unusual

A TEENAGE boy was banned from boarding his flight because of a sticker on his passport.

Thirteen-year-old Alix Dawson was due to fly to Thailand with his family last month for two weeks.

However, after arriving at Edinburgh Airport, his mum Meghan Law was told that he wouldn’t be allowed to board the flight with his passport at the check in desk.

Meghan, who lives in Aberdeen said: “We got to the airport and were checking in my bags when the [check-in staff member] looked at my passport then just walked away from the desk. She didn’t say anything.

“We were standing there for 20 minutes before I asked what’s going on. She came back and said that my passport was damaged.

“I said I’ve used this umpteen times. No one’s ever mentioned any damage on it before.

PASS OVER

World’s strongest passport revealed and UK hits record low in more than a DECADE

PASS IT ON

First look at the new British passport design being rolled out this year

“There were no rips or stains, I don’t know what she was trying to imply. I was really shocked.

“What they were trying to say was that the luggage check-in stickers that had been stuck on one of the pages [and] had damaged the page. But it wasn’t even on the photo page.

“There were no rips, it was just where the sticker marks had been. They said we couldn’t travel with it.

“I knew there were no issues with their passports. We’d probably travelled over a dozen times with them.”

She was then told that they would need to go to Glasgow Airport to get a new emergency passport.

Fearing for their £3,000 holiday, she contacted TUI, who they booked the trip with.

After sending photos of the reported ‘damage’, Meghan said the tour operator found no issues with the passport and put them on the next available flight to Thailand which was with Emirates rather than Qatar Airways.

The family were able to head on holiday with no further obstacles, albeit the next day, from a different airport.

Meghan said: “If I hadn’t booked through TUI and booked it myself, we just wouldn’t have been able to go on holiday.

“One way from Glasgow on the same day of travel would’ve been £2,800.

“We used it six times over the two-week holiday and no one said anything which confirms there were no issues with the passports.”

She said that it “ruined the start of the trip” for being so stressful and is calling for compensation.

Other passengers have been banned from their flights due to them being too damaged.

Countries such as Bali and Vietnam have some of the strictest rules in the world when it comes to passport condition, with airlines fined thousands if they let passengers fly with them.

ALL CHANGE

Supermarket giant rolls out huge loyalty scheme change nationwide

HOT STUFF

I live in world’s best city 3 hours from UK… it’s warm in winter & buses are free

Here are some other passport rules you need to know about.

And here are the world’s strongest passports.

ONE popular airline was forced to stop flights this week after a ‘freak’ maintenance issue.

Thousands of passengers have had their flights cancelled or delayed due to an unusual safety problem.

According to Finnair, the issue that caused the cancellation was aircraft seat covers being cleaned incorrectly.

A statement from the airline revealed that the “seat cover cleaning method (water washing) on fire protection has not been properly verified”.

It continued to add that safety is its “top priority” and it would be acting on the “manufacturers’ maintenance instructions as well as the guidelines and recommendations of the authorities”.

The airline said that it would make daily aircraft type changes to minimise the number of cancellations, but that this would likely “lead to overbookings”.

Read More on Winter Holidays

CHRIMBO WIN

Enter these travel comps before Xmas to win £2k holidays, ski trips & spa stays

TRIP OR TREAT

Bargain deals for half-term holidays from just £109pp with balmy 28C temps

It added that “several flights between 13 and 17 October 2025” had been cancelled and it would be likely that there would be more “flight cancellations, delays or changes in the operating airline”.

On October 13-14, the airline cancelled 40 services, with a further 18 more services grounded on October 15-16, according to FlightAware.

Today, four flights have been cancelled travelling from London Heathrow to Finland‘s capital, Helsinki.

Finnair is one of Europe‘s largest airlines and the cancellations have affected around 10,000 passengers.

Passengers caught up by these cancellation mishap may be due up to £520 in compensation for the inconvenience caused, as outlined by AirAdvisor.

Anton Radchenko, CEO of AirAdvisor, said: “From a compensation perspective under UK and EU law passengers whose flights were cancelled as a result of this operational error could be due up to £520 in compensation.”

