Child’s passport only has 2 months on it. Flying to Spain on Saturday!

Oh, yes, that terribly difficult arithmetic of adding 10 to the year.🙄
You do British people a disservice.

Sadly not - the mathematical knowledge of a lot of people in the UK is not terribly good.

As for people checking this, that and the other - has no-one stood in the queue going through Security and seeing the bags which get diverted and then opened? An awful lot of people get caught out.

[quote notimagain]@Louisianagumbo

“ Many people do not realise that the rules changed due to brexit.

But the op did know the rules had changed, she just forgot to check. ”

I most of us get that, and understand the unfortunate situation the OP is in..

OTOH there seems to be a cohort of posters who seem to somehow be trying to argue that the three month validity requirement for UK passport holders entering the UK is not a consequence of Brexit…

So the thread runs and runs..[/quote]
OTOH there seems to be a cohort of posters who seem to somehow be trying to argue that the three month validity requirement for UK passport holders entering the UK is not a consequence of Brexit…

Actually I think most people were saying that her not checking her son's passport was not the fault of Brexit. Just poor organisation. (I actually expressed sympathy over this because it once happened to me re Australia. And I also said I thought she was being light-hearted over saying bloody Brexit. And I also said that I thought she was getting a rough ride for being a bit sharp when she was panicky, stressed and upset.)

The start date and then do some arithmetic, because on a lot of people's passports the printed end date is now a total fiction.

Oh, yes, that terribly difficult arithmetic of adding 10 to the year. 🙄 All this has been warned about everywhere as well. We expect people to check items that can/can't be packed or taken on in hand luggage. We expect people will look at what counts as liquid. We expect people to take luggage that is within the weight limit. We believe that everyone is capable of doing that, and indeed people are responsible and do find out the correct details. But for some reason you think they're not capable of checking if their passport is valid! You do British people a disservice.

... and because the Government itself has done the minimum to advertise the rule changes, plus not being able to travel much for two years.

Now if the Govt had said "Because of the way we negotiated Brexit, we have b*ggered up passport expiry dates, travel with pets, touring with motorhomes, staying in EU second homes...."

Op, interesting you’ve pulled out of thread, because you’re disappointed in the response of many.

I’d say your response to many would have been disappointing to them. They tried to help and you told a number they were unhelpful, and others to no longer comment on the thread. That’s hardly a positive experience for them is it? But somehow because you’re stressed it’s okay to be rude and it’s MN and everyone else that’s to blame.

MN is a brilliant resource. So many times I have found answers to questions and have been awed by how many people have tried to help me or shared huge expertise. But as in life, you have to communicate well and behave decently, or people don’t like it….and why shouldn’t they pull you up on it. If you’ve asked for help and people give it, you don’t say ‘shut up’ but ‘thanks’. You understand that on an open forum anyone can comment. When you’ve messed up you say that at the start, not only 17 pages in….if at all. People are glad and happy to help, and strangers are often incredibly kind. If it doesn’t feel that way to you here, have a look back at the first few pages of your replies tethers and just consider it from their viewpoint and you might see it a bit differently.

Hope you get your family holiday at some point and also enjoy MN in future.

@Louisianagumbo

“ Many people do not realise that the rules changed due to brexit.

But the op did know the rules had changed, she just forgot to check. ”

I most of us get that, and understand the unfortunate situation the OP is in..

OTOH there seems to be a cohort of posters who seem to somehow be trying to argue that the three month validity requirement for UK passport holders entering the UK is not a consequence of Brexit…

So the thread runs and runs..

Many people do not realise that the rules changed due to brexit.

But the op did know the rules had changed, she just forgot to check.
Warnings have been being given for years. It's been in the newspapers, on the Web and on the telly. We've been out of the EU for two years and warnings were given well before that. It's been a year since this came into force and there were warnings before and during the last year. Unless you live in a blindfold with cauliflower florets stuck in your ears, how can you not know?! Everyone knows Brexit has happened so if you don't take the opportunity to check when you book a holiday, it just shows poor reasoning.

You just open the little red booklet up and look at the date.

The start date and then do some arithmetic, because on a lot of people's passports the printed end date is now a total fiction.

People believed BJ when he said "nothing will change" in Parliament.

Which was a foolish thing to do, given BJ's track record for honesty.

If you've got an app Friday and you're flying out the following Saturday can't you just get a later fight and meet your family there with your son?

Several posters have mentioned that the 3 month rule have caught them or friends out as well, as travel opens up, this will become much more of an issue, as well travel with pets & the 90/180 rules - FB caravan/touring pages are up in arms about this, as are 2nd home owners.
People believed BJ when he said "nothing will change" in Parliament.

Red????

Are you trying to wind people up ?

don't pretend it doesn't have real world consequences.

Real world consequences. 😂 For goodness sake, just check your passport. You'd check it when going to Turkey or Egypt or Tunisia. It's not difficult. You just open the little red booklet up and look at the date.

Drive!

