Passenger escorted off flight to Tenerife due to Brexit passport changes

A 36-year-old woman has told of her frustration after being removed from a flight to Tenerife and having her New Year holiday “ruined” over a little-known change to post-Brexit passport rules, that disallows entry into anywhere in the EU if your passport has more than 10 years on it until expiry.

Aya Shillingford said she was “devastated” after staff escorted her from her Jet2 flight to Tenerife on December 30th after confusion because her passport had been issued over ten years ago, meaning she could not travel to the EU under new post-Brexit guidelines.

She had planned to spend New Year’s Eve on the island with her partner and a group of friends, but has now lost nearly £2,000 after being forced to cancel their holiday at the last minute.

Ms Shillingford says that she had planned to fly out with Jet2 from Stansted airport at 9.50am on Thursday morning, and return home on January 8th. After making it through security and boarding the plane, she was then told her passport was invalid and was escorted off the flight.

Jet2 officials said she could not fly to the EU as her passport had been issued more than ten years ago, despite its expiry date being June 28th 2022.

Aya said “We had arrived at the airport in good time, made it through security and dropped off our bags. Two members of staff, at security and at the gate for the flight, had already checked our passports and not raised any issue”.

“When we got on the flight suddenly there was a big commotion. A Jet2 staff member took my passport and said ‘I’m sorry but you can’t fly, this was issued over ten years ago’. At this point we were frog-marched off the plane and back to the airport. Everyone was staring at us.”

Back at the gate, another member of Jet2 staff told her that there was no way she could board the flight, claiming it was “her fault” that she had not checked for the changes to passport validity after Brexit.

“By this point the shock was starting to wear off and I was just sobbing. I was looking forward to spending time away after a difficult year,” she added.

When the UK was a member of the European Union, British passports were valid up to, and until, the date of expiry. Many passports issued in the UK last up to 10 years and 9 months due to the Government’s policy of allowing “unspent” time for the renewal process. But now you may not travel to the EU in the extra (up to) 9 month period which is over 10 years since the issue date.

However, after the end of the post-Brexit transition period, British passport holders are now regarded as “third-country nationals”, meaning they are subject to a host of new regulations.

According to the Government website, these are:
- Your passport must be less than 10 years old on the day you enter the EU territory (check the ‘date of issue’).
- Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’).

The Government says it has asked the European Commission to clarify the 10-year rule, but stresses that guidance will likely not be updated for Schengen border guards until the spring of 2022.

Ms Shillingford claims that Jet2 had not issued her with any guidance over the passport changes after she booked the holiday some three months ago. She was later told the airline would not refund her for the trip.

In order to fly out, she was told she would need to get an emergency passport, but the next available appointment to get one is today, January 4^th, in Liverpool. “That’s my holiday ruined,” she added.

A spokesperson for Jet2 has said: “We always follow Government advice relating to passport validity and we remind customers to check the validity of their passport in our pre-departure communications. 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.

“Unfortunately, Ms Shillingford’s passport was not valid for travel, and our teams noticed this before boarding. We would like to apologise to Ms Shillingford for this experience.”