Hi, My wife has a Ukrainian passport, we are flying LPL - BCN in September, when we fly home her passport will have 5 months and 2 weeks left, Ryanair's website state a passport must have 6 months left, I contacted Ryanair by the chat portal and the Polish advisor stated that it is a maximum of 3 months for an EU passport, when I repeated that it is a Ukrainian passport she eventually came back stating it is still 3 months. Following this chat we are not totally convinced that the advisor is correct and she will be denied to fly.
Normally we would just get a new passport but it can take up to 5 months for the Ukrainian passport office to send a new one which is too long.
Does anyone have any advice?
Is the Ryanair advisor correct?
Is there any other way to get this confirmed?
My wife will have to get the boarding card from the airport as she needs to go to the visa check desk to check in.

Thanks in advanced for any help and advice.

I understand Ryanair use Timatic to verify travel documents. The tool is available here:

https://www.koreanair.com/contents/p...ion/timaticweb

I also suggest you review the Ryanair website: https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-gb/ca...avel-Documents

Thanks for your reply lfc84, I have already check the website and it states at least 6 months but the advisor said it is only 3 months, if it is 6 months we will have to cancel our first holiday abroad in six years.
As for the passport check she had to do this last year when she flew to and from Poland from Manchester. Looking at the verify tool it too states 3 months, if this is this the same tool as Ryanair use at Liverpool the we wont have a problem.
We just need to know if they will allow her to travel with a passport with 5 months and 2 weeks left on the return date, we do not want to get to the airport and be turned away. The UK and Spanish governments both state 3 months but say it is the decision of the airline.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Ukral15. Is your wife a UK resident?

For Ukraine citizens passports for entry issued to residents of the United Kingdom need only be valid on the date of arrival. Currently nationals of Ukraine are allowed to enter the UK with an expired passport provided it has an extension of validity issued by an Embassy of Ukraine.

Hi Tobias-UK,
Yes she is a resident here in the UK.
Her passport only expires in March next year. She will apply to renew her passport when we return from holiday this September.
We were concerned because Ryanair's website states that any passport must have at least six month left for the return flight, but she will have only five months and two weeks.
Hopefully everything will be fine and we can get our long awaited holiday.

Thank you for your reply and information.

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

The Ryanair website refer to six months' validity in order to use their online verification system. Otherwise your partner may* need to have their passport at the Ryanair visa check desk at the airport- allow extra time.

Spain is part of Schengen and follows the Schengen rules. For non-EU nationals, the passport must have a minimum of three months validity on the date of departure. Therefore her passport should be accepted for travel by Ryanair. Source: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...s/index_en.htm

Ukrainian citizens do not require a visa to enter the Schengen area.

(*The Ryanair website really is terribly worded; it refers to 'non-EU/EEA nationals', but presumably UK nationals don't need a visa check?)

After Brexit, UK nationals are subject to the same Schengen entry conditions as e.g. US, Canadian or Australian nationals (to name just a limited number of comparable examples). Without a visa, these passport holders are only allowed a total of 90 days in the Schengen zone within the last 180 days. I don't know how strictly they look for this - it can be difficult, if not impossible, to determine from the stamps in the passport in some cases - but this should become easier when the EU Entry/Exit scheme finally comes into force [currently planned for October 2025 but it has been delayed multiple times already].

UK passport holders are perhaps more likely to have exceeded this 90/180 day rule than other passport holders - due to proximity if nothing else.

All airlines - including Ryanair - will therefore want to see a UK national's passport - whether or not they have or require a visa - before accepting them for a flight to any Schengen state.

And soon, all third party nationals - including UK passport holders - will have to hold an ETIAS before travelling to a Schengen member state (just as happened earlier this year for Schengen state nationals travelling to the UK; they are now required to obtain an ETA before travel - Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) factsheet � 9 April 2025 � Home Office in the media)

Yes, I know.

But Ryanair's website says this: All non-EU/EEA citizens must have their travel documents checked and stamped at the Ryanair Visa/Document check desk before going through airport security.

