Passport chaos: Woman makes 650 mile round trip to renew passport due to strict rules | Travel News | Travel

Monique Shaw, mum of one, was forced to travel from Pwllheli, on the Llyn Peninsula, to Glasgow, ahead of her flight from Manchester to Portugal on April 30.

Monique’s holiday plans were nearly thwarted due to stricter passport rules.

Jet2 failed to inform the mum-of-one that her passport was not valid three months after her return date, May 7.

While the airline were given her passport details and had released the group’s boarding passes, they did not notify her that she could inevitably end up being turned away.

In order to guarantee her holiday, Monique had to pay £177 for a passport renewal.

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Overall, the costs set her back nearly £400, including petrol and a hotel stay to break up the mammoth road trip.

Said passport was due to expire on July 21, meaning that the mum only had 10 and a half weeks left on the document as opposed to the mandatory 12.

However, this was not a spontaneous booking but an 18th birthday trip that had already been pushed back twice due to Covid restrictions.

She said: “It was frustrating because had we been able to travel when we initially planned, my passport would have been well in-date.

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Monique considered travelling to Durham, however, this was for a one week passport and she would have had to change her flight to Portugal.

A Jet2 spokesperson said: “When a customer checks-in online, there is no way for an airline to be able to check the true validity of a customer’s travel document until it is physically examined at the airport.

“As part of our pre-departure communications, we always remind customers to check the validity of their passport, in line with Government advice.”

They concluded: “We also point them to our travel requirements page on our website, where they can find more information on how to ensure that their passport is valid for travel and in line with Government advice.”

Express.co.uk has contacted Jet2 for comment.