Budget airline Ryanair has said that a West Country airport was correct to deny overseas travel to a family after the mum was prevented from boarding the plane. Meg Gordon from Newquay told Cornwall Live that she was stopped from boarding a Ryanair flight destined for Portugal at the weekend when airport staff noticed her passport was not valid due to an EU ruling - despite it still being in date.
Meg, who works for the NHS, told our sister site: "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 [her husband and children] were in front of me, but when a member of the ground staff checked my passport she told me it’s out of date.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."
After getting married, Meg renewed her passport to change her surname. 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.
Completely unaware of the ruling, Meg has publicised what happened to her and her family at Cornwall Airport Newquay on Saturday, July 23 to warn other passengers who may run into the same problem. She also said that staff at the airport showed no compassion: "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."
CornwallLive was informed by Cornwall Airport Newquay that its terminal team is directly liaising with the family involved as 'we investigate further internally'. And now, a spokesperson from Ryanair has now said the airport was right to bar Meg from flying: "This passenger was correctly denied travel as her passport did not meet the entry requirements for travel to the EU (Portugal) which are:
- Passports must be issued within the previous 10 years upon the date of arrival into the EU.
- 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." 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.
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