Anton continued: “It remains to be seen how Finnair will frame the cause of the cancellations, but the issue appears to have originated from a maintenance procedure rather than a regulatory safety order.

“If your flight is delayed by over two hours, airlines should offer affected passengers free food and drink vouchers to make the delay more comfortable.

“Equally, if your flight is moved to the following day, you can seek overnight accommodation from your airline.”

There were also problems in Belgium airports this week as thousands of passengers had their journeys interrupted due to strikes.

Brussels Airport and Brussels South Charleroi Airport on Tuesday cancelled all their flights on October 14, due to a national strike being held by several unions

Belgium has as many as 120 flights a day, according to finance experts at Dot Dot Loans.

This means as many as 72 flights to and from the UK saw disruption, affecting nearly 13,000 passengers.

NOT FINE

Warning to 5million drivers who risk LOSING their licence & £10k fine this October

THROUGH THE MILL

Shock twist for unlikely celeb couple Millie MacKintosh & Prof Green

Flight compensation rules

A look at your rights if a flight is delayed or cancelled, when your entitled to compensation and if your travel insurance can cover the costs.

What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed?

Under UK law, airlines have to provide compensation if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late.

If you’re flying to or from the UK, your airline must let you choose a refund or an alternative flight.

You will be able to get your money back for the part of your ticket that you haven’t used yet.

So if you booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can get the full cost of the return ticket refunded.

But if travelling is essential, then your airline has to find you an alternative flight. This could even be with another airline.

When am I not entitled to compensation?

The airline doesn’t have to give you a refund if the flight was cancelled due to reasons beyond their control, such as extreme weather.

Disruptions caused by things like extreme weather, airport or air traffic control employee strikes or other ‘extraordinary circumstances’ are not eligible for compensation.

Some airlines may stretch the definition of “extraordinary circumstances” but you can challenge them through the aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Will my insurance cover me if my flight is cancelled?

If you can’t claim compensation directly through the airline, your travel insurance may refund you.

Policies vary so you should check the small print, but a delay of eight to 12 hours will normally mean you qualify for some money from your insurer.

Remember to get written confirmation of your delay from the airport as your insurer will need proof.

If your flight is cancelled entirely, you’re unlikely to be covered by your insurance.

For more on Finnair, one Sun Writer checked out their business class pods – and called them a game-changer.

Plus, the major airline launches first lie-flat beds in premium economy.

Channel 4 viewers have seen husband and wife duo Giles Wood and Mary Killen on Gogglebox since 2015.

On Friday night, Channel 4 viewers tuned in for a brand new episode of Gogglebox, which opened with husband and wife duo Giles Wood and Mary Killen.

The pair, who have been part of the programme since 2015, have become firm fan-favourites on the series for their hilarious dynamic and witty remarks.

Recently, Giles left people in disbelief after sharing a throwback photo of himself online.

However, during the most recent episode, he made an unusual demand when it came to his funeral plans.

He told his wife: “By the way, if I do die, Mary, I want to insist on something. I don’t want Frank Sinatra’s song ‘I did it my way’.”

She replied: “You didn’t do it at all, let alone doing it your way!” The Channel 4 star also told his wife he didn’t want the song Bohemian Rhapsody played.

Mary asked: “No? What do you want?” He commented: “I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday,=.”

Laughing at his remark, she said: “You wouldn’t want that! That would be so annoying.” He added: “Annoying right until the last minute!”

It wasn’t long before people commented on his hilarious request, with one person on X saying: “Giles wanting, ‘I wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday’ as his funeral song is just the most Giles thing ever. I love it, but pray it doesn’t come for many, many more years to come.”

Although Mary and Giles have been regulars on the series for 10 years, this series welcomed a plethora of fresh faces, including mother and daughter-in-law Sara and Lara, mates Jake and Calum, and family Andre, Sarah and daughter Chee.

This comes as the show bid farewell to Scottish couple Roisin and Joe, who first appeared on Gogglebox in 2022. Earlier this year, they announced they won’t be in the new series as they weren’t asked to return.

In a statement at the time, they wrote: “After three and a half years of sitting on the sofa Channel 4 have decided it’s time for Joe and I to stretch out legs and have not asked us back for season 26.