They seem to check a lot less at ferry/tunnel/land borders. As we’ve seen on here. Airports more strict.

You’d probably make it if you were prepared to dive to Spain..!

Just say bye bye to your kid and enjoy your holiday

@HelloFrostyMorning

Were we still in the EU, this thread wouldn't exist

Yes it would. The denial is bizarre. Brexit has absolutely NOTHING to do with the OP's issue. It's people not checking their passport expiry dates!

Sorry of course it would prebrexit (not) OP writes "i ve checked passport dates and have found that we can ALL go on holiday wha hey!" thread closes with 2 replies.......

And as I said, this NEVER happens to people in real life. (Not to anyone I know anyway!)

Well, you don't know 67m people, me and my friend were on a road trip to Southern france in 2006, she presented her passport to the customs guy at Plymouth and he told her "your passport expired a year ago, we can let you leave but you might have a problem getting back in" (she had no idea) we went on holiday and no one noticed on our return.

Rules on that sort of thing tightened before Brexit but just because you voted to turn the UK back to an insignificant island on the edge of the worlds largest trading bloc (with which we have a v poor deal with) don't pretend it doesn't have real world consequences.

I’ve read the thread
It’s been a bit sparky at points
But bloody hell Op… good job you’re not going abroad because your skin is so thin as to almost be transparent - so for the best you’re not in any sun

Hang on OP you asked quite specifically what happened when someone turned up with not enough time on their passport. Helpful PPS 'kindly' told you the rules and that you would be turned away. Many with direct expertise on those rules. They were of course right.

Other helpful and kind PPs suggested emergency appointments. You and they all agreed it doesn't happen anymore
This wasn't good enough for you and you were quite rude about it. You said you knew the rules already so didn't want that spouted back at you. No you wanted actual real life experiences.

People told you actual real life experiences which backed up the rules you said you'd read. Many many have sympathised and then you blamed Brexit. Yes its a factor, yes it's annoying and yes the change in rules means it's worse for you but 'being kind' isn't going to change that. No one can pull strings for you here. I don't know what you were expecting? An immigration officer to offer a dodgy deal?

Yes the 'it's your fault you should have done x' posts aren't particularly helpful but it's one of those learning experiences. The point is that there is nothing that can be done and it's not anyone else's fault. In these situations you take it on the chin and move forward. 99% of people on this thread have shared their knowledge and experiences and tried to be helpful but because no one (except one person who offered a fanciful story of pilot begging) said 'yes darling we pitched up with a whole family of expired passports and they don't look so go for it, you'll be fine babe' you have assumed everyone has been 'unkind'. It's far kinder to say to you early as possible 'no, make other arrangements, here's the rules' than string you along with fanciful possibilities of inattentive gate staff or bribable pilots.

@MaudieandMe
Of course bloody fucking Brexit is to blame here. Are you ordinarily a mean person or completely dim?
The child’s passport isn’t out of date at all. It still has over 2 months left to run which would have been fine prior to Brexit and he could have travelled to Spain for the family holiday and returned, completely legally.
It’s only because of Brexit that U.K. travellers have to have at least 3 months remaining on their passport before travelling within the EU.
..............
You are a very aggressively rude person. I have not been mean to the op. I've sympathisedwith her plight, I've said that I'm not aiming anything about Brexit at her because she was being lighthearted, and I've actually defended her from the criticism of others.
I am not dim. This is not a Brexit issue. Its an organisational issue. Everyone needs to check their passport at the time of booking. Warnings have been given since 2016, we've been out for two years, and we're a year out of the transitional period. Are you saying that as a country we're not capable of or too thick to check passport expiry dates in the same way as most countries in the world do?
I'm not engaging with you anymore because there's no reason for you to throw out insults, even worse that they're baseless, and you're not a person I care to talk to.

I had to do the week service for my son, booking an appointment in London, and got the passport back within 3 days. For myself, I’ve had to do the online premium/same day service.

Nothing to do with me not checking, either. We’re a European family and constant travel (Brexit related) meant we simply didn’t have a 4-6 week minimum window in between travel to apply for passports the usual way.

As others have said, the shorter validity is totally to do with Brexit. Most EU countries state 3 months’ validity is ok, but many travel providers insist on 6 months.

This just happened to someone I know.. they decided to go to the airport and ‘try anyway’ shockingly, they made it on the flight and to france!!! Guess it was luck

If you can’t reschedule I would apply for the fastest service you can and cross your fingers. What else can you realistically do? Hope you get there.

A few years back DS was travelling to Belgium and the Netherlands on a cathedral choir trip. He'd just returned from a school trip to France (via ferry) a few weeks before. As we were going through his stuff a few days ahead of departure we noticed that his passport was actually out of date - and had been prior to the school trip!!!

Nobody had noticed....I can only assume because all the passports were handed in as a bundle and not individually checked, which I admit seems rather weird 🙄

We hastily arranged to go to the London passport office and get it renewed, which was done while we waited and was collected a few hours later.....