Show summary Hide summary
A mother says she was left in tears at Gatwick after being refused boarding for a £2,500 holiday because of a little-known rule about passport issue dates. The incident on May 11 forced her to cancel a long-planned trip to Kefalonia that was meant to mark her young daughter’s fourth birthday.
Turned away at check-in
Jansen Porter, a property maintenance apprentice from Milton Keynes, had checked in for a Jet2 flight to Kefalonia with her partner and daughter, Lulu Smith, when staff prevented her from boarding. She says the problem only emerged while her luggage was being processed at Gatwick Airport.
Funeral plans announced after Dublin gig death of Westlife fan
Search under way after air ambulance loses radar contact
Airline staff, she was told, flagged her passport because it had been issued more than 10 years earlier. Although the document itself expires in December 2026, Porter says she was informed the EU recognises an earlier effective expiry based on the issue date.
How the rule affected the family holiday
Porter says Jet2 staff explained there is no longer a nine-month carry-over allowance, so her passport did not meet the airline’s checks and she could not board. The trip had been booked to celebrate her daughter’s fourth birthday and had been saved for since Christmas.
She described the moment as devastating. “I was absolutely devastated and heartbroken,” she said, adding that the family had chosen Kefalonia because it was a sentimental first-holiday destination for her mother and herself.
Emotional and financial fallout
The refusal left Porter in tears at the airport. She said she felt overwhelmed among other travellers and had not seen any prior warnings about the issue.
Although the family later managed to rearrange the holiday, Porter says it cost an extra £800 to do so. She urged other travellers to check not just the printed expiry but also the passport’s issue date.
Calls for clearer information
Porter criticised the lack of public communication about the rule since Brexit. “Expiry means expiry,” she said. “Nobody else on this planet looks at an expiry date and goes ‘oh the expiry date is January, I should change it now in March’.”
She suggested travel companies and authorities should do more to inform passengers about how issue dates can affect eligibility to travel.
Jet2 has been approached for comment.
