Just wondered if anyone else had run foul of this rule?
An elderly U.K. passport holding relative tried to fly to the Canary Islands today from a U.K. airport, but was denied boarding because, despite the fact their passport doesn’t expire until October 2025, the document was issued (ironically) 10 years ago yesterday. They were able to check in online with it yesterday and were told that should they be travelling outside of the EU, it would have been accepted. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I would have checked this fact and assumed because it was in date and had more than 6 months validity, that would have been sufficient, so a sobering lesson.
The “10-year rule” means that to enter EU countries (aside from the exceptions listed above), your UK passport must now:
- have been issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the EU country (ie the “date of issue”); and
- must be valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave (ie the “date of expiry”)
I guess this is a case of Caveat Emptor and despite the carrier airline accepting it on their website, my relative has no recourse for either rebooking with their agent or refunds?
Many thanks for any advice.