Woman missed dream hen party-style birthday to Benidorm attributable to unknown passport rule

Ali Burridge, had been looking forward to her “dream hen party-style’ birthday trip to the Spanish resort with 15 friends. But her passport was rejected at the airport

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A woman missed out on her 50th birthday to Benidorm – after her passport was rejected at the airport due to a little-known European Union travel rule.

Ali Burridge, had been looking forward to her “dream hen party-style’ birthday trip to the Spanish resort with 15 friends. The service coordinator had spent £900 on flights and accommodation for her long weekend trip over the May bank holiday weekend.

But when she arrived at the baggage drop off on May 1, staff behind the counter gave her the “heartbreaking” news that she couldn’t board the plane due to a passport rule she had “no idea about”.

She was told that following Britain leaving the EU, passports which have an issue date older than 10 years are denied entry to any country in the European Union or Schengen Area. Passports issued after September 10, 2018, have a 10-year lifespan, but those bought before can include an extra 9 months on top which makes them out of date under the guidelines.

This is because extra unused months were added from an old passport to the new one if it was renewed early before the September cut-off date, according to the HM Passport Office. Ali, from Oulton Broad, in Lowestoft, Suffolk., bought her passport before the change which included the extra time, meaning she was denied travel.

She was forced to stay home whilst her friends enjoyed the sun, but she still enjoyed her birthday from her back garden whilst FaceTiming with her pals. She said: “It was awful when I was told the news, to be honest, I’m still in shock.

“I had been looking forward to this since my 40th birthday – we had spent the previous year organising it all. In reality, the rule has cost me money and memories.

“I still know and see a lot of people travelling on the old passport, so I want to raise awareness so this doesn’t happen to others. You could be easily caught out like me if you don’t travel often.

“I’m seeing this situation as a valuable life lesson. However, I’m just so appreciative of my friends for putting in so much effort to make it special and make it feel like I was still a part of the trip that we had all planned.”

Ali was turned away at London Stansted Airport due to the EU’s ’10-year rule’. It came into effect for Brits after Brexit in January 2021, meaning UK passports are required to be less than 10 years old on the day of entry.

This is different to the expiry date, which must be valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave, something which Ali said she had.

According to the birthday girl, when she checked in online two weeks before, there were no issues raised on the website. She said: “All it asked was for my expiry date and that was it. If it had flagged the issues, I would have been able to get a new one, which is annoying.”

Ali said she then drove to Peterborough with her friend Hana Smith, 54, who kindly agreed to stay behind with her and visited the passport office to ask if there was anything she could do. But after being told there was nothing they could do they returned home.

Ali has told that she was even supposed to have a hen do during the trip. Even though she wasn’t getting married, she had always “loved the idea” of a hen do and saw this birthday as an “excuse to have one”.

Ali said her friends were “wonderful” at making sure she didn’t miss out. Her 14 friends, who were on the trip, organised live streams from Benidorm where they all “sang karaoke, danced and carried on as if they were all there”.

Ali’s sister, Tracey Allen, 45, who flew out to Benidorm, said: “I was already out in Spain when Ali gave me the call. At first I thought she was pulling my leg, but when she doubled down, reality kicked in, and I tried everything to get her on the plane.

“I kept it together until I met some of the girls after they landed, who were in tears. She made me promise it would go ahead as normal, that’s when we came up with the idea of having her on the iPad.

“We made the most of a horrible situation.” But Ali said she still enjoyed her “weekend” from her back garden.

She said: “At least the weather was nice, so I could sit outside. I can’t thank Hana enough for staying behind with me and giving up her holiday, she is a true friend for doing that.

“I wore all the outfits I had planned on each day, like the ‘hen doo wedding dress’ I had packed. Then on the Sunday we had a BBQ over FaceTime, which was part of the itinerary.

“I’m crushed but want my friends to know how much I love them, for being British and carrying the stiff upper lip and doing me proud.”

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