Passport out of date.. flying tomorrow!

mickwaffle

Hi!

Myself and a few lads are just in the process of the booking a really cheap last minute deal to france for a few days skiing (leaving tomorrow), but we have a bit of a problem with one of our passports.

Basically my friends passport runs out on the 3rd of January. So the question is, should we go, and sort it out in geneva when we get there? (we are flying to Geneva and getting a transfer from there)

Could the airline we are flying with refuse us our outward flight (easyjet) because it won't be in date for the flight back?

By the way, the deal we are getting is really cheap and well worth the few pound, but just wondering is there a chance my friend won't get there, or will get into a lot of hassle over it?

The passport office seems to be closed on Saturday and Sunday, especially considering its new years, so no surprises there!

Any thoughts or suggestions on this?

Thanks a million!

tonedef

I'm no expect but I'm pretty sure that even if the airline let him fly he won't be let into Switzerland (It's not an EU country) so he's screwed until he gets a new passport

longhalloween

Bring every ID you can find to the airport and see if that works?!

Go up to the passport office and knock on the door?

confusicus

Even if the airline lets him fly (Which will be unlikely), Swiss customs will most likely not let him in.

horgan_p

The gardai can get a passport organised for you at very short notice.
In fact I beleive they have emergency passports in the larger provincial stations.These are only good for 1 trip though.
You'll be calling in every favour you ever had to get it done though. And I doubt they'd do it for a skiing trip.


Best of luck with it though

Solair

While it's totally unethical and highly politically undesirable as it's clientelism at its worst, ring your local TDs ... they're good at this kind of thing (while lousy at most things that actually involve running the country)

jan shyr

Bring every ID you can find to the airport and see if that works?!

Doesn't work that way. Passport is the only acceptable ID and since it runs out on 3rd of January, he simply won't be let into a country.

Solair

You can enter the UK without a passport, but not anywhere else.

Owryan

To enter switzerland for a period up to 3 months, your passport must be valid for a period of time after your visit, (3 months afair) , if your in an eu member state that has an internationally recognised national id scheme you may be able to use that to enter.

That was how it was for me anyway. Thing is tho Ireland doesnt have a national id scheme , yeah ?.

Your mate could chance it but when I was there, their immigration control was very tight .

Oh yeah quick edit. Even if your passport is valid the swiss have refused entry if there are no blank pages in it. Happened to someone I know.

mickwaffle

Interesting stuff! thanks for the response guys!

We actually got in touch with the passport office and they were opening on Sunday at 9am, but that only left us with a few hours to catch a flight from belfast, so we decided not to go! Not really any point of risking the airline letting us fly, then risking passport control to let us in, and then doing the same on the way back!


Kilternan will have to do this year!

Civilian_Target

Shame.

If you're flying into the EU (except UK and Spain) you can fly with an expired passport so long as it's not expired by more than a year, and so long as it hasn't been canceled. Easyjet and Aer Lingus will also accept these as flight ID, although I'm not sure about Ryanair.

Having said that, Switzerland is not in the EU, so I'm not sure it would have worked in your case.

cameramonkey

mickwaffle wrote: »

Hi!

Myself and a few lads are just in the process of the booking a really cheap last minute deal to france for a few days skiing (leaving tomorrow), but we have a bit of a problem with one of our passports.

Basically my friends passport runs out on the 3rd of January. So the question is, should we go, and sort it out in geneva when we get there? (we are flying to Geneva and getting a transfer from there)

Could the airline we are flying with refuse us our outward flight (easyjet) because it won't be in date for the flight back?

By the way, the deal we are getting is really cheap and well worth the few pound, but just wondering is there a chance my friend won't get there, or will get into a lot of hassle over it?

The passport office seems to be closed on Saturday and Sunday, especially considering its new years, so no surprises there!

Any thoughts or suggestions on this?

Thanks a million!

if the flight is in the late in the afternoon you may have a chance with the passport office. get a form tonight at a garda barracks and get your photos etc signed by the garda. ring or go to the passport office first thing in the morning.i once got a passport in about 5 hours . be really nice to the passport people , you may have a chance. dont attempt to get a flight or enter switzerland with an out of date passport.

just saw update.