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

[olympicsrock]

Help!!!
Just discovered that my 10 year old son’s passport only has 2 months left on it. We have flights booked to go to Spain on Saturday. .

Has anyone travelled to Spain on this situation recently? What happened?? Were you refused permission to board the plane?
I have phoned the passport office . There is absolutely no way to get a passport for him in the next 10 days as need to do face to face for child renewal , no appointments til next week abs then a week to deliver by post.

olympicsrock

Right I’m out. Thanks to those who were kind and supportive and made me laugh.
Actually many of you on here were horrible , patronising and humourless. Don’t others say “bloody brexit or bloody boris” with a wry smile when something is a bit shit? Of course it’s my own fault but the rules have changed and the passport would not have been in valid for travel prebrexit.

Has made me question whether mumsnet is something I can be bothered with ( after 11 years!)
Quoting the rules at someone repetitively who already knows there is a problem or saying ‘it’s your own fault” is not helpful particularly when someone is hugely stressed.

Who on earth has such a easy/ boring life that they have expiry dates for everything engrained on their brain???
Some of us are just doing our best as mums to juggle a huge number of balls .

I agree OP I feel people just come on mumsnet to be contentious. It's a nightmare and something that is so easily missed when sorting so many other things out. I hope it all works out for you

OP - we drove up to an appointment at Durham two weeks ago on the Wednesday, with everything filled in, photos signed etc, for my son’s renewal. It arrived in the post on Friday morning. So 48 hours after the passport office appointment. Just get the next available appointment and get there!

@harriethoyle

Wow. You are really rude OP. There's no need.

She’s not rude - just stressed & upset!

OP, sorry you had a hard time. I got a bit of a roasting on mn when I found myself in your situation last October.

All your plans sound valid. We hoped for Plan A but put arrangements in place for Plan C if the passport did not arrive the day before. I think you have a good chance of the passport reaching you in the post in time but do put other plans in place. Personally, I would not go with your ds with the airport if his passport is not in date. That is too risky and if you do that, you should have an adult accompany you because if he is turned away, that person will take him back (and look after him) so that the rest of the family can go on the holiday.

I was vilified for being heartless for suggesting ds stayed behind. Ds is 15 and was actually quite excited by his serial sleepovers with various friends which were all arranged in advance but his passport came in the post in the nick of time and he came with us .

Good luck. It will work out one way or another. That said, that week counted as one of the most stressful in my life.

A friend of mine’s son, travelling from France back to UK, did not realise that his passport had expired. He was allowed through. That was a few years ago though now, before we left the EU. I think they are stricter now. Could you phone the passport office and beg for an exception to have an emergency passport. It’s still possible, just.

Oops. This happened to us a few years ago. I booked the first available appointment- husband and son took road trip to York (we live near Bath), then they flew out to join daughter and I a few days later in Italy. A boo boo that we will never repeat!

@Thesepostsmakemechuckle

Ignore them...they love making you feel worse than you already do. I had a child passport done in two days and when they realised they weren't going to get it to me in time to go to France, they sent a courier to meet me at the ferry port with it. If you pay to upgrade and tell them your date and time they generally bust a gut to do it. I sent everything off and then called to upgrade as soon as they had received all the docs. It was all fine!

Slightly different scenario....we went to Ireland at Christmas and my daughter's passport only had a month left on it. They were so busy checking everyone's PCRs, passenger locator forms that they barely glanced at the passports. To be fair, it doesn't have to have the obligatory length for Ireland so not quite the same. My friend also travelled with 2 mths for her child and they just said make sure you don't do it again but this was pre Brexit. Good luck... these things happen

The Home Office sent a courier to the ferry port? Or you paid to have the new passport couriered to you?

@Londoncallingme

It’s FINE - my DH was allowed to travel with his passport expiring whilst we were away. They just said he might have trouble getting back in, he didn’t. I’ve also travelled with my married name on tickets and maiden name on passport. Both times to Italy.

Who is "they". Because obviously, leaving the UK there is no border force check. So "they" was the airline? Check in desk or gate? Where they generally scan your passport these days? And it flags up anomalies? And if the airline lets you board "they" risk a whopping fine.

Or was the "they" the Italian immigration officials?

Or could you see the friendly pilot as well?

It used to for traveling to the EU, but not now we have left the EU. And 6 months for the rest of the world.

2 of us have just renewed using the online system . They took 4 weeks.
I am paranoid having stuffed up once before with a DC's passport.

[quote IcyWinterWonderland]@Grrrrdarling An exceptional reason? Seriously? OP not even bothering to check her kid's passport is NOT an exceptional reason. So no, special allowances should not be made for her. Talk about entitlement.[/quote]
@IcyWinterWonderland WOW…Just WOW!!

The exceptional circumstance is that they are flying on Saturday NOT that the passport is out date.
Anyone can make that mistake & you can only ask if they can fix the situation. There is no guarantee they will or can fix it but if OP doesn’t try to get help then she’ll never know if they could have.

