Denied Boarding Even with Valid Passport? Check This Before Booking Flights

Many of you are likely planning trips abroad.

You check your passport before preparing for a journey, right?

However, you now need to check not just whether you have your passport, but also its remaining validity period.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Overseas Safe Travel, in June [2026], a South Korean national attempting to depart Hungary for a third country was denied boarding because they failed to meet the destination country's requirement for six months of remaining passport validity.

This is a representative case where the passport itself was not expired, but fell short of the entry country's own criteria.

Passport validity requirements vary by country.

The European Union stipulates that passports must have a remaining validity of at least three months based on the scheduled departure date from the Schengen Area.

On the other hand, countries in the Americas and Asia require six months based on the date of entry or scheduled departure.

The benchmark date for trip preparation should be the scheduled return date, not the present time.

If your itinerary causes the remaining validity period to drop below the required threshold during your trip, renewing your passport before purchasing flight tickets is the safest approach.

(Source: Segye Ilbo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.