Woman due to fly from Manchester Airport sent on 650-mile round trip over passport rule

A woman had to make a 650-mile round trip to have her passport renewed after falling foul of a three-month rule.

Monique Shaw was due to travel from Manchester Airport to Portugal on April 30. But the 19-year-old didn't realise her passport was not valid for three months after her return date on May 7, North Wales Live reports.

The mum-of-one tried to get a fast-track appointment in Liverpool to renew her passport, but could only get one in Glasgow. She had to make a round trip from her home in Pwllheli on the Llyn Peninsula to make sure she could travel.

READ MORE: Man with a year on his passport turned away from Ryanair flight to Portugal

The cost of the journey - added to the cost of the passport renewal at £177 - came to almost £400, Monique said. She said Jet2 did not make her aware she might be turned away at the airport when they issued the boarding passes.

But the travel company argued there is no way for an airline for check the true validity of a customer's travel document until it is physically examined at the airport. You can read more about the stricter passport regulations here.

The passport was due to expire on July 21, meaning that she only had ten and a half valid weeks left on the travel document as opposed to the necessary 12. The holiday to Albufeira was originally booked in 2020 for Monique's 18th birthday but due to Covid it was pushed back on two occasions. Jet2 said it's up to customers to check the validity of their passport.

Monique said: "It was all just a massive pain, to be honest. We had already given Jet2 the passport details and they accepted them and released our boarding passes.

"If we hadn't seen an article online about a woman being turned away from the airport, we wouldn't have