Airports wrong to turn away holidaymakers, EU says

UK holidaymakers should not be turned away from flights over a post-Brexit rule for entry to some countries, the European Commission has said. The problem has affected people with renewed passports that have an extended expiry date beyond the usual 10 years. Nina Gurd was told by Ryanair that her passport, which expires in February, was not valid for travel to Portugal. Despite having more than three months left before the expiry date, she said was told that was irrelevant. "The lady at Bournemouth Airport said it needs to be within 10 years of the issue date," she said. Portugal is one of 26 European countries within the Schengen Area of free movement. Prior to Brexit, travellers from the UK could travel within the area without border controls, as the country was a member of the European Union, although Britain was not part of the Schengen Agreement. Now some EU countries in the Schengen Area are insisting passports must be no more than 10 years old from the point of issue. Once the three-month expiry buffer is taken into account, a passport needs to have been issued no more than nine years and nine months ago. However, the EU's executive arm has now said a "more generous interpretation of the rules is possible".<br/>