Mum left ‘heartbroken’ after being turned away from flight to Tenerife due to confusing travel rules

A mother said she was heartbroken after being turned away from her flight to Tenerife due to confusing travel rules.

Jessica Fayh-Bawren, 32, was traveling from Bristol Airport with her son Elliot, 10.

2

They checked in easily four days before their flight, and their son was excited to go on vacation.

Jessica from Southmead told it Bristol Live: “I was asked to put all our passport details into the online system so I could save time at the airport – I put all of that in and there was a big green tick to show everything was fine and that was it , we thought.” We were good to go.

However, the couple didn’t realize they had made a mistake until they got to their Ryanair flight.

She continued, “We were just about to board the flight and the woman at the gate said, ‘I’m so sorry your passport is out of date’.”

The expiration date of Jessica’s passport was March 2024 – but the date of issue was June 2013.

This meant that their passport had actually expired in June 2023 as the new rules no longer allowed them to be older than 10 years.

However, Jessica said the airline should have reported this before her trip so she could have made an emergency appointment with the passport.

She added: “It was heartbreaking. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else, everyone is just used to checking their expiration date.”

The new rules were introduced after the UK left the EU.

However, since the corona restrictions have prevented many from traveling for years, many families are affected by the restrictions.

Despite this, a Ryanair spokesman said they were right to halt their flight.

They said: “This passenger was rightly denied travel because her passport did not meet the entry requirements for travel to the EU (Tenerife), namely, firstly, that passports must be issued within 10 years of the date of arrival in the EU .”

“And secondly, the passport must be valid for at least three months from the date of return from the EU.

“This passenger’s passport was issued on June 14, 2013 and is therefore no longer valid for travel to/from the EU after June 14, 2023 and was no longer valid when this passenger attempted to travel on July 7, 2023.

“Ryanair requires each passenger to ensure that their passport is valid on both the day of their outbound flight and the day of their return.”

Jessica isn’t the only person this has happened to.

Britain’s Kirsty Hawes was banned from her flight and left £1,050 out of pocket for not knowing her passport had expired.

And earlier this year, teacher Rosie Simpson was barred from boarding her flight to Paris for a similar reason.

2