'Worst' passport mistake means Jet2, Ryanair, Easyjet passengers missing flight

Jet2, Ryanair, Easyjet passengers making 'worst' passport mistake and missing flight

by · Birmingham Live

'Worst mistake' passengers make with their passports during a flight – leading to missed holidays. Leaving your passport in the seat-back pocket is the 'worst mistake' to make when on board a Jet2, Ryanair, Easyjet or TUI flight, it is warned.

Around 400,000 UK passports are reported lost or stolen each year, according to data from 2018. Another bad place for the documents are in our own back pockets, according to Jeremy Murchland, president of Seven Corners Travel Insurance.

Of the 20,000 who reported their passports stolen in 2014, a high number suggested that they were victims of pickpockets. The UK Post Office states that those who have had their passports stolen should report the issue to the police by calling 101.

READ MORE UK set to be hammered by 5cm of snow with two parts of England 'bearing brunt'

If the item is stolen abroad, those affected should also report the loss to local police and ask for a written police report. This report may be needed when visiting the British Embassy to apply for a new passport or when contacting a holiday insurer to claim for the expense.

Once a passport is reported lost or stolen it is cancelled by HM Passport Office with information about the loss shared with the National Crime Agency. Inter-governmental policing organisation Interpol says that passports are "highly valuable to terrorists and international criminals."

All passports are inspected at the border, either in person by Border Force officers who are rigorously trained to prevent the holders of fraudulent documents from entering the country or through e-Passport gates which use facial recognition technology to provide identity and security checks in a matter of seconds.

Immigration Enforcement also constantly monitors and identifies emerging threats in relation to the production and supply of false travel documents, including the use of the internet to facilitate the trade in passports and identity cards, the UK government says.