TUI barred me from flight – as my legitimate passport was greater than ten years previous: SALLY SORTS IT

We booked a £3,935 holiday to Lanzarote via travel firm TUI for me, my 78-year-old husband and our granddaughter. 

But when we arrived at the check-in desk on December 30 last year, I was shocked and upset to be told my passport wasn’t valid as it was more than ten years old. 

I had only just returned from a trip to France with no problem a few days before. 

I persuaded my husband and granddaughter to go without me. 

Since TUI issued my boarding pass, why didn’t it check my passport was valid when I initially entered its details? Can you help?

J. N., Chichester, West Sussex.

Sally Hamilton replies: This is not the first time I’ve received complaints from readers who were denied boarding a plane because of their passport issue date – and I suspect it won’t be the last. Passport validity

rules for travellers to EU and Schengen area countries changed after Brexit.

UK passports now must be less than ten years old from the date of issue on departure date – and have at least three months remaining after the return date. 

Otherwise, you risk being barred from boarding. Your passport was issued on December 19, 2014, and expires on July 19, 2025.

When you travelled to France, on December 19, 2024, your passport was exactly ten years old, which must be why you sailed through passport control. 

Technically, it didn’t meet the ‘less than ten years’ parameter, but they probably decided just to let it go – as they did on your return journey, which would be expected as the ten-year rule does not apply to those entering the UK. 

Just a couple of weeks later, as you attempted to fly to Lanzarote, your passport had exceeded the ten-year limit, which was spotted by the check-in staff.

Your gripe was not just because of the infuriating validity rule but you thought TUI’s support fell short, too. 

You said the staff member who stopped you from boarding showed little compassion and claimed a second rep gave you the wrong number for the rapid passport replacement service via HM Passport Office.

A later call to TUI customer services led to the suggestion of you visiting Portsmouth Passport Office in person. 

As you live not far away, you went in person but without an appointment, and found it manned only by security guards. Most of all, you questioned why TUI couldn’t have alerted you to the whole validity pitfall when the trip was booked.

TUI told me that the passport office number you were given (the same one you sent me) was correct. I rang it and got through to the service. 

After being offered a few options, I managed to speak to a human who told me that premium applications must be completed online first. 

This is because photos need to be uploaded and the application paid for by card – facilities that can’t be completed over the phone.

As for the advice on visiting Portsmouth Passport Office, TUI agreed it could have been clearer in warning you not to show up without an appointment. For that it apologises and has offered you £200 as a goodwill gesture. TUI admits the new ‘over

ten-year’ EU passport regulations can be confusing. For that reason, it has created an online passport checker. 

Although it does not pop up in the booking process, confirmation emails, amendments and E-tickets carry a reminder to customers to check that their passport is valid – with a link to its checker.

The British passport validity issue came to pass because, between 2001 and September 9, 2018, any period of unused validity could be carried over at renewal, up to nine months.

The problem does not affect passports issued since September 10, 2018, as from that point they have been issued only with a maximum of ten years for adults. Children carry a limit of five.

But there are still plenty of passports out there with extra periods of validity – and they could cause trouble for the unwary until June 2029.

I urge families booking getaways to Europe to check their passports first. Check out the regulations for any country via gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice.

In the end you managed to get a new passport via the premium service after making an appointment at the HM Passport Office in London. 

It issued your new passport the same day, enabling you to fly out from Stansted Airport a few hours later and spend the remaining four days of the holiday with your family.

EDF’s £7,000 shock bill demand       

I am writing on behalf of my 86-year-old mother who is beside herself with worry. Energy company EDF says

she owes them more than £7,000 for electricity used at her soft furnishings shop which she closed in 2020 when the Covid pandemic started. She hasn’t used electricity at the premises since. Please help.

T. D., London.

Sally Hamilton replies: You told me that your mother has been in dispute with EDF for many years over the shop’s energy bills. 

The firm refused to believe the readings as the numbers weren’t changing, even though she told them she was no longer using the property. 

EDF sent engineers to check things out but nothing came of the visit. 

You contacted me when EDF finally accepted that your mother had not used any electricity in that time – but was still demanding £7,000 for standing charges.

It seems she had been paying a high variable-rate tariff all

that time, where standing charges go up and down along with the price of electricity.

I thought this standing charge bill excessive, so I asked EDF to check again. It confirmed there was an issue. 

It turns out there were two meters at the shop – one of which should have been removed years ago. Its presence contributed to the mounting bills. 

Following a manual check of your mother’s account, EDF was able to correct the bill to £2,615, and in a gesture of goodwill reduced it by a further £515.

• Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.