No-deal Brexit: Wizz Air warns passengers to check passports will still be valid after 29 March

Wizz Air is urging its British customers to check whether their passports will still be valid for European travel after 29 March, when the UK leaves the EU.

“FOR UK PASSPORT HOLDERS ONLY,” the Hungarian low-cost airline tweeted on 16 January. “We want you to have a smooth journey, so please check if your UK passport is still valid for Europe after 29 March 2019.

“Further information related to other nationality passports is not yet available.”

The tweet linked to a new online tool launched by the government that allows users to see if their travel documents will be valid or whether they’ll need to renew their passport. Users need to input information such as date of travel, date of birth, destination and passport expiry date.

In the event of a no-deal Brexit, which looks increasingly likely as prime minister Theresa May’s proposed deal suffered a huge defeat in the Commons, UK travellers will need a minimum of six months left on their passports to visit any of the 26 countries in the Schengen area.

In addition, for those who renewed a passport before it expired, extra months may have been added to their new passport’s expiry date. Any extra months may not count towards the six months that should be left on the passport for travel to most countries in Europe.

The new rules will apply to passports issued by the UK, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey.

In a no-deal scenario, the full list of countries where you’ll need six months on your passport to travel is: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The new rules do not apply when travelling to Ireland.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania are not in the Schengen area and have their own entry requirements.