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The democratic vote to go away the European Union has had many sudden penalties for travellers. One of the most critical: UK passengers wrongly denied boarding by their airways as a result of their passports are deemed not legitimate after Brexit.
So rife is the drawback that my “pinned post” on X (previously Twitter) reminds travellers, and airways {that a} UK passport must meet two conditions for travel to the European Union (and wider Schengen space):
- On day of entry to the EU, issued lower than 10 years in the past.
- On meant day of exit from EU, no less than three months left earlier than expiry date.
Seeking to inform the travelling public about the guidelines that our authorities signed up for has been one factor. I then final 12 months spent a number of bizarre months explaining to our authorities the settlement it had made with Brussels.
The Foreign Office and Home Office initially insisted that British passports expire after 9 years and 9 months, a fiction briefly prolonged to declare that youngsters’s UK passport have been no good after 4 years, 9 months.
Eventually, in May 2022, officers and ministers conceded that I used to be proper and modified authorities recommendation. By then, I assumed I had additionally persuaded the airways about the guidelines, with Ryanair and easyJet final to fall into line.
Yet deep into 2023, floor workers at UK airports are nonetheless turning passengers away needlessly – inflicting misery to travellers and triggering a whole lot of kilos in compensation.
In November, British Airways workers at London Heathrow stopped Laura Savage catching her flight to Oslo, whereas in December Mark Starkey was turned away from a daybreak Ryanair flight from Luton airport to Alicante.
Each time instances like these seem, it has the welcome impact of informing earlier victims of wrongful denials of boarding to come ahead. Here is Camilla, who in February final 12 months was refused boarding a flight for a three-day journey to Italy. Her airline claimed she wanted six months remaining on my passport to travel.
“My passport was issued on 1 May 2012 and expired on 1 July 2022,” Camilla says. “Can you confirm that I was wrongly turned away? If so, what do I do about claiming compensation?”
Camilla’s passport was legitimate for travel to the EU till 1 April 2022; all travel would have to be accomplished by that date due to the “three-month rule”. So Camilla was compliant. But how a lot money is she due, and the way can she get it again?
Under European air passengers’ rights guidelines – referred to as EU261 – she is entitled to £220 in denied boarding compensation, plus a refund of her return airfare. It needs to be a easy matter to declare the stipulated money and price of the ticket via the airline’s on-line portal for claims, supplying a scan of the dates of the passport.
If the provider has any sense it should settle for the declare and pay out. The airline could strive to deflect the declare on the foundation that it had relied on the inaccurate travel recommendation the UK authorities was placing out.
However, I instructed all the main airways (and the UK authorities) in the autumn of 2021 precisely what the European guidelines have been. I offered all the contact particulars for the related officers in Brussels and invited the carriers to examine my work. Choosing to observe the flawed steering of a non-EU authorities relatively than the exact specification of an EU physique appears to be like like a feeble defence.
Claiming sums past that, whether or not for wasted prices of travel to the airport or for pre-paid lodging overseas, can be trickier; airways have a tendency to say they don’t seem to be answerable for “consequential losses”. In my opinion, that isn’t a justifiable defence, however a profitable declare would possibly contain a authorized battle.
Anyone whose declare is refused can go to different dispute decision (ADR). But arbitrators, in my expertise, generally get issues flawed. Fortunately, if a choice goes in opposition to you there may be nothing to cease upgrading to Money Claim Online.
Write to the airline, giving two weeks’ discover of your authorized motion; if the provider foolishly fails to reply, go forward and file a declare. Mostly, be affected person. It can take months or years earlier than your simply deserts arrive.
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