A ripped passport, even if only a tiny tear, can doom an airline trip, as a family in England found when trying to fly to Spain.

Tear In Passport Dooms Airplane Trip To Spain

The Burton family was thrilled to escape the cold winter in England and fly to Alicante, Spain (ALC)  to usher in 2024 and spend eight days relaxing. However, when the family showed up at the gate to board their Ryanair flight from East Midlands (EMA), 19-year-old Jake Burton was denied boarding because of a rip in his passport.

How bad was it? A one-centimeter (0.39 inch) tear…

For this case, the pertinent UK regulations concerning damaged passports state:

A damaged passport is one which the customer cannot use as proof of identity because of its condition.

Damage can include:

• when the personal details or observation page are unreadable
• laminate peeling or lifting away from the personal details page
• unreadable security details
• missing or detached pages
• where the front, back or personal details page has been cut
• damage or discolouration to any part of the passport caused, for example, by:
  • water
  • chemical or ink spills
  • tears
  • rips
  • bite marks

Airlines are given leeway in determining whether to deny boarding to a family.

In a public statement confirming the incident, Ryanair insisted that it had made the right call:

“This 19-year-old adult passenger was correctly refused travel on this flight from East Midlands to Alicante (28 Dec) by the gate agent at East Midlands Airport as his passport was damaged and therefore not valid for travel.”

Gate agents apparently suggested the family try a different airline and when re-entering the UK, border agents scoffed at the notion that the passport was not valid for travel.

However, the concern for Ryanair was not whether Jake would be allowed back into the United Kingdom, but whether he would be admitted into Spain. If he was not, Ryanair would be on the hook to transport him back and be liable for a potential fine from the Spanish government.

I don’t know that Ryanair ultimately made the right call, but I do understand that the budget carrier is going to hedge its bets in situations like this because the cost of being turned away at the Spanish border is much higher than the marginal price of the ticket.

Jake suggested his family go ahead without him, but they declined and everyone New Year’s Eve in East Midlands.

CONCLUSION

As regrettable as I find the denied boarding, it is an important reminder that even a tiny tear in your passport can doom your trip. Keep your passport safe (I keep mine in a leather case) and never put it in the pocket of your trousers (my old one got damaged by doing so). Even though a tear like the one in Jake’s passport above seems so immaterial, it cost him a holiday in Spain. If your passport does get ripped, the only way to have absolute peace of mind that there will not be passport issues when traveling is to replace the passport.