Jet2 Passengers Lose £500 Over 10-Year Passport Rule
A British couple lost around £500 and missed a family trip to Greece after discovering at the boarding gate that their passports failed a Schengen rule many travellers still overlook. Celia Jenkins, 78, and her husband Rees, 82, were due to fly with Jet2 from Bristol to Kefalonia last week when staff found both documents had been issued 10 years and three days earlier.
The couple had checked the expiry dates and believed their passports were still valid. They reached the gate before Jet2 staff spotted the older issue dates and refused boarding, after which they were escorted back through border control. The cancelled journey left them with the cost of flights, an airport hotel, buses and taxis, while their children and grandchildren were still due to travel to the family’s property in Kefalonia.
“We accept that our passports are three days outside the 10-year rule. But we weren't informed clearly enough by anybody at any time. We didn't get it because we saw the expiry date rather than the date of issue as being a problem."
The problem mainly affects some older UK passports. Before autumn 2018, HM Passport Office could add up to nine unused months from a previous passport when issuing a replacement. That meant a document could remain valid for more than 10 years on paper. Since Brexit, however, Greece applies Schengen rules to British visitors, so the issue date and expiry date must now be checked separately.
What UK Travellers Need to Check
- Destination: Greece and other Schengen countries.
- Issue date: The passport must have been issued less than 10 years before the day of arrival.
- Expiry date: It must remain valid for at least three months after the planned departure from the Schengen area.
- Older passports: Documents renewed before October 2018 deserve particular attention because extra validity may have been carried over.
- Jet2 bookings: Passport details can be uploaded in Manage My Booking before online check-in opens.
- Long stays: British citizens normally have up to 90 visa-free days in any 180-day period; longer stays require the appropriate visa or residence status.
A passport can still show months before expiry and be unusable for a Schengen trip, so both the issue and expiry dates should be checked before booking. This is especially important for UK passports issued before October 2018, when extra validity could be carried over from an older document. Anyone planning to stay in Greece for more than 90 days should also check the separate visa or residence requirements, and recheck the GOV UK entry rules shortly before departure.
