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British holiday-makers are being warned about pernickety rules on passports which could ruin travel plans – after families were denied permission to fly.
Small paper tears and ink stains are among the petty hindrances which have seen families turned back at airport check-ins, the latest victims being a Rochdale family of three.
They say they they lost out on a £2,500 holiday after a father was stopped from boarding the plane due to a ‘near invisible’ ink stain on his passport.
Charlotte Estlick had wanted to jet off from Manchester Airport for a package holiday to Dalaman in Turkey with her husband Myk, 28, and their six-year-old daughter Nyla.
But after arriving at Terminal 2 to check-in on May 3, the mother-of-one claims her partner was refused travel due to his passport being lightly marked with blue ink after appearing to have got wet.
Another traveller who found himself frustrated was 31-year-old Nathan Barnes, from Norwich, who was told he could not fly because his passport was more than 10 years old – despite not having expired yet.
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He was travelling with his fiancé to visit family in Limoge, France, but fell foul of a new rule brought in since Britain left the EU.
Meanwhile, another devastated family spent £7,000 on a luxury family holiday to Thailand only to be rejected at the airport when check-in staff discovered a tiny tear in a passport.
Oldham childminder Suzanne Senior’s daughter Bethany had a millimetre-long tear in her passport, spotted by Qatar Airways staff also at Manchester Airport.
And a Ryanair passenger was unable to board a flight for a £1,000 dream holiday because of a tiny tear in his passport, it was reported in January this year.
Jake Burton, 19, from Mansfield, was due to go on his first-ever flight to Benidorm with his parents to celebrate the New Year.
But the discount airline told him he was unable to board after he failed the final check.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: ‘This 19-year-old adult passenger was correctly refused travel on this flight from East Midlands to Alicante by the gate agent at East Midlands Airport as his passport was damaged and therefore not valid for travel.’
The UK Government website states that ‘a damaged passport is one which the customer cannot use as proof of identity because of its condition’.
The website goes on to detail several scenarios where a passport is deemed damage – including ‘laminate peeling’ and ‘back or personal details page has been cut’.
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Travel experts have pointed out some of the essential yet lesser-known rules regarding passports which holiday-makers should bear in mind this summer.
When travelling to the EU, a 10-year British passport is only valid for entry for exactly 10 years after the date of issue, regardless of the date of expiry.
Before September 2018, passport holders could have up to nine months added to their passport expiry date if they renewed their 10-year passport early.
Yet Post-Brexit, while the official validity of your passport may be beyond 10 years, the European Union does not recognise these extra months if your passport is older than a decade on the date you enter an EU nation.
On top of this, you must also have at least three months’ validity on your passport beyond the date you intend to leave the EU’s free-movement Schengen territory.
This means visitors must pay careful attention to the issue date and the expiry date.
Travellers are also advised to always check the specific entry requirements for the country being visited on the gov.uk website, since regulations around passport validity vary from nation to nation.
Most countries such as Australia, Canada and the USA just need your passport to be valid for the length of your stay.
But others such as China, Thailand, Egypt and Turkey require at least six months – and, as above, you will need at least three months’ validity on your passport from the intended day of departure from the EU.
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As well as being on the alert for tears or stains, people should also be wary of running out of space if a passport is filling up with stamps – and should be renewed if there is little room left, even if it still has years to run before expiring.
Some countries can be fussy about passports with filled pages – with Italy and South Africa among those who insist on at least two being entirely blank.
Those who have enough time before setting off have also been encouraged to apply for a new passport online rather than by post.
The current fee for a standard online application made from within the UK is £88.50 for adults and £57.50 for children, increased last month from £82.50 and £53.50.
At the same time the cost of a standard postal application rose from £93 to £100 for adults and from £64 to £69 for children.
Passports are usually issued within three weeks if applying within the UK, but customers are advised to apply in good time before travelling, according to gov.uk.
There are two ways to apply for an urgent passport, the first being a ‘one-day Premium’ service.
Customers are asked to book an appointment at their nearest passport office, apply and pay online, before getting their new passport at their appointment.
The second is the one-week’ fast track’ service, by which customers can also book an appointment at their nearest passport office, apply and pay online.
This time a new passport is delivered to their home within the subsequent seven days, excluding bank holidays – but passport office appointment slots, each lasting around 10 minutes, are snapped up quickly.
The one-day premium service costs £193.50 for an adult passport, while the one-week fast track service sets people back £155 for the same.
Those needing a passport to travel urgently for healthcare or because a loved one is seriously ill or has died are urged to call the ‘Passport Adviceline’ instead.