“Therefore we are leaving the Gogglebox family. We couldn’t be more grateful to Studio Lambert for the opportunity, the experience has actually been so mad and we will miss watching TV with you all on Friday nights!

“It’s been an honour to represent Scotland as some of the first Scottish people on the show and prove we don’t actually need subtitles.”

Gogglebox is available to watch on Channel 4.

BRITS will have a brilliant view of Saturn tonight – and it’ll be looking pretty unusual to boot.

This week marks Saturn’s opposition, which is a premium stargazing (or rather, planet-gazing) event.

3

During the opposition, Saturn is at its closest point to Earth.

And Saturn will be visible opposite the Sun in the sky so it’s fully illuminated.

That means it’ll be at its brightest point of the year.

So if you want to spy it, you’ll have your best chance tonight – assuming that it’s not cloudy.

It should rise after sunset and be visible all night.

This event will make Saturn easily visible to the naked eye,” said the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

“Appearing as pale yellow and rising in the east, located in the constellation of Pisces.”

Interestingly, this is a particularly special event because Saturn’s rings will be difficult to see.

They’re tilted at a severe angle to us, as we passed through their “plane” back in March.

We do that roughly every 13 to 15 years.

During a few weeks either side of that crossing, you can’t see the rings unless you have a very good telescope.

And even though we’re well on from March, the rings are still very severely tilted.

In fact, they’re just two degrees off dead straight to us.

“Saturn’s beautiful rings won’t be fully visible due to Saturn’s rotation turning edge-on to us,” Royal Observatory Greenwich said.

3

“So unfortunately the rings will appear very narrow.”

If you miss Saturn (or you really enjoy it) then there’s another opposition opportunity just a couple of days later.

Neptune can be seen at opposition on September 23 – that’s the Tuesday.

“The planet will be visible with a telescope, rising in the east and setting in the west at sunrise,” Royal Observatory Greenwich explained.

“Neptune, the farthest planet in our Solar System at 4.3 billion kilometres away, will be at its closest point to Earth, shining blue and brighter than any other time of the year.”

But it won’t be easy to see.

Neptune is extremely far away – much further than Saturn.

So you’ll need a very good telescope to spy it.

3

“Even with an optical aid, Neptune appears faint and you’ll need a high magnification to get a clear view,” the observatory added.

A U.K. Royal Air Force P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was noted today flying in Polish airspace along the border with Russia and Belarus, apparently highlighting a significant, if overlooked, overland surveillance mission for the type. The unusual flight comes amid rising tensions between NATO and Russia in the region, following the Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace last week. Since then, more Russian drones have entered Romanian airspace, while NATO has begun deploying additional fighter jets to bolster Poland’s air defenses.

Evidence of today’s Royal Air Force P-8 mission appeared on publicly available flight-tracking websites, which showed the Poseidon, serial number ZP809, flying up and down the Polish side of the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in the north and with Belarus in the south. The P-8 was operating from its home base of RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.

The P-8 may be generally described as a maritime patrol platform, but is more accurately a multi-mission type with extensive intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. These are equally relevant for missions over land or over water. Even without any specific modifications, the P-8’s standard electronic support measures (ESM) suite allows it to act in an electronic intelligence (ELINT) collection role, specifically on enemy air defenses and electronic order of battles. This is something we will come back to later in this story.

As its main operator, the U.S. Navy has further adapted a handful of P-8s for specialized ISR, with modifications such as a secretive radar system, the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor, or AAS. Even without AAS, the U.S. Navy regularly uses P-8s to execute intelligence-gathering duties, specifically ELINT, outside of its sea control/anti-submarine warfare/anti-surface warfare tasks.

This is just part of the U.S. Navy’s extensive investments in further expanding the capabilities of its P-8s with new munitions, podded self-protection systems, and other improvements.

As for the Royal Air Force, however, the small fleet of just nine aircraft at Lossiemouth means that these have been primarily tasked with patrolling the North Atlantic, including the strategically vital Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom Gap, better known as the GIUK Gap. This includes defending against potential Russian aggression and tracking Russian submarine activity, which has been a growing area of concern for some time now, as well as protecting the U.K. Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) when they go out on deterrence patrol.