I only realised on 25/1 that my LG’s passport was out of date as I literally forgot that kids passports only have 5years on them, as it is my 1st kids passport. In my head it was valid until the end of 2023.
Luckily she wasn’t flying until 6/3 but it was an innocent mistake that I only discovered while getting her passport number to give to school!
Our plan, after that revelation, was to go to Durham for a nice day out & get it renewed at the same time THEN I discovered that the rules for kids passports & same day renewals/issue have changed. This equalled massive panic for me as the current turnaround time for passports right now is nearly 4 weeks & that would take us to between the 25th & 28th of Feb, which was cutting it super fine & allowing no wiggle room for problems.

@olympicsrock I hope you get sorted before this weekend & enjoy your getaway
It is something that is easily done despite what the apparently perfect people say

We fly to Mallorca every year. One year we turned up and discovered (at check in) that youngest child's passport was about to expire. Not a problem as Spain made an exception to this rule (and we were told is the only country that does so). This was at least 10 years ago and of course we were in the EU at the time so the rules may have changed ....

This happened my dad, the allowed him to leave the UK but told him if it was picked up in Spain they would turn him back. He risked it and as we were travelling as a family with lots of kids and prams they waved us through a gate and never checked passports. This was pre twin tower attacks though so not as strict.
I was on a flight from Liverpool recently and someone was on it who did not have a ticket. They realised when there were two people sitting in same seat. The first man (who didn't have ticket)was very drunk and had passed out, took ages to get him off the plane.
Most likely you will be stopped but these two experiences tell me that they are just human and can miss things. It is up to you if you want to chance it.
Tottering off now to check my kids passports

It's at this point that you realise your passport is a VERY important document.
Hope it works out for you OP and if not ...well, it'll never happen again.

@olympicsrock

Plan E to cancel altogether and go at a later date is looking probable. We lose £360 to transfer the flights. Can’t risk the upset of being turned back and don’t want the upset of DS staying at home.

A week at home together seems a better option.

That was my suggestion

Far better than your abcd

*And yes - Bloody Brexit, is NOTHING to do with your issue OP. This was your poor life-admin skills...

Fixed that for you.

You're welcome.... smile*
I don't need it fixed or a patronising smile thank you. Brexit has cost me and my family thousands of pounds and a hreat deal of stress. So yes, BLOODY BREXIT.

Definitely BLOODY BREXIT in this case. Otherwise it would have been a quick look at the passport on Tuesday - and phew, still in date, but cutting it a bit fine, so note to self, I should check when I book the flights.

And generally, entering a Schengen country when whole crowds of people were disgorging from flights, a quick whizz through the EU gates and you were away. Now you have to stop and have your passport stamped, just like the old days.

But it's actually worse than the old days, because for W Europe you could go to the Post Office and get a British Visitors Passport immediately on production of your birth certificate and paying a modest fee. This is what we used to do - we had full passports for ourselves, but used to get these for the children on the few occasions that we went abroad.

But it's actually worse than the old days, because for W Europe you could go to the Post Office and get a British Visitors Passport immediately on production of your birth certificate and paying a modest fee. This is what we used to do - we had full passports for ourselves, but used to get these for the children on the few occasions that we went abroad.
Yes!! I remember doing that for my gran. We took her to France for the day - first time abroad in 70 years. Happy memories.

@Ciaram55

So sorry Op. Wish there was a way out for you. I really don't understand why a passport shoudn't be valid until it actually expires.

@Ciaram55 I think it's in case you are taken ill and your trip has yo be extended. But this may be incorrect

That makes sense.

But why does it have to be valid for longer than 10 years then?!?

@Meredusoleil

That makes sense.

But why does it have to be valid for longer than 10 years then?!?

NO longer than 10 years I mean 🤦

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

Ireckon when it comes to passports, visas etc there are two sorts of posters here..those that have already been caught out by organisational issues and those who will be. What a load of shite. I have never been caught out by this sort of issue because I always check. It’s not hard.

As a PS @daimbarsatemydogsbone, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is making clear that they don’t know what the current passport validity situation is, and that they have had to ask the European Commission for clarification. Perhaps you should offer to advise them yourself?

@Meredusoleil

That makes sense.

But why does it have to be valid for longer than 10 years then?!?

It's a stipulation for non EU members to travel to European countries:

If you are a non-EU national wishing to visit or travel within the EU, you will need a passport

• valid for at least three months after the date you intend to leave the EU country you are visiting

• which was issued within the previous 10 years

@Grrrrdarling Wow, Just WOW.....

PMSL, I can't believe people actually say this!

@Jaxxy

Pre Brexit, you might have got away with it as they Spanish authorities just glanced at your passport and waved you through.

It has NEVER been like this. I have travelled to Spain MANY times since the early 1990s, and they have never just waved you through without checking your passport. What a load of nonsense!