Child has 87 days remaining on Passport Travel Italy -Help

[Busymama41]

I'm hoping someone can help or if this has ever happened to them.

I am flying out to a friends wedding on 25th August in Milan and departing on the 29th August. To my horror I discover than from the date of departure my 5 year old son's passport will only have 87 days left and from what I am reading he needs 90 days. I can't believe i have missed this and feel ill. I am flying with Ryanair who are apparently very strict.

I have managed to check him in online, any help and advice would be most gratefully appreciated. (my sons passport expires on 24th November 2025)

It will be system-flagged I’m afraid

I’m sorry, I had the same with my own passport flying to a different country with Ryanair - it was just a couple of days on the return date. I don’t know how I missed it!

i had checked in fine online, even successfully got visas for the country! But when we arrived at bristol airport and went to the check in/bag drop machine it flagged up saying I needed to speak to staff. They explained there was no way they could let me go, unless I shortened my trip and changed my return flight or got an emergency passport.

in my case it was a Friday, we contacted the passport office in Cardiff and they said that even if we went there that day we wouldn’t get the passport until Monday - by which point half our holiday would be missed so it wasn’t worth it for us.

the airport staff were amazing, surprisingly sympathetic and helpful. They said if we could get the emergency passport they could move us to a flight a couple of days later as a ‘rescue flight’, but it wasn’t worth it for us - could be worth investigating in your case though.

im sorry to tell you we lost the holiday, and as it was entirely my mistake insurance don’t cover it.

if I were you I’d look into emergency passport and/or shortening your trip now. Or leaving that child in the uk this time. So sorry, it’s a horrible feeling.

I think in those circumstances I'd be considering whether there's someone I can leave DS with so you can still go to your friends wedding.

However that will obviously depend on whether he is part of the wedding/looking forward to the holiday vs he's going because you just instinctively decided he should come even though it's not really a child friendly trip, rather than stay with his father, grandparents or other relatives.

I do know someone who went to Spain recently with less than 90 days on his passport and was allowed in, but I don't know which airline that was with.

If you can't/don't want to leave him behind, you could chance it and see what happens as I don't think there's any way you can get a new child passport in the timescale you have unless you're going for a good few days before the wedding so could fly out later?

Can he stay here with someone? Or you’ll have to change flight to fly home early.

Can you do fast track on a child? Find a passport office with appointments for today or Monday? (appreciate this would mean flying a day later but might be worth investigating). Or, as others have said, leave him with family?
Or any chance you can fly today? He has 90 days left today if I'm working it out right

The OP is flying out on 25th August - and the son's passport is not valid for travel to the EU after 24th August, so changing the homeward flight isn't possible.

@Squarestones The rule for validity is 3 months before the expiry date, not 90 days, so the son has to leave the EU before 24th August.

I’m sure you’re aware that you can’t do a same day passport for a child and I’m not sure a fast track would come back in time given the bank holiday weekend.

He will be refused travel at the airport, is there an option to fly back earlier than planned?

Ignore my advice OP, I didn’t realise this.

Unfortunately you can’t fast track a child’s passport renewal. They take 1 week minimum to prevent child trafficking. Can your child stay in the UK while you go?

Even if you were able to get on the flight I don’t see how you would get through passport control in Italy because you require 90 days validity from the end of your planned trip. I think your best bet at this point is to see if your son can stay with someone else while you travel.

You can get a one day emergency new passport - hope u got it in time!

Not for children you can’t 😬

I'd just not go, it's not worth the risk. Chalk it up to negligence.

That's terrible

Have you decided what to do, OP? Is there anyone who can have your son so you can still go?

You'll have to find someone to look after child and go to wedding alone. Good luck.

Whatever you do, do NOT turn up at the airport with your child and that passport hoping that a sob story will get you through. It absolutely will not.

You'll need to find someone to look after your child at home.

Kind and measured response.

It's not just the date on the passport since Brexit. Your passport expires exactly 10 years after start date. Obviously for a child that is 5 years.

Let me guess

#BeKind

These passport rules really annoy me! Either your passport is valid for 5 (child) or 10 (adult) years or not.
If it valid after the planned date of (return) travel what does it matter if it has 1, 3 or 24 months left on it.
Grr.
Really passports are now 4.5 or 9.5 years validity not the full amount.

Because there needs to be a period to allow for unexpected delays such as a serious accident that means the traveller has to remain in the country for many weeks

It’s to factor in any unexpected extension to your trip - illness, an Icelandic volcano that closes all the airports etc. Most countries do it and they don’t do it just to annoy holiday makers!

Unfortunately he’s not going to be allowed to travel. I absolutely would not put my five year old through the trauma of a gate refusal.

Can someone look after him when you travel? If not, you will have to abandon the trip. Such a shame. 💐

Ah that’s horrible, OP. How would DS feel about you going without him?