Islander barred from his Spanish holiday after passport confusion

Grant Hardy knew he was legally safe to travel from Jersey to Spain on a direct holiday booked through FlyDirect, but Swissport, ground handling agents in Jersey, refused to let him on the plane because of the age of his passport.

Travel journalist Simon Calder has now also criticised the States of Guernsey for providing false information about passport validity, but the States said it was taking ultra-cautious advice to avoid incidents such as that which happened to Mr Hardy, who works in the telecoms sector and flies a couple of times a month.

He attempted to fly to Spain on 21 February. His passport was issued in March 2015 but is valid until October 2025, seven months after he was due to return from his holiday. Staff at Swissport at Jersey airport said that new post-Brexit rules meant passports more than 10 years old were invalid in the EU, which appears to be a common misconception.

Travel advice from the UK Foreign Office on the ‘Schengen area’ of EU countries correctly states that passports must have a date of issue less than 10 years before the date of arrival, and an expiry date of at least three months after leaving.

Mr Calder agrees with this and Mr Hardy said he knew he was right. But when he tried to show staff the official advice he was accused of creating a disturbance and they called the police.

‘Despite my passport being fully valid under official UK and EU guidelines, Swissport wrongfully refused to let me board,’ he said.

‘Their actions caused me severe distress, they called the police, and I was publicly questioned, despite committing no wrongdoing.’

He lost his holiday and was left stuck in Jersey overnight. He said attempts to recover his costs from Swissport had been knocked back.

‘They have refused to engage meaningfully.

‘They have effectively stonewalled me,’ he said.

Mr Hardy, who has since secured multiple confirmations that he was correct from third parties, said that two other passengers on the same flight were also denied boarding.

‘Swissport’s misapplication of the travel regulations appears to be a system-wide issue,’ he said.

‘A taxi driver at Jersey airport told me this had happened to multiple passengers in the past two weeks.

‘People need to be really careful. I knew my passport was due to expire this year and checked advice before I left on a number of websites but I still was not allowed to travel.’

Mr Hardy said he has written to Swissport 26 times and made numerous attempts to call them by phone but without response and was now considering taking them to the Petty Debts court.

Swissport told the Guernsey Press that its teams adhered to official travel document guidelines to ensure compliance with the entry restrictions of the destination.

‘We have investigated this incident and the decision to deny boarding was in line with the available guidance on Schengen rules,’ said a spokeswoman.

Writing in The Independent, Mr Calder said that the States of Guernsey was wrongly advising islanders that a British passport was valid for travel into Schengen countries for nine years and nine months from its original issue date.

The States accepted that it was technically wrong and has now taken down the advice.

But it told Mr Calder that its advice was aimed at ensuring that islanders avoided travel issues such as that experienced by Mr Hardy.

‘The advice on our website is provided to help the community ensure they are properly prepared for travel,’ said a spokesman.

‘While certain rules and areas do allow passports to be used for over 10 years, as you have correctly pointed out, many members of our community have previously encountered issues with airlines at check-ins where those airlines do not recognise this is the case, and have not been allowed on to their flight.’