UK family sent packing when unable to board Portugal flight due to post-Brexit rule

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Nina Gurd arrived at Bournemouth Airport with her family, only to be told her passport was not valid for travel to Portugal.

She and her family were denied boarding on their plane.

Her passport had more than the required three months before the expiry date, which was extended when she renewed her passport.

However, Nina was told that the expiry date was irrelevant.

Nina revealed: “The lady at Bournemouth Airport said it needs to be within 10 years of the issue date.”

Her passport was originally issued on May 29, 2012, meaning it would have been due to expire next month.

However, when she renewed it early, another nine months were added, giving it a new expiry date of February 28, 2023.

She explained: “When we were booking our holiday, we were only ever asked for our passport numbers and the expiry dates, nothing else.

“But the expiry date is apparently meaningless,” her husband John told the BBC.

This detail meant that Nina, John and their three children, Jack, Harry and Charlie, were left disappointed.

They were forced to return home, rather than board the plane for the Algarve.

Portugal is one of 26 European countries within the Schengen Area of free movement.

Pre-Brexit, travellers from the UK could travel within the area without border controls as a member of the European Union.

However, the UK was not a member of the Schengen Agreement.

Now some EU countries in the Schengen Area, including Portugal, are insisting that passports must be no more than 10 years old, which includes the three month expiry buffer.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the BBC that the advice published on its website has, for several years, warned travellers they may face problems if they have a passport that lasts longer than 10 years.

However, John called the advice “incredibly vague”.

He continued: “Given there is this new rule, it should be easy enough for the Government, travel companies and airlines to ask the right questions.

“It should be being flagged.”

He advised this small detail become more common knowledge.

John added: “We’ve got to get the message out there that actually the expiry date on your passport is meaningless.”

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