daes

Hi,

I just noticed that my (Greek) passport expired at the end of March and I am flying with BA home to Greece from the United States (CA). My Visa has not expired. It is still Valid. This was partly the cause for this. I remembered that the Visa expired in July of this year and for some reason I thought it was the same with the passport and I did not check to verify.

I have one stop for a few hours in London (there are no direct flights from where I am to Athens). I had a friend who had a similar case and was able to travel, but his stop was in the EU (Germany).

I talked to my consulate and there is no problem with gaining entry back home since I am a Greek citizen (I have my Greek ID and Greek/EU Driver's License with me). However, they told me to contact my airline (BA in this case) to make sure that I will be able to board the plane here in CA.

I've been trying to contact BA customer Service, but I've had no luck up to now.

I would appreciate any advice or information from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Thank you so much.

golfmad

Welcome to FlyerTalk daes

I am not an expert and I'm sure others will be along shortly. In the meantime, can you confirm that you're on a single ticket from the USA to Athens via London? Just wanting to check that there no reason for you to go landside in London. From my possibly naive standpoint, I would have thought that if you can stay airside in London and will be permitted entry in Athens as a citizen then you should be ok but I understand that it might get complicated.

daes

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, I bought a single ticket for Athens. My checked-in luggage go straight to Athens. I just have to wait at Heathrow for a few hours until I can board the next plane to Athens.

corporate-wage-slave

Since you would normally enter Greece with your ID card then that wold be OK to my mind if on one PNR and same day connection. Greek ID cards are no longer accepted by the UK Border Force unless you had settled status in the UK, so even that's not a complete barrier, there are circumstances where BA would allow someone to travel on their ID card to the UK. There is provision within Schengen to arrive on expired but otherwise valid documentation. Moreover Timatic has this clearly laid out:

Timatic is authorative in this space.

cauchy

The OP's lack of documentation for the UK will be apparent from the Advance Passenger Information, so this could be flagged before OP gets on the plane.

OP, if you've got 'book with confidence' on these flights, have you priced up rebooking to XYZ-PHL-ATH, or XYZ-JFK-ATH, using BA codeshares on AA? Then there's nothing to worry about.

London Dude

One can enter the Shengen area (and probably any other EU/EEA country) on one's expired EU passport, so your friend wouldn't have had a problem entering or transiting through Germany.

FWIW, by inputting the travel and passport info in the IATA travel center's travel form, the outcome is that you should be allowed to transit through the UK airside on an expired Greek passport, if you have proof of onward travel to Greece (or to any Schengen area country.) (https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/) Your Greek ID card should also be sufficient. The main risk is that you might be stopped at the check-in desk or at the boarding gate by an American BA agent who's not fully cognizant of the requirements (or rights) for entry into the EU that apply to EU citizens.

Confus

All BA agents in the US have access to Timatic and would check it before denying boarding for reasons of insufficient documentation. They would be presented with the view CWS printed above. It would be abundantly clear that the document is acceptable, even if the agent didn’t know it to begin with.

London Dude

Possibly, but regardless CWS's screenshot shows the requirements for entry into Greece, not for transiting through LHR on the way to Greece.

Im a new user

What happens if the OP is stuck overnight at LHR because of last-minute irrops? I suspect that the OP wouldn't be able to enter the UK on an expired passport.

daes

Hi,

Thank you for the information. I've tried to find where you quoted this in the IATA travel center, but I've had no luck.

Do you have a link for this?

Thank again for taking the time. Best.

daes

Hi,

Thank you for the information. I've tried to find where you quoted this in the IATA travel center, but I've had no luck.

Do you have a link for this?

Thanks again for taking the time. Best.

MADPhil

One way to get it is: https://www.united.com/en/us/timatic/

corporate-wage-slave

Timatic is visible via a number of airlines including United, if you google United Timatic you will find it. The link URL changes fairly often hence my indirect reference. Timatic is the source of the IATA Travel Centre data, it's just packaged a bit more nicely to make it easier to read, but sometimes loses some detail along the way. The quote I gave above is what the agent will see at check-in. It's not that unusual, Brits are allowed home on expired passports to give one example of many.

daes

Thank you.

Bradhattan

OP, you should also contact United States TSA to see if your ID card (assuming it has a future expiration date) is usable for travel. Generally in the US, expired docs are not accepted. Even if BA lets you fly, TSA might not let you clear security..

If I am incorrect, someone will clarify shortly...lol

Best of luck!