A mum has issued a warning to families heading abroad this summer after a rule change meant she couldn't board a Ryanair flight with her passport - despite it still being in-date. Meg Gordon claims she and her family were marched out of Cornwall Airport Newquay "like criminals" during the incident and has complained that airport staff showed no compassion.
Meg, her husband Andy and their 16-year-old twins Jasmine and Dylan arrived at the airport on Saturday night (July 23) to catch a Ryanair flight to Portugal, where they were going to stay with Meg's brother for their first family holiday since the Covid pandemic. She told CornwallLive : "We checked the bags in, had the passports checked and scanned - no problem, went through security and sat in the departure lounge and watched it fill up with other eager, excited passengers.
"Brilliant, the time had come to board the plane. Andy, Jas and Dylan were in front of me, but when a member of the ground staff checked my passport she told me it’s out of date. I replied, ‘sorry I think you are mistaken it’s valid until April 2023’. ‘No it’s not’ - the ten years run from the issue date, in my case July 8, 2012.
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"I was then abruptly informed that as the UK are no longer in the EU the rules have changed and I would not be able to travel. I was marched back through the busy departure gate in front of everyone while my family were still waiting to board the plane."
Meg renewed her passport to change her surname when she got married. At that time, people renewing passports were allowed to carry forward up to nine months from their old passport to their new one. This changed after Brexit rules came into force.
Portugal is one of 26 European countries within the Schengen Area of free movement. Now countries in the Schengen Area are insisting passports must be no more than ten years old from the point of issue. This has meant many who think their passports are valid because they are not due to expire for some time may be denied entry to EU countries.
Meg, who believes these details haven't been made clear to British travellers, added: "We were completely unaware of it. I asked how I got through check-in over two hours ago without it being noticed, plus I entered my passport details when I purchased the flights. They couldn’t answer."
She was then met by an airport supervisor, as there wasn't a Ryanair representative based at the airport, to be told that they had to get her bags off and to make a decision if the rest of her family were going to fly without her. "I was happy for Andy, Jas and Dylan to go ahead and said I would try and get to London to renew my unexpired passport.
"The supervisor then told me that was unlikely and abruptly asked for a decision. Subsequently our bags arrived very quickly and we were escorted out of the airport like criminals," added Meg, who works for the NHS in paediatrics.
She said: "There was no being taken into a side room and told, 'we'll get your baggage for you' or 'we'll call Portugal for you and do whatever we can' - it can be a discretionary decision by the destination country. No discretion was made, no suggested calls were made to immigration in Portugal, no help with rearranging flights, car hire, getting home, etc, and absolutely no compassion.
"I would hate anyone else to go through what we have just experienced. This is another Brexit/Boris 'stitch up' and shocking customer service from Cornwall airport."
Her husband Andy has written to the managing director of Cornwall Airport Newquay, Cornwall Council chief executive Kate Kennally, as it owns the airport, and Newquay MP Steve Double with their concerns. In the email, Andy says: "We were in a state of shock, distress and embarrassment. I am unable to truly explain how distraught, upset and devastated our family were and still are with the way that we were treated by the airport staff."
Meg and Andy have lost £2,000 in flights, car hire and other holiday plans as a result of the misunderstanding. She added: "My husband went back into the airport to make sure every base had been covered and the customer service representative said, 'well, what's up with the passport, it's still valid'.
"She was completely unaware of it too. It shows it's wide open to anyone's interpretation. We just want to raise awareness to other people, especially in Cornwall, which will get hit the hardest by the cost of living crisis."
Newquay Cornwall Airport told CornwallLive its terminal team is liaising directly with the family involved as "we investigate further internally". Travel documentation requirements for passports and visas can be found here.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: "This passenger was correctly denied travel as her passport did not meet the entry requirements for travel to the EU (Portugal) which are:
"1. Passports must be issued within the previous 10 years upon the date of arrival into the EU.
"2. The passport must be valid for at least three months from the return date of travel from the EU.
"This passenger’s passport was issued on 8 July 2012 and is therefore no longer valid for travel to/from the EU after 8 July 2022, as the passenger was travelling outside the 10 year validity period. Ryanair requires each passenger to ensure that their passport is valid for travel on both the date of their outbound and return flight date."
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