UK Passport question - do your month of issue and month of expiry match?

[Embelline]

I've had my UK passport since 2016 and travelled on it loads, never had any problems. However tonight when checking into a flight online I noticed that out of all our family, mine is the only one who doesn't have matching months for issue and expiry. Example - everyone else has issue October 2017, expiry October 2027. Mine is issue Feb 2017 expiry 2027. Is this a mistake on their part? I've never noticed it before and it's never been flagged up, so I'm hoping it won't be this time either as we fly on Saturday!
I've only ever checked the expiry month and year to ensure I had enough left on it.

It’s totally normal, if you get a new passport before the old one expires you get a few additional months tacked on, that’s all.

ah thank you, I was a bit perturbed by it, purely because all the others matched.

This was true until 2018, so true for passports issued up to 2018. Since brexit it's just the 10 years flat (so passport becomes defunct either 3 or 6 months before it's actual expiry date, depending where you're travelling to).

Just be aware that if travelling to the EU they don't accept the extra bit that's been added on. The passport will expire 10 years after issue and not on the printed expiry date

Great thanks everyone. That makes sense. It was issued in 2017 and the others are all 2021 or later. I still have just under four years on it so should be fine.

The extra months do count, but only if you travel out within the initial 10 years. So you can travel to Spain for a week when your passport is 9 years + 364 days old, so long as there is at least 3 months and 1 week left until expiry.

It was widely mis-reported initially but now clear on gov.uk, you have to check the issue date is less than 10 years from the date you travel, and the expiry date is more than 3 months from the end of your trip.

Prior to September 2018 (or around then) remaining months from your old passport got added to your new one and meant the new passport could be valid for up to 10 years 9 months.

New passports no longer have extra months added and the extra months aren't recognised when entering the EU.

For travel in Europe your passport needs to be

• under 10 years old on the day you enter the EU (look at start date and add on 10 years) and

• have 3 months remaining on the date you leave the EU (look at expiry date)