UK nationals are non-EU/EEA. But Ryanair presumably don't make all UK nationals attend the Ryanair 'visa check' desk and have their documents checked and stamped before security when flying to a Schengen country; if they did, the queues would stretch around the block!

That actually sounds VERY on-brand to me!

(I presume they have more staff on the doc check desks now, where and when necessary...though I have no way of knowing as I never need to worry about that issue)

I have checked in for our flights in September to Barcelona, both have now checked in but it states that my wife cannot verify her Ukrainian passport online as she must have at least six months left, if I have read your passed comments correctly she can still verify her passport at the airport even with less than six months left after we return.
I look forward to hearing from you.

For complete clarity. No, passengers flying on Ryanair with UK (British Citizen) passports do not have to complete the document check (either online or in person), even though their entry conditions are identical to a bunch of countries that do.

Let me sound a note of caution.

You seem to have taken the message as meaning that - because it seems that your wife's passport is within 6 months of its expiry date - online verification is not possible but that it can be verified in person on the day and she will be able to travel without issue.

(However, if you check the Ryanair website, you will see that online verification of passports is only available for passports issued by a limited number of countries, and Ukraine is NOT on the list)





I would instead take the message as meaning that - if your wife's passport is within 6 months of its expiry date - Ryanair will refuse to allow her to travel.

Notwithstanding that Schengen entry rules apparently require only that a passport has 3 months' validity still left at the time you complete your trip (not at the time you fly into Schengen) so long as the passport was not issued more than 10 years previously, many airlines (incorrectly) require a stricter 6-months validity rule and it is at least possible that Ryanair are operating a stricter criterion here. But all things considered, even if eventually it turns out that Ryanair were wrong to refuse travel in such a scenario, that doesn't actually help you if - on the day of travel - your wife is refused travel. (If you ever read Simon Calder's columns for the Independent, you will know that he regularly posts articles regarding passengers who are incorrectly denied travel due to being within 6 months of their passport's expiry. But it's a pyrrhic victory to have the airline apologise after ruining your trip by not allowing your wife to travel - it's far better to proactively replace your passport when it's approaching 6 months from its expiry date)

If your wife's passport expires within 3 months of your travel dates, then you DEFINITELY need to apply for a new passport NOW.

If your wife's passport is going to be in that "grey area" of its last 6 months, I would still recommend that you apply for a new passport NOW, too.

A cursory look at Ryanair's website suggests that you will be refused with a passport that has less than 6 months to run:




Passport verification

It is really rather silly that Ryanair insists that Passports must have at least 3 months of validity before their expiry date. Surely the expiry date is just that - that anyone should be allowed to use their Passport for travel up to the expiry date.
I have no idea why Ryanair has made this rule, and I would question its legality.
Having said that, Helsinki to Alicante for 27 Euros with Ryanair ain't bad, nor is Alicante to Manchester for 22 Euros with Mick's Scratchcard Express!

Unfortunately as is normal Ryanair get away with most things, following a visit to the airport on Saturday it was confirmed than anybody with a non EU or UK passport must have at minimum of six months left after they return, there is no discussing as that is the law according to Ryanair even though no other airline that flies to Barcelona has this ridiculous six month rule.
I tried to escalate it but Ryanair are having none of it. On top of this we cannot get a refund as it was booked through a travel company.
We have now had to book with another airline from another airport costing almost �400.
In our eyes Ryanair a nasty little parasites who steal money from customers and unfortunately noone will tackle them about it simply because they are Europes largest low cost airline and everyone's scared of upsetting that little Mr Odreary , we will never use this pile of excrement again.
Thank you for all of your replies.

Mick O'Leary reputedly once said: "Our planes are full of people who hate us!"

I recently made two longish flights with Ryanair and cannot find fault with those flights. Friendly cabin crew, competent pilots, strive to keep the timetable. Flying at 500 miles per hour, 13 kilometres high, 2.5 hours Helsinki to Stansted for just 20 Euros. I get a seat, can eat, drink, read something, do some paperwork, have a snooze - perfect. Try driving between Helsinki and London - I have a few times, and I really appreciate a 2.5 hour jump compared to a 2.5 days slog in a car.