Does Brexit make for a good travel opportunity?
By: Philip Valenta
Tags: Europe, Travel, UK Politics, Brexit, Geopolitics

From a documentation requirements standpoint, a no-deal Brexit will not materially impact holders of, say, a US passport. For those holding a full British Citizen passport, however, a hard Brexit on March 29, 2019 impacts you in the following way: you must make sure that your passport, and the passports of any dependents you have traveling with you, have at least 6 months left on them from the date of your arrival in the Schengen area of the EU. That is, ensure that none of those passports are set to expire within 6 months of your future planned visit following the Brexit date.

That’s how things stand now, of course. Following Brexit, who knows what new agreements the UK and EU will be struggling to reach, and what new issues will crop up. Additionally, there are many UK nationals living in EU countries, and vice-versa. There is very little guidance on how those individuals will be treated. On the France page of the official UK government site, the following is stated:

There will be no change to the rights and status of EU nationals living in the UK, nor UK nationals living in the EU, while the UK remains in the EU.

Hmmm. That’s great? Then what? It hasn’t been entirely sussed out. What we currently know is that if you are an EU citizen living in the UK, you will need to apply in order to remain in the UK following Brexit. Chances are, this arrangement is reciprocal — UK citizens may need to apply with the government of whatever EU country they are living in to be able to secure their place.

I should point out that there is nothing on the UK Gov page to confirm or deny that, though. With respect to the relationships the UK has with some countries, there is simply no agreement yet on how to proceed.

Practically-speaking, then, if UK and EU citizens have to move back to their countries of origin or travel more to deal with any fallouts from Brexit, then we can all expect longer lines at international borders and embassies, and more competition for seats on planes, trains, ferries, and all the rest. In other words, we can all look forward to the additional gumming up of travel in the form of things taking more time, being less available, and costing more, to name a few.

Indeed, one of those last points on travel seats is becoming a bit of a hot button issue, especially as airlines that were planning new routes or otherwise expanding their European services scramble to figure out what to do in the event of a hard Brexit. An international aviation watchdog is warning that flights could be cancelled as there appears to be language floating about that flight levels between the UK and EU are to be capped at 2018 levels if there’s no deal.

Of course, Europe-oriented airlines and travelers have been gearing up for more travel this year when compared with last year, not less, so that means that if caps are triggered by a no-deal Brexit, many will get the shaft. If you’ve already paid for that travel, that may not only leave you in the lurch, but also fighting for a refund and adding insult to injury. Flight insurance may be a sound way to go, but do your due diligence and read the fine print, of course.

It is unclear as to whether rail companies, or ship operators that ply the waters between countries like Ireland, France, and the UK, will be hit by any caps themselves.