Urgent - Passport Expiry
 

Without providing all of the background details:

Colleague supposed to travel with me tonight to Budapest.
The route is YUL-LHR on AC, and LHR-FRA-BUD on LH.

Colleague's passport expires on June 4th, 2018, which is less than 90 days...
We have return tickets.

Is there any hope in hell of him getting on the flight??

See if he can do self-check-in without seeing AC agent.

Boarding gate will just look at passport photo to confirm ID.

Good Luck.

Final destination entry may be the bigger issue than just getting on the plane

https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/hungary

Regular Canadian passport
Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months beyond the date you expect to leave the Schengen area.

I'm sure that when you do self-check-in the document verification stage with the TA or GA scans the passport. If it has been verified, they might only do a quick check of the picture.

However: getting on the plane is only half the problem. You might well be stuck pre-customs in one of the airports (IDK where, or how often, one clears customs on that routing). The local border guards would for sure check the expiry date. And tend not to like things that expire so soon.

If you have proof of return I've seen and heard of customs authorities overlook the 3 / 6 month requirements for passport validity. Saw it last year entering the US (not myself, someone I was travelling with) in fact. However, that is totally YMMV depending on the customs agent, the country, etc.

Assuming the AC agent doing the passport check in YUL doesn't stop you, you're going to enter the Schengen area in FRA. If the German customs agent decides not to let them in then (s)he's going to have a bad day tomorrow, being put on the next flight back to Canada.

Actually perhaps the most likely would be at at LHR the LH agent doesn't let him board to FRA. Then he would have to deal with the situation there.

You're just going to get a cursory examination at the gate in LHR by the LH agent there. That is probably the least likely location to get stopped.

The AC agent doing the doc check at point of departure (AC is responsible for you if you get denied entry) or the customs agent at point of entry will be the ones looking most closely at the passport.

can you try it and let us know what happens next?

Look at the actual database that the airlines use to determine whether you can get on the flight...

https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/pas...quirements.htm

Whether AC will trigger this or LH in FRA is not clear to me.

Technically, including June 4th I think this may actually be 90 days no?
https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dur...&y2=2018&ti=on

I'd say the odds are good, a shame it wasn't picked up a few days ago to get a rush replacement but especially if you get into the EU I can see them overlooking one day even if you get there on the 8th ... But I'm not an expert.

Rule says 90 days beyond the date of exit from Schengen, not entry.

Hi everyone,

OP here.

we spoke to AC, who said in no uncertain terms that they would not issue a boarding pass.
I'm travelling tonight, he's rushed down to the passport office to do an express renewal. Headed out on LH tomorrow night with a valid travel document. Haha.

thanks for your help!

OP: Thanks for the update. Too many folks here never tell us about the resolution.

booohoo...... i wanted a guinea pig for this experiment!!!! :(