How long to replace a missing UK passport these days?

Milky_Mocha

I can't find my passport. I've looked everywhere and we're going away exactly a week from today. I'm not sure whether to spend the next five days still looking or if I should apply for a replacement immediately. Has anyone applied for a replacement passport recently and how long did it take? 

macman

Far longer than a week! People are waiting months on the standard service. You'd need to use the fast track service, which quotes a week from your appt. 
There is a online premium service, which means you must also attend a passport office and the passport is issued at the appt, but it appears that it cannot be used for replacements, only renewals,as you need to supply your old passport.
It's all explained on the .gov.uk site, but I don't think you will be able to travel in a week.
https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently
Hopefully your travel insurance will cover you for lost passports pre-departure.

Milky_Mocha

macman said:

Far longer than a week! People are waiting months on the standard service. You'd need to use the fast track service, which quotes a week from your appt. 
There is a online premium service, which means you must also attend a passport office and the passport is issued at the appt, but it appears that it cannot be used for replacements, only renewals,as you need to supply your old passport.
It's all explained on the .gov.uk site, but I don't think you will be able to travel in a week.
https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently
Hopefully your travel insurance will cover you for lost passports pre-departure.

Thanks for this. Per your link, it's to renew or replace so that should hopefully apply to replacing a lost passport as opposed to just a damaged passport.
Unfortunately there are no appointments available. They get added daily. Looks like I'd need to keep some kind of watching brief. 
Anybody had recent personal experience of doing this?

Edit: just to add I'm happy to use a fast track service and if it takes a little longer than a week, that works also as I can join rest of the party later.

eDicky

Think about the last time you traveled and used the passport, about the last time it was in your hand, perhaps when the officer handed it back to you after the return flight or you retrieved it from the automatic gate. If not seen since, check the pockets of what you were wearing (I guess you already checked your travel bag). I've had to do this sort of thing more that once to locate mine..!

macman

Even if you get an appt on the day you book (Monday), then the earliest you'd receive it is the following Monday, and that is very optimistic timing. So you'd lose at least 3 days, depending on how soon you could rebook tickets.Are you prepared to travel anywhere in the UK to the appt? There are only 4 offices in England.

onashoestring

@Milky_Mocha
The chances of getting a 1 week appointment are slim - I would start searching immediately- You have a week to find it -
 Is it in the suitcase pocket after your last trip, rucksack/bag you took on holiday and haven’t used since - glove box / seat pockets of your car ?  

@ eDicky’s suggestion to try and remember the last time you had it in your hand is a good one . 

Have you used your passport as ID recently ? Maybe needed to take it out of the home and show it as ID and not put back in it’s usual safe place . 

This happened to me once (but it was only 36 hours before our holiday that I realised it wasn’t where I usually keep it ) panic ensued and after looking in all the obvious places , when I racked my brain I remembered that I had last used it for non holiday purpose and that jogged my memory as to the office desk drawer it might be in and fortunately that’s where I found it 1 day before travel !!  

Please report back when you find it .

MATTR5

I'm a Travel Agent - I had this with a Customer last week and I rang TUI - They asked for proof the Passport had been lost (The customer sent in the email she'd done applying for replacement timed 2 hrs earlier) and they let her amend it to next year just difference in price

I was staggered, to be honest, BUT it could be worth calling the Tour Op/Agent - you never know 

k3lvc

onashoestring said:

Have you used your passport as ID recently ? Maybe needed to take it out of the home and show it as ID and not put back in it’s usual safe place . 

And always check the scanner at home - we've had 2 'losses' in our house that were both in there 

smudge56

Milky_Mocha said:

I can't find my passport. I've looked everywhere and we're going away exactly a week from today. I'm not sure whether to spend the next five days still looking or if I should apply for a replacement immediately. Has anyone applied for a replacement passport recently and how long did it take? 

if you can get a fastback appointment  the maximum time it would take to arrive is 7 days from the day you submitted the application.  If you take your proof of travel its possible that the office will give you a fast-track collect - which cuts a couple of days off the time.  It just means you have to go back to the office to collect it.   If you think your passport has been stolen, and you are travelling within 7 days you can get a premium Service but you must have police report to get this.(you would make a fast track appointment and ask to upgrade to a premium)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1032007/Tiered_Application_Service_-_the_service_levels_we_provide__V4_.pdf

page 17

Milky_Mocha

eDicky said:

Think about the last time you traveled and used the passport, about the last time it was in your hand, perhaps when the officer handed it back to you after the return flight or you retrieved it from the automatic gate. If not seen since, check the pockets of what you were wearing (I guess you already checked your travel bag). I've had to do this sort of thing more that once to locate mine..!

And you were absolutely right. Even though I had already checked those places, I went to check again. More slowly and more deliberately. It was tucked away in the outer packet of a handbag that I took on my last holiday but hadn't used since and had packed away into the depths of my least used wardrobe space to only be used again on my next holiday.  That's where it was and I'm so so relieved it has been found.
Thank you so much.

Milky_Mocha

macman said:

Even if you get an appt on the day you book (Monday), then the earliest you'd receive it is the following Monday, and that is very optimistic timing. So you'd lose at least 3 days, depending on how soon you could rebook tickets.Are you prepared to travel anywhere in the UK to the appt? There are only 4 offices in England.

Thank you. To my utmost relief, it's been found but prior to that I realised I had no other hope as the earliest London appointment turned out to be 5th September which is the day I'm due back.