Mum banned from flight and forced to miss 50th birthday abroad due to easyJet passport blunder

The Sun

16-07-2025

A WOMAN missed her 50th birthday celebrations in Paris after easyJet wrongly denied her boarding.
Louise McMahon was due to fly from Glasgow to Paris, France with her family for a birthday trip on June 28.
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However, upon reaching bag drop-off, the early years education worker was told she would be unable to travel as her passport was out of date.
EasyJet staff told her passport was out of date, despite it actually being valid until September 24, 2025.
The confusion comes over two different passport rules that Brits have to follow.
According to the GOV.UK's foreign travel advice for France, the country follows Schengen area rules and therefore your passport must:
"have a 'date of issue' less than 10 years before the date you arrive – if you renewed your passport before 1 October 2018, it may have a date of issue that is more than 10 years ago"
"have an 'expiry date' at least 3 months after the date you plan to leave the Schengen area (the expiry date does not need to be within 10 years of the date of issue)"
In simple terms, this means that if you travelled to France and arrived there today - your passport must have been issued less than 10 years ago.
For example, if your passport was issued August 1, 2015, you would not be able to use it to enter France after August 1, 2025.
The rule used to be that before October 1, 2018, when you renewed your passport, any time left on your old passport up to nine months would be rolled over to your new one.
This could mean that your new passport would be valid for 10 years and nine months in total.
And the three month rule is where your passport must be valid for three months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area.
What do you need to do to ensure your passport is OK for travel?
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For example, if you plan to leave France on August 1, 2025 - your passport must be dated until at least November 1, 2025.
Louise told The Independent: "I was told that I missed the travel cut off by three days because I needed 'three months before the 10 years'."
Yet this is not true, with the three month rule and the 10-year rule do not have to both be followed separately, although most airlines are not abiding by this.
The mum-of-two didn't argue, but told her family to go on without her - which they refused.
In total, the value of the family's flights and non-refundable hotel in Paris was £1,975 - which they then missed out on due to the easyJet staff members' mistake.
The airline has since apologised to the passenger and reimbursed the family's lost costs and £220 in denied boarding compensation.
Louise added: "The whole experience was very upsetting.
"I felt I had ruined a trip that we had all looked forward to and spent a lot of money on."
An easyJet spokesperson said: "We are very sorry that Ms McMahon was incorrectly denied boarding on her flight from Glasgow to Paris as this is not our policy.
"We have raised this with our ground handling partner at Glasgow Airport to ensure action is taken to make sure all their team members are clear on the correct rules.
"We have been in touch with Ms McMahon to apologise and reimburse her in full as well as process the compensation she is due, along with a gesture of goodwill for her experience."
What are the passport rules?
The Sun's Head of Travel Lisa Minot has explained exactly what Brits need to know.
"Travellers used to be able to roll over up to nine unused months from their old passport onto a new one.
"But post-Brexit, anyone wanting to travel to the EU can no longer rely on those extra months.
"In order to travel to the EU, all passports must be no more than 10 years old on the day you arrive in your European destination.
"And you'll need at least three months on your passport on the day you head back to the UK.
"Figures have shown up to 100,000 holidaymakers a year face being turned away at airports if their passport is more than 10 years old.
"The 10-year rule only applies to countries in the European Union but every country may have different rules on what is accepted - some countries like South Africa, for example, insist you have at least six months left on your passport when you travel and a full clear page."
There is also a secret rule that mean flight attendants can turn passengers away at the boarding gate.
There have been multiple similar cases to Louise's recently, including a couple in January who were banned from boarding flight because of their passport… despite being able to check in.
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