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Urgent advice needed!! Passport expiration time

196 replies

NSWK · 08/02/2024 23:15

We are travelling last minute (hopefully) to Spain tomorrow for half term, and have just realised our child's passport has two months and three weeks until it expires. It looks like we need to have a full three months on a child's passport to travel. We have only just realised this and are travelling tomorrow afternoon so it is too late to renew the passport.

Does anyone have any experience? We are hoping to fly with BA from Gatwick to Malaga, both parent's passports have, in excess of, 6 months. Is there a chance they will let us fly (we are only going for five days) or are we mad to even go to the airport?

Thank you in advance, all advice gratefully received.

OP posts:
Clearinguptheclutter · 08/02/2024 23:57

porridgecake · 08/02/2024 23:53

I think you have to have some sort of visa for Europe now too? It costs about £7. Not called a visa but I can't remember the name.
I had to renew my passport 8 months early due to planning to stop in France on a return long haul flight in March. Then we decided to fly straight back to uk, so I didn't investigate the visa any further.
Brexit is such a pain.

No you don’t. This is planned but not happened yet.

fedupwithbeinghot · 08/02/2024 23:58

My son flew to Spain a couple of months ago when he had 3 months and 10 days left on his British passport. He was stopped in Gatwick and in Spain and reminded that he needed to renew it without delay

NSWK · 08/02/2024 23:59

Sorry that I am good enough at Mumsnet to reply to individual comments, but I don't think we have time for the face-to-face passport interview and I'm pretty sure the children's passport is delayed anyway. Thank you to the poster who pointed out it's very important that our child doesn't think it's their fault, I totally agree with that, any advice very welcome. (they are way too old not to know exactly what's going on). I think we will have to tell them before we arrive at the airport. What a mess!!

OP posts:
porridgecake · 09/02/2024 00:00

Oh that is good. I saw it was planned for January but haven't looked again because we changed our plans.

porridgecake · 09/02/2024 00:01

Sorry that was regarding the ETIAS.

YoungCuriousAndLookingForAnswers · 09/02/2024 00:21

@NSWK, did you manage to board the plane and get through immigration?

shreknjumps · 09/02/2024 00:58

Give her a chance 😅

SabrinaThwaite · 09/02/2024 01:00

MariaLuna · 08/02/2024 23:57

I think you have to have some sort of visa for Europe now too?

How utterly ridiculous. UK is part of Europe.

All thanks to that fuckwit Boris Johnson.

ETIAS comes in mid 2025 now.

Johnson is a moron, and a slow handclap for the those that were suckered in by him, but it will only be a few euros. Not dissimilar to the US ESTA.

samarrange · 09/02/2024 13:48

There are two separate changes coming for EU entry. Sadly, absolutely everyone, including the kinds of junior interns who write travel articles for news outlets, is getting them mixed up.

EES, the Entry-Exit System, is currently planned for September 2024. That will involve upgraded passport kiosks that also take your picture and your fingerprints (which you can "recycle" if you return to the EU within three years), and will also record your time spent in the Schengen area automatically. That way you can't accidentally "overstay" if you don't get an exit stamp for some reason, but also, you can't sneak in for more than your 90-in-180 days if the border guard is busy and doesn't add up all the time on your previous stamps. If you have entered the US at a large airport in the last 10 years you will probably have used a very similar self-service system.

ETIAS, the travel authorisation, is planned for May 2025. It will work very much like the US ESTA. Basically it's an electronic pre-registration of your passport, so that you don't have to wait for 10 seconds while the border guard waits for the computer to see if you are a wanted criminal. It will cost €7 and be valid for three years, or until you change your passport. Everyone with a UK passport needs one, but it's free for under-18s or over-70s. ETIAS is not a visa — in fact, it is only available to people whose passport entitles them to a visa waiver — but the junior interns at Shite Online will all call it a visa, so prepare to see confusing headlines.

You can be absolutely certain that the launch of both of these will be accompanied by massive fanfare in the UK media (Guardian: "Sigh, another consequence of Brexit"; Express: "Now crazy EU bureaucrats PUNISH hard-working Brit families with OUTRAGEOUS visa charges") and if you book any kind of ticket to travel to a European destination there will be large red pop-ups on the website and in half a dozen e-mails from the airline. And still there will be stories of people who "didn't know I needed it".

By the way, the UK is introducing its own equivalent of ETIAS, called UK-ETA. It is more expensive at £10 and only valid for two years. It is already live for one country (Qatar) and 6 more Middle Eastern countries will be added this month, as they very sensibly test it in small steps. It will eventually be rolled out to people from all UK-visa-exempt countries, and I guess might even be applied to EU citizens visiting the UK before ETIAS goes live. So if you hear people complaining about ETIAS, you can remind them that the UK does exactly the same.

TedMullins · 09/02/2024 14:25

What happened OP how did you get on?

NSWK · 09/02/2024 14:29

We haven't left yet, just having a fun day of panicking! Flight at 7:30pm. 🤞🤞

OP posts:
Helplessandheartbroke · 09/02/2024 14:35

Fingers 🤞

hothotheatbag · 09/02/2024 14:41

Good luck!! I'd be firing up the car and channel tunnel and driving to Spain, more chance of being allowed in.

samarrange · 09/02/2024 14:42

NSWK · 09/02/2024 14:29

We haven't left yet, just having a fun day of panicking! Flight at 7:30pm. 🤞🤞

I had an idea, but it may be a bit late now: Get there as early as possible so that if the first check-in person refuses you, you can maybe have a second bite at the cherry when they have finished their shift. Perhaps the second attempt could be when check-in is about to close and they may be hurrying people through. Or if it's one of those big check-in places with dozens of desks that can't all see each other, you might even get three tries. 🤞

MadeForThis · 09/02/2024 14:47

Good luck

MaggieFS · 09/02/2024 14:53

Good luck OP, but I'm not hopeful for you 🙁.

We flew BA from Gatwick last year, and very precisely knew DS' passport had 3.5 months left after our return date.

Both at check in and at the gate it triggered a red light on the scanner and the staff were at pains to explain the rules to us and make sure we didn't delay our return flight.

Good luck!

NSWK · 09/02/2024 14:59

MaggieFS · 09/02/2024 14:53

Good luck OP, but I'm not hopeful for you 🙁.

We flew BA from Gatwick last year, and very precisely knew DS' passport had 3.5 months left after our return date.

Both at check in and at the gate it triggered a red light on the scanner and the staff were at pains to explain the rules to us and make sure we didn't delay our return flight.

Good luck!

That is disappointing, but I guess we should be prepared! Do you think we should be encouraged by the fact we were able to check in online? Also the passport in question is one of the old, burgundy, European ones, I know we're clutching at straws, but that is literally all we have!

OP posts:
gettingolderbutcooler · 09/02/2024 15:01

It says 3 months left for schengen countries! You'll be fine!!

valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

RampantIvy · 09/02/2024 15:08

The passport in question has less than three months @gettingolderbutcooler

NSWK · 09/02/2024 15:11

RampantIvy · 09/02/2024 15:08

The passport in question has less than three months @gettingolderbutcooler

Yes, sadly less than 3 months left now (the intended departure date) so even less on the return 😭😭

OP posts:
Twiggywinkle13 · 09/02/2024 15:13

Good luck!!!

Firsttimebabymama · 09/02/2024 15:15

Good luck OP. We've just got back from Spain- my husbands passport has 5 months left and it was brought up 4 times.

JanewaysBun · 09/02/2024 15:15

Good luck!