A British man was recently prevented from boarding a flight to Germany because, according to a computer system, he did not have the right to travel.
The business traveler told Telegraph Travel that his passport was valid until April. However, airline staff, acting on instructions from a computer, said he needed three months’ "validity". Mr Kennedy told Telegraph Travel:
"I could see the plane only about 15 meters away, but they said you’re not getting on the plane."
Mr Kennedy phoned the UK Passport Office and the German Embassy in London, which both confirmed that three months of validity was not required. He had only planned to visit Frankfurt on business for two days.
The very same computer system recently blocked another passenger hoping to travel to Salzburg, Austria, for supposedly not having enough "validity" on his passport.
The airlines say they followed the guidance from a computer database called Timatic, developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). However a form on IATA’s website —which tests passengers’ documentation — revealed that Mr Kennedy would have had the right to travel.
The tightening of controls in many European countries appears to have left airport staff almost as confused as European leaders on how to control the bloc’s passport-free Schengen zone.
The European Commission wants member states to sign up to a centralized border control system for the whole bloc. It is likely this system will be reluctantly accepted by Eastern European countries like Hungary, which are more interested in barricading their borders with barbed wire and concrete to keep people out than collectively policing it.
For the first time in 50 years, people traveling between Denmark and Sweden are now required to provide identification.