Indeed, the small size of the Royal Air Force P-8 fleet saw the United Kingdom discuss plans to team up with Norway to cooperate on Poseidon operations, and, in the future, Germany will be added to this group. This will provide a further boost to NATO’s ability to effectively patrol the North Atlantic.

As regards using its P-8s for overland ISR, the Royal Air Force has previously been lukewarm on this.

According to Gareth Jennings, the aviation desk editor at Janes, the Royal Air Force once planned to use the P-8 for overland surveillance, but shelved the idea due to the small number of aircraft being purchased

Was told not all that long ago that, although the RAF originally intended the P-8 to have an overland surveillance capability, this would not now be the case owing to the relatively few aircraft being procured and commitment to its core-carrier protection/MPA and ASW tasks. Seems… https://t.co/8iCZ3RshAP

— Gareth Jennings (@GarethJennings3) September 15, 2025

Whether the mission over Poland today signals some kind of change is unclear, but we have reached out to the U.K. Ministry of Defense and NATO to try and find out more about this flight.

Suffice it to say, activities in Kaliningrad and Belarus right now mean there are plenty of points of considerable interest to NATO.

Currently, the armed forces of Russia and Belarus are conducting the first iteration of their joint Zapad maneuvers since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Zapad drills — meaning ‘West’ — are widely seen as intimidation exercises directed against NATO’s eastern flank. Ahead of the exercise, Poland said it was deploying 40,000 troops along its borders with Belarus and Russia. Poland had previously closed most border crossings with Belarus, leaving only two in operation.

It’s also worth recalling that the Zapad-2021 exercise was used, in part, as cover for the westward movement of troops and equipment months before Moscow launched its all-out assault on Ukraine.

The scenario for Zapad-2025 involves an imagined Western invasion of Belarus. Although much smaller than in pre-2022 editions, the close coordination of Russian and Belarusian forces, including armor, crewed and uncrewed aircraft, air defense systems, and naval assets, provides an ideal opportunity for intelligence gathering.

🇷🇺⚡🇵🇱 Russia deployed nuclear capable SRBM “Iskander” on a highway in the Kaliningrad region near the Polish border, as part of #Zapad 2025 exercises with Belarus. pic.twitter.com/QOdODGfTaE

— Geo News (@GeoTienou) September 13, 2025

While we cannot know for sure at this point, today’s P-8 flight would appear to be entirely in line with that kind of intelligence-gathering mission.

Elsewhere in Poland, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski reiterated that, while the drones that entered Poland last week were capable of carrying warheads, they were not loaded with explosives.

Increasingly, NATO leaders in Europe are seeing the Russian drone incursions as a deliberate, incremental escalation directed against NATO. This kind of approach is very much in line with an escalating campaign of hostile activities short of all-out war across Europe, of which Russia has been accused. The tempo of the operations has stepped up since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine. Even before then, Russia had a long history of so-called hybrid or gray-zone warfare operations that fit this same description.

The weekend saw another Russian drone incursion, this time in Romania and much smaller in scale than last week’s in Poland.

At least one Russian drone entered Romanian airspace at 6.05 p.m. local time on Saturday during a strike on neighboring Ukraine.

According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the drone was intercepted by two Romanian F-16s, which were carrying out an air patrol mission in northern Dobruja and which came close to downing it, after gaining both radar and visual contact.

Forțele Aeriene au interceptat o dronă în spațiul aerian 🇷🇴
2 aeronave F-16🇷🇴din Baza 86 Aeriană au decolat azi la ora 18:05, pentru monitorizarea situației aeriene la granița cu 🇺🇦, ca urmare a unor atacuri aeriene 🇷🇺asupra infrastructurii 🇺🇦 de la Dunărehttps://t.co/uGPjZVDt07 pic.twitter.com/95XooGzfX5

— MApN (@MApNRomania) September 13, 2025

The drone orbited for about 50 minutes, according to the defense ministry, before leaving Romanian airspace near the town of Pardina in northern Dobruja, heading toward Ukraine.

The Romanian foreign minister summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the incident, which also drew further condemnation from European Union leaders.

In a statement, the Romanian Ministry of Defense said that the various drone incursions in recent days “represent a new challenge to regional security and stability in the Black Sea area.”

