HELP! Flying out tomorrow ,passport expires in July 2026

[Potterxoxo]

Hi all,

Bit of a panic here and hoping someone has been through something similar.
Just realised my 6 year old’s British passport expires July 2026 and we’re flying to Albania tomorrow from London, coming back on 13 June 2026.

I’ve read that Albania needs 3 months validity left after you leave and now I’m worried we might not be allowed to travel.

Has anyone actually been in this situation? Did you get stopped at check in or were you still allowed to go?
I’m just trying to work out how strict this really is in real life,a part of me hopes miraculously they will let us through.
Any experiences would really help !

You asked AI, which often gets things wrong, and posted the response without any further checking. You should be upfront about this
Its bloody obvious i did with the reference points next to the text. I didn't make out I was a border control officer ffs!

They’ll follow the rules and it takes a week to renew a child’s passport. This is due to safeguarding.

Kids passports are valid for five years so for the child to have received it's passport within 3 months of it being born (so to still be under 4 now) is unlikely, especially considering how the OP does not seem to be that organised a person when it comes to passports etc.
This is just me arguing that the child is almost 100% likely to be aged 5 or above.

https://www.ukpassportchecker.co.uk/

You can check the requirements on that link. Its quite accurate.

Is it an option to get an emergency passport appointment and fly out in a few days? Xx

The country will fly anyone with a valid passport back to their own country. The extra months are for visiting other countries so in the event of illness you still have a valid passport to fly back on and don't get stuck in their country.

You’re a human. Humans make mistakes. Give yourself some grace. Some people on here just love to stick the boot in. Really sorry this has happened - beyond annoying for you.

Frequent flyer here! Don't bother!

It says 6 in the OP

As I think somebody else has suggested, your best bet is to try to get an appointment at your nearest passport office ASAP, see if you can pick up flights once you have her passport and then catch your original flight home with your holiday having been a few days shorter? What a nightmare. Hope you get it sorted.

What a nastily-worded post. Many independent school half terms start this week, so your assumptions were jumping the gun.

It’s nothing to do with within the EU. Ireland is not in Schengen. So Irish citizens, like British citizens, must have passports to fly to EU countries. In my post I mentioned my child on the third journey was travelling from Dublin, EU, to the continent, to another EU country. As Ireland is not in Schengen, they absolutely need a passport. But my post was actually about two flights flown on an expired passport.

Irish citizens do not need a passport for the UK. BUT airlines impose it as their requirements.

When I fly within the EU, say to Spain, I don’t need a passport in my departure airport. None of those rules are much good to you if you’ve an expired passport. Nor are they any good to you if your arrival country wants to see a passport. All of us carry our ID from resident country, we each have an EU passport (Irish) and in addition have a card Passport as back up.

Another of my children managed to travel thru 4 countries in Europe, without any ID 4 years ago, they left their bag/wallet in my car when I dropped them off at the train station, they phoned me when they realised, it was too late for me to get back to the station. So they asked what to do, I said get on the train and keep going. There was a massive snow storm which caused chaos, they even got into and out of Switzerland that same day to get to their destination. If I remember correctly you need a passport to stay overnight in Switzerland, and the advice, from their job at an Austrian destination was to get out of Switzerland and they’d collect them. It was actually a UK company hiring Irish because Brexit made it so difficult for them to sort out paperwork on British staff. I posted the passport the next day via DHL etc, Austria you have to register, normally immediately, but they got away with a couple of days as it was a holiday destination with holiday staff and you can’t be dealing with “foreigners”. So they turn a tiny bit of a blind eye on some stuff.

Well - sorry to burst your bubble but we get ONE week…. 🙃

Yikes. Why such a bitter post 🥴 - also you do realise some schools have different lengths of holiday .. right? Or did you just mean to want to sit t nasty?

Good luck op. It’s an easy mistake to make.

You won't be able to travel, sorry

Meant to add can you go and queue at your nearest passport office for an emergency passport

Yep, I'm aware..

It was the idea/comments hinting that the UK won't let a UK citize back in with an expired UK passport I was addressing.

To be honest though trying that might mean a load of hassle so I'm not recommending it.

When you get your new passports, put a reminder in your phone for one year before expiration. It is very easy to forget. 2032 keeps popping up for me.

Must be great to never make mistakes, you are awesome.

Obviously not enough preparation on what is probably the most important part of travelling abroad…. Passports 🫠🫠

Might have to cross your finger son this OP. Your 6 year old will look vastly different from their passport photo, which was presumably taken when they were 1 year old? I'd assume they would be strict and refuse to allow you to fly.

It's a harsh lesson for being ill prepared but I dare say not one you'll be making again.

Everyone makes mistakes but FFS the passports are the most vital part of travelling? If you forget your sunscreen or shades you can buy them on a holiday at a small cost, but issues with your passport can literally cost thousands.

I bet OP has spent plenty of hundreds of hours in advance detailing all the lovely places they will be visiting, online shopping nice outfits to wear, places to eat, but hasn't set aside 5 minutes to check all passports are ok.

It's a shame but can't say I have much sympathy. Fingers crossed OP is allowed to fly but I'd be fully prepared to be declined.

If you get onto the flight but your six year old is detained at immigration on arrival, how traumatic is that likely to be for her and your other children? What happens if you are not allowed to go with her, or if the airline insists on flying her back but not you because you have a valid passport? What happens if there’s no spaces on a flight immediately so she has to remain in a detention area overnight? Can you speak Albanian to be able to negotiate with the border staff?

There is no way in hell I’d risk putting my six year old in that kind of situation just for the sake of rearranging or delaying a holiday.

What a lot of horrible sneery posts, piling onto someone who is already having a shitty time. We all make mistakes.

It's unreal isn't it.