the immigration officer tapped on his console a few times and then waved is through.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987359#Comment_81987359

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987381#Comment_81987381

Direction of travel is certainly more in the opposite direction… the Court of Appeal judgement (subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court) was basically saying you can't expect someone to read a contract before signing it so you can't rely on terms "hidden" in the contract.

SacredStephan

I've come to this thread rather late, while looking for something else.

When you book a flight from UK to Europe you have to provide advance passenger information to the airline for each pax. This includes passport details. Wouldn't the expired (or soon to be expired) passport have been detected by the airline at that point?

It might be possible for someone in the UK with an EU-issued identity card and no passport to travel from the UK to the EU. But I'm fairly sure it's no longer possible for that person to come back into the UK with just an ID card and no passport.

QrizB

When you book a flight from UK to Europe you have to provide advance passenger information to the airline for each pax. This includes passport details. Wouldn't the expired (or soon to be expired) passport have been detected by the airline at that point?

You aren't required to provide API at the time of booking. You can provide it at any time before flying, even as part of the check-in process.

Of course if you're only providing it then, you're short of options if you discover your passport has expired!

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82013579#Comment_82013579

Would an airline do these checks as a matter of course prior to flying? Why would they care? Yes they might be obliged to return you to the UK if you failed to enter your destination country because of dodgy passport dates, but they don't do it for free - you'll get billed for the flight.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82013642#Comment_82013642

They are also fined, can be up to €5,000 flat fee plus the cost of the persons detention until they can be flown back which may or may not be the airline in question depending on dates and capacity.

Their T&Cs may well give them the right of recovery of these but suspect the actual recovery rate is fairly low