Child's passport nightmare

[Passportnightmare]

My wife and son have gone to Turkey.
I had to stay behind with my other child as her passport did not have enough time remaining.
We were advised that you can get a replacement within a day - you can't.
Am now at home with my daughter waiting, what the passport office say could be 7 days.... wondering how long I will have to wait so that I can rebook the flight & fly out there.
Has anyone recently applied for the renewal of a child's passport using the 1 week fast track service, and if so, how long did it take to be delivered?

Does it always take the whole 7 days? I'd really appreciate your experiences. Thank you.

Yes it does - due to the checks that have to be done for children’s applications.

Yes it does I believe as the 7 days is to ensure checks can be carried out-sorry!

There have been several threads about this recently - have a search and see what you can find. I think from memory some people got theirs back in 4 days.

Personally I'd wait until you have the passport - if you get it back say Friday but don't book flights until the full 7 days then you could have flown sooner?

If they send it by Royal Mail tracking you may get notified that parcel out for delivery to give you a clue. Or maybe it just turns up. Either way I'd wait until you have the passport then book there next available flight that day.

The shortest I’ve ever seen reported on here was 4 days, but it’s usually 5-7. They won’t do it faster than 3, for security reasons. Same day passports haven’t been available for children for some time.

How long are you away for? have you already had the passport appointment?

Thank you. Really hoping this is the case 🤞

Have taken in old one and had application accepted.
Just waiting now. We are all really gutted.

Did you book this holiday at the very last minute?

This is fast tracked. It's a renewal. They've said up to 7 days... just really hoping it's sooner

You might think! We've just had a really stressful time lately and it was one of many things we had to do... we just plain forgot. Kicking ourselves.

And thanks ☺️

We’ve all made these mistakes….hope you get the passport back soon & have a great holiday!

Why does there have to be time left on a passport anyway.

It doesn't make sense.

I remember seeing somewhere that you can't go into some countries if you have less than three months left on your passport.

what is the point of an expiration date then?

They need to know you are covered to return too, you might stay for a while or have something happen that prevents your planned return