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Russia’s incursion into Romanian airspace is once again a blatant violation of EU sovereignty and a serious threat to regional security.”

This morning, Russia attempted to deflect the blame, describing the drone incursion as “a provocation” by Kyiv, but providing no evidence to back this up.

The first additional NATO fighters have now arrived in Poland to help bolster air defenses on the alliance’s eastern flank. These are French Air and Space Force Rafales from Escadron de Chasse 2/4 “La Fayette,” which are now at Mińsk Mazowiecki Air Base in eastern Poland. While there has been some surprise in certain quarters that this is a unit with a nuclear tasking, it’s one of two units that have a nuclear mission alongside other roles, including air defense.

French Dassault Rafale fighter jet armed with MICA air-to-air missiles taking off from the Minsk Mazowiecki Air Base in eastern Poland.

Three French Rafales have been deployed to Poland as a part of the ongoing Operation “Eastern Sentry” – NATO’s response to recent Russian drone… https://t.co/wo8BApj6FR pic.twitter.com/i2WdnoeSJP

— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) September 14, 2025

Last Friday, NATO leaders announced details of a new mission, Eastern Sentry, which includes the deployment of two F-16s and an anti-air warfare frigate by Denmark, the three Rafales from France, and four Eurofighters from Germany. Already forward-deployed to help defend NATO’s eastern flank are F-35As from Italy and the Netherlands, based in Estonia and Poland, respectively.

A NATO spokesperson told TWZ today that the first activation of Eastern Sentry saw the alliance scramble fighters in both Poland and Romania over the weekend, including the newly arrived French Rafales, and also placed ground-based air defenses on alert. In related news, German Eurofighters are now under NATO control too, but they have, so far, not scrambled as part of this operation.

Today, the United Kingdom confirmed its plans to add Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters to Eastern Sentry, with the U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey writing on X that “Russia crossed a line with the reckless drone incursions into NATO airspace.” The deployment of Typhoons to help defend Polish airspace “is a message to Moscow: you tested NATO, we responded with strength and unity, Healey added.”

Russia crossed a line with the reckless drone incursions into @NATO airspace.

The UK will fly @RoyalAirForce Typhoons on NATO air defence missions over Poland, deterring Russian aggression.

This is a message to Moscow: you tested NATO, we responded with strength and unity.

— John Healey (@JohnHealey_MP) September 15, 2025

Also now in Poland are the three Mi-17 Hip helicopters that the Czech Republic also pledged to help defend NATO’s eastern flank. The rotorcraft are assigned to the Special Operations Air Task Unit (SOATU).

“We are fulfilling the promise we made to our close ally. Our soldiers are already in Poland and are ready to participate in strengthening the protection of airspace on Poland’s eastern border,” said Czech Minister of Defense Jana Černochová.

As to what happens next in NATO’s response to the drone incursions, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has suggested that NATO should consider imposing a ‘no-fly’ zone over Ukraine to protect the alliance from Russian drones. As we have explored in the past, establishing something like this over Ukraine would be no easy task, and the alliance previously rejected such a proposal amid fears that it could lead to direct confrontation with Russian combat aircraft.

Speaking about extending such missions into Ukrainian airspace, Sikorski told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine: “We as NATO and the EU could be capable of doing this, but it is not a decision that Poland can make alone; it can only be made with its allies.” He continued: “Protection for our population — for example, from falling debris — would naturally be greater if we could combat drones and other flying objects beyond our national territory. If Ukraine were to ask us to shoot them down over its territory, that would be advantageous for us. If you ask me personally, we should consider it,” Sikorski added.

The potential risks involved in such an initiative were reinforced today by a statement from top Kremlin official Dmitry Medvedev, who warned that the establishment of a ‘no-fly’ zone in Ukraine and allowing NATO allies to shoot down Russian drones would amount to a “NATO war with Russia.”

It appears that the kind of ‘no-fly’ zone that Sikorski is proposing would only shoot down Russian drones that were understood to be heading toward NATO airspace, although determining this would also not always be straightforward, with plenty of potential for misunderstanding between the alliance, Russia, and Ukraine.

Contact the author: [email protected]