Irish passports & travel

[defitzi]

With the Irish Passport system having a 50,000 backlog as of today (Thursday) and growing by thousands more daily as people attempt to renew and obtyain new passports, because of the work to rule (strike notice is now given) by passport staff, chaos unlimited is guaranteed over Easter and the forseeable future. The atrocious problems of holidaymakers will be enhanmced when it comesd to business and commerce travellers being grounded - the harm this will do the the republic seems immeasurable!
With Ryanair's Michael O'Leary intransigently refusing to accept passport-less passengers on flights between Ireland ands the UK (passports for such travel ARE not required except by the airline) Sail/Rail is liklely to be the big beneficarfy and equally, likely to be very much in demand in the coming weeks -even months!
Indeed it maye even be back to sailing tickets for the sea crossing part ofthe journey on the Irish Ferries, and Stena Line vessels!
Travellers who opt for Norfolk Line and/or P&O either from the Republic of Ireland or via Belfast (Stena line only) will discover these companies do not offer sai/ rail options and so journ erys are likely to cost several hundred Stg more in some cases that by using the most expensive Sail/ Rail option 0f £32.50 ) includes London and South Coast).
One wonders just why the devious O'Leary is rejecting non-passport travellers- it is his intention to add ammo to his ongoing war with the Irish Government, which recently led to 500 jobs going to Prestwick rather than to the Republic o Ireland Ryanair's main base? The action makes one wonder why the Irish harp is not removed from Ryanair's tails?

 

[stut]

Pretty much all low-cost airlines insist on government-issued ID on domestic, Schengen and CTA flights, not for security or immigration reasons, but revenue protection. When easyJet started up, it found that a parallel trade started up buying their tickets and selling them on at a markup, negating the low fares they'd worked so hard to achieve. Shortly after, the airline started to insist on photo ID, to make sure the person travelling is the person the ticket was bought for - nothing more. Pretty much all European LCCs have now followed suit.

 

[theblackwatch]

Subject amended

 

[jamesontheroad]

SailRail may benefit, but it's very poorly marketed and information is so inconsistent from TOCs and front line staff about fares etc. Plus, while the touchscreen ticket machine at my local station in Glasgow lets me buy a through ticket via Stranraer to most stations in NI and RoI, the National Rail website and most still ticket agent websites can't even show you times, let alone fares.

Maybe Iarnrod Eireann in the Republic are more set up for selling through tickets; at least there's only one operator to do the marketing and selling. I know that only one or two stations (Great Victoria Street and possibly Central) in NI can sell them.

I suspect the real beneficiaries with be BMI, BMI-baby, Aer Lingus, Aer Arann etc who all (IIRC) are fine with driving licenses.

 

[EM2]

It used to be that only photo-ID was required for Ryanair, e.g. a driving licence. Is this no longer the case?
As recently as 2007, a friend flew Dublin - East Midlands and back with Ryanair using an expired, provisional driving licence! Not exactly rigorous checks...

 

[gordonthemoron]

I like how Lufthansa don't even bother to check that the name on the passport matches the name on the boarding card

 

[anthony263]

I think the operators of the Swansea to Cork ferry may be happy iif they get a increase in passengers. I am surprised because i thought you had to have a passport to travel to ireland but it appears that a drivers licence etc should be ok.

 

[Greenback]

A passport has never been necessary to get into travel on my many, many trips there by ferry. I've always carried one and it's never been looked at!

 

[Oracle]

Pity you're not over here! A friend used to work in the passport office at the Irish Embassy in central London, and used to renew citizens' passports day in day out.

 

[jamesontheroad]

It used to be that only photo-ID was required for Ryanair, e.g. a driving licence. Is this no longer the case?

Nope. Ryanair only accept passports for British and Irish citizens, because neither country has mandatory government ID card system. I think this rule was introduced about a year or two ago. There may have been an exception made for Italian citizens, because there was a recent scuffle between Ryanair and the Italian government about acceptable photo ID, but the basic rule is ID card or passport only.

 

[mickey]

Nope. Ryanair only accept passports for British and Irish citizens, because neither country has mandatory government ID card system. I think this rule was introduced about a year or two ago. There may have been an exception made for Italian citizens, because there was a recent scuffle between Ryanair and the Italian government about acceptable photo ID, but the basic rule is ID card or passport only.

Almost true...

Ryanair won the 'scuffle' with the Italian government, so everyone there (with the possible exception of Italian politicians and maybe top civil servants) has to produce a passport/ID card. Ryanair said that if the government didn't back down it would cancel all flights, and the government capitulated pretty soon after.

The 'passport/IDcard only' rule was introduced when all-online check-in was brought in last year. I know it's controversial but in my opinion it was a sensible thing to do as it's now much simpler for both passengers and staff.

Finally, the UK ID card is accepted by Ryanair. You have to enter the number as a passport number as their systems haven't been updated to include them yet but they have no problem accepting them just like the ID cards everyone else in Europe has. (Plus as they're official EU travel documents they couldn't actually refuse them even if they wanted to.)

 

[Old Timer]

All of this because of some turbanned lunatic hiding in a cave in a mountain :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[jopsuk]

All of this because of some turbanned lunatic hiding in a cave in a mountain :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

At least, he's the excuse all our governments use- and the opposition (certainly in this country) merrily back them up on this.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Ryanair won the 'scuffle' with the Italian government, so everyone there (with the possible exception of Italian politicians and maybe top civil servants) has to produce a passport/ID card.

Not true, according to Ryanair.com

THE ONLY FORMS OF TRAVEL DOCUMENTS ACCEPTED ON RYANAIR FLIGHTS ARE:

A valid passport - ( see below - */and ** below)
A valid National Identity Card issued by the government of a European Economic Area (EEA) country. (Only the following EEA countries issue National Identity Cards acceptable for carriage on Ryanair flights: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland)
A valid German Government issued Kinderausweis travel document
A valid Italian Certificato Di Nascita which has been endorsed as "VALIDO PER L'ESPATRIO" valid for travel. It is the passenger's personal responsibility to ensure that this document meets the requirements of immigration and other governmental authorities at the destination airport - see ** below.
A valid Italian AT/BT card (Italian domestic flights only)
A valid UN Refugee Convention Travel Document - (issued in accordance with Article 28(1) of the 1951 UN Convention, by a Government in place of a valid passport.)
A valid Convention Travel Document - (issued in accordance with Article 27 of the 1954 UN Convention for Stateless Persons, by a contracting state in place of a valid passport)
A valid EU Collective Passport (issued to approved EU school groups who are under 18 )
A valid Collective Passport issued by an EU/EEA country

That exemption for domestic Italian flights may have been a subtle compromise?

 

[mickey]

That exemption for domestic Italian flights may have been a subtle compromise?

Perhaps. The press release announcing 'the end of the problem' said only passports/ID cards will be accepted (http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/italian-id-issue-resolved-flights-restored) but perhaps something was added later. Without knowing what an AT/BT card is though it's hard to say exactly what that exemption means - it may be that only a handful of people have one!

 

[Old Timer]

At least, he's the excuse all our governments use- and the opposition (certainly in this country) merrily back them up on this.

Political convention requires that the official Opposition do not criticise a war in progression.