Passenger detained at Zurich airport after traveling with a cancelled passport.

Emma Groves, a 35-year-old traveler from Belfast, was refused entry to Switzerland and subsequently detained at Zurich Airport (ZRH) after arriving on an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin. The refusal stemmed from her inadvertent use of a previously cancelled passport. Groves had obtained a replacement passport after misplacing the original, but upon finding the old document, she failed to destroy it and mistakenly packed the invalid document for her four-night trip.

While the passport was scanned and accepted by Aer Lingus staff during check-in at Dublin, Swiss border control immediately flagged the document as cancelled, deeming it invalid for entry. Groves was informed she would be flown back to Dublin. She was placed in a temporary holding facility at the airport, which she described as a "mini prison" containing multiple beds separated by curtains, before being escorted onto the return flight. Aer Lingus confirmed that while they verify a passport's validity and match it to the passenger, the status of a cancelled document may only be definitively identified by destination border authorities upon arrival.

Upon returning to Dublin, Groves retrieved her valid replacement passport and immediately purchased new flights to Zurich, incurring significant unexpected costs. She was eventually granted entry to Switzerland on her second attempt after presenting the correct documentation and explaining the prior refusal of entry using the paperwork provided by Swiss officials. Border officials assured her that the incident, being an honest mistake, would not affect future travel.