Urgent warning to red passport holders planning to go on holiday this year
If you're planning to go on holiday in Europe anytime soon with a red/burgundy passport, you might want to listen up.
The European sun does look especially tempting in the summer months, so I wouldn't blame anyone looking for any last-minute deals to jet off to a hotter destination for a few days.
However, there are a few logistics you might want to consider before you leave the UK for dead (for a few days, anyway).
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Around 200 people everyday are getting kicked off flights for making the same mistake, which can be avoided with a simple check before making any major travel plans.
It's all to do with passports because at the end of the day, nobody can get anywhere else in the world without one.
First of all, make sure you know where it is, because without it you could be looking at a weekend at the beach - in Southend or Blackpool, your choice.
Now, in the past, British passport holders could carry nine months over from their old passports to a new one, meaning it could be valid for more than the 10 years you usually get with a passport before it expires.
It was great, until something called Brexit came along to make all passports blue and bring in a number of laws that prove more troublesome than helpful.
41 countries follow something called the three-month rule, meaning that your passport must be valid for more than three months upon entering the country, which applies to the EU/Schengen Zone.
But the next requirement is that it must have been issued within the last decade, meaning that holders of older red passports may fall foul to this new rule, which could really put a dent in your holiday plans.
To put it simply, if your passport was issued before August 2014, you would not be able to enter the EU at all, even if you had four to nine months left on its validity, and if your passport expires on 31 March for example, you would only be allowed to travel up until 31 December.
If you fail to meet these requirements, you should get yourself a new passport issued by the HM Passport Office, who in all fairness stopped handing out burgundy passports before 31 December 2020, as the UK fully left the EU on this date.
If you have a blue passport, you're fully safe, as the government started issuing these in March 2020.
Travel expert Simon Calder from the Independent worked out that 'a couple hundred people a day' are being denied boarding, which works out to more than 100,000 missed holidays over the year.
He has urged airlines to better inform travellers, which is crucial during online check-ins, which can be done well ahead of time.
Simon warned on BBC Breakfast: "I'm afraid all you can do at this stage is try and get an emergency appointment and see if you can get a passport turned around.
"But if you're travelling later, maybe in the May bank holidays or the summer holidays then you've got time on your side and just to stress... It's only the EU that cares about the issue date, if you're going to America, Australia, Tunisia they say your passport's valid up to and including the expiry date," report Birmingham Live.
On the other hand though, some countries follow a six-month rule, which means that your passport will need to be valid for over half a year to enter - countries like the UAE and Malaysia follow this.
Simon also highlighted that it's a the passenger's responsibility to make sure they are compliant with the rules, and not the fault of the airline if they travel with an invalid passport.
The government website states that it usually takes three weeks for a new passport to be delivered, though if more information is needed or you need to be interviewed, this could be longer.
Joshua Nair