Passport Application delay cost me my holiday

Prof_Ligate

I feel for you as we were nearly in your position until we followed the advice on here and contacted our MP and the CEO of the passport office. The response from both our MP and the ceo's office was excellent and off we flew.

On the Watchdog programme a couple of weeks ago, the team did get the passport office to say they would consider compensation on a case by case basis for people who did all they could to chase their application and who applied within the advertised guideline timescales. It may be worth an email to your MP and the CEO to see what they say.

glentoran99

jonathonloman91 wrote: »

I get your frustration, my gf and I are due to fly off and getting very worried about this.

Shambles.

then get on and upgrade to a premium/next day service to save the worry

glentoran99

Upgrading a standard application

You may be able to upgrade your application to use the Fast Track or Premium service if you’ve already applied to renew your passport by post or through the Check and Send service.


You won’t have to pay a fee to upgrade your application if all of the following apply:

• you need to travel in the next 7 days
• you’ve applied to renew a passport by post or Check and Send
• your correct and completed application has been with Her Majesty’s Passport Office for more than 3 weeks

If you’ve applied for a first adult passport, you’ll only be able to upgrade your application for free if you need to travel for compassionate reasons (eg a sickness or death).

https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently

GwylimT

A number of holiday companies actually ask you to tick a box stating that you have valid travel documents and the time of booking. Personally I wouldn't book a holiday abroad if I didn't have a passport, just as I wouldn't buy a car if I didn't have a driving licence.

pollypenny

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I would NEVER book a holiday without a valid passport. Best thing to do next time would be to get your passport renewed then book the holiday. You don't have to wait till it runs out, you can renew about 6 months in advance without any loss (they add the 6 months on to the validity term of the passport).

To be honest, it is not down to incompetence, it is down to the improvement of the economy meaning more people can afford to go away.

You may not want to hear it, but if anyone has been incompetent it has been you.

The closure of passport offices has been a contributory factor, too. Considerably fewer staff.

balletshoes

I do have some sympathy for folk who have posted their passport applications months ago and still haven't got them back (one of the recent threads about this last month had some contributors who'd been waiting since March or April for theirs) but theres no way I'd risk a postal application if I had less than 8 weeks to go before travel.

smudge56

pollypenny wrote: »

The closure of passport offices has been a contributory factor, too. Considerably fewer staff.

What passport offices have been closed? London Durham Liverpool Peterborough Glasgow Newport and Belfast are all still open

Caz3121

It was the overseas passport offices in UK embassies that have closed with the workload now going to the UK offices

rustyboy21

pollypenny wrote: »

The closure of passport offices has been a contributory factor, too. Considerably fewer staff.

It is more of a factor that people have got money on their hands and have decided this year to splurge out and have a holiday. Passport applications are at a 12 year high.


The downside to all this is that the retail sector is a bit in the doldrums at the moment. The only shops busy are the clothing ones and the garden centres.


Any home d!cor, home improvement stores/companies are finding it very quiet at the present time. Hopefully picks up in September.

pattycake

We used check and send in February when we still had over six months to run on our passports. They were back within ten days.