Mildly concerning....

[blockers]

Hi all....

Just got back from my holiday to switzerland today. Travelled out on Monday 19th July. Only this morning i realised that my passport had actually expired on 10th July 2004.

So i had travelled into switzerland on a passport that was not valid....i had no knowledge of it...Surely they should have checked all of this stuff at the check in desk. I realised this morning, before coming home and got stopped at the airport check-in desk in Geneva and had to go and fill out some forms etc...to say i was 100% British and not a terrorist or such like....they struck up a conversation about Beckham, which i realised after it was a good thing i participanted in it.....they may have thought i was up for no good if i had said i didnt know/like him...

In this day and age of terrorists attacks and apparent steps taken to prevent such people from coming into the country surely they should have picked me up at the earliest opportunity!!!!?

Even at the passport control coming into Gatwick they did not say anything. The people at switzerland had given me a reference number and name to get out of any tricky situations, but i wasnt even questioned about my passport at Gatwick.

Well i was concerned....i am considering writing an email to Gatwick, or something saying how come i was let through? I dont know if they had notified Gatwick or something, ahead of my arrival!?! I would have thought they would have stopped me just to check the details even if i had been cleared...

Bit odd i thought!

Will.

[MD]

I travelled to Austria the other month, did not even have to open my passport at Austria, getting on or off, was midly disconcerting.

tbh writing would make no difference, but writing to your local MP might.

BAA do not control pasport control so even if you did write a letter it would be passed round the houses and lucky to get a response...

m@

[silent ben]

I find that if you go on a skiing holiday they dont seem to check your passports at all, theres just 1 fat old guy with a weird mostache at passport control waving everyone through with 1 finger

Ben

[bertie]

I'd say be thankful that you were allowed on holiday at all, no one wants more unnecessary airport security delays.
Don't buy into the terrorism hype, just because the US got hit doesn't mean terrorism is a new thing.

[killgORE]

1 fat old guy with a weird mostache at passport control waving everyone through with 1 finger

i wonder which one finger was used !

I went out to amsterdam in 2002.. very close to the 9/11 incident. I got searched @ edinburgh airport flying out. had my bag swabbed for tnt etc. I made some cheap joke about "what if I worked with tnt/semtex/explosives of anykind ?" fortunately I missed the keyword "bomb" !!!

I got about 10 min hassle leaving from skipol airport because I had the new british passport and the airline had never seen one before !

But the thing that got me was i was never searched or anything. despite knowing the city/country I was leaving from - and given my passport was "suspicious". I just gave a sack of weed to somebody british on the moving floor thingy on my way to check in. but because I never got searched at edinburgh on the way home I felt gutted at my waste !!! I didn't see any staff from the plane til the taxi

ps. go to amsterdam. if u are lucky. u get a bag of weed in the airport. I saw someone getting one when I arrived. and I gave one out !!