Passports.

[bbtablet]

I heard of a guy who was refusing to collect his brand new £30,000 Ford Puma car waiting for him in the showroom on the 20th of the month because if he waited another 10 days he would save one month's road tax - I costed this to be somewhere around £12 "saved".

Isn't all this passport stuff just as daft?

Simply renew your passport when it has one full year more to run - this "wastes" less than £10 and avoids all this nervous anxiety!

That's what I shall be doing with my early 2015 issued passport for my late 2024 cruise.

Life's too short - pragmatism rules!

[KatKish01]

1 hour ago, MickD said:

P&O are not sticking to their 6 month rule and will let you board with 3 months if that is the rule of the countries that you are visiting, and yes I can speak from recent experience 😁

Hi, I really hope this is the case...I checked the Norwegian entry requirements before booking a last minute cruise for 14 May, then whilst adding our travel documents found the P&O website would not allow me to add my passport  because it has less that six months...literally only just, it runs out 20 Oct 22. Feel sick about it. I am normally so organised and never leave it this late to renew my passport, so annoyed at myself, and it's a bank holiday tomorrow so I guess it will be an anxious wait to find out if it will be ok or not...gutted 😞

Edited May 1, 2022 by KatKish01

[jeanlyon]

I think if you call P&O that would be an acceptable date.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, bbtablet said:

I heard of a guy who was refusing to collect his brand new £30,000 Ford Puma car waiting for him in the showroom on the 20th of the month because if he waited another 10 days he would save one month's road tax - I costed this to be somewhere around £12 "saved".

Isn't all this passport stuff just as daft?

Simply renew your passport when it has one full year more to run - this "wastes" less than £10 and avoids all this nervous anxiety!

That's what I shall be doing with my early 2015 issued passport for my late 2024 cruise.

Life's too short - pragmatism rules!

But this is nothing to do with money. 

Why should P&O be allowed to forbid you to cruise,  when you have a perfectly valid passport ? Before you know it, they will be asking for a passport to have 12 months validity! 

Interestingly,  Calder says that if you are denied travel, due to incorrect interpretation of the rules, compensation is due.

Renewing your passport early is all well and good, but many of us here take three,  four or more holidays a year, so applying a year in advance for a new passport,  especially with the current delays, is not that simple.  

 

 

[yorkshirephil]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

But this is nothing to do with money. 

Why should P&O be allowed to forbid you to cruise,  when you have a perfectly valid passport ? Before you know it, they will be asking for a passport to have 12 months validity! 

Interestingly,  Calder says that if you are denied travel, due to incorrect interpretation of the rules, compensation is due.

Renewing your passport early is all well and good, but many of us here take three,  four or more holidays a year, so applying a year in advance for a new passport,  especially with the current delays, is not that simple.  

 

 

Agree, our problem is finding a slot between holidays, if passports were not taking so long it wouldn't be a problem. I don't need to feel inconvenienced by a travel company that doesn't seem to be able to keep abreast of current travel regulations or update their websites so as to not cause  upset to their "valued" customers.

[david63]

I think that whole point is being missed here.

 

It is totally irrelevant what the Government, or anybody else, says P&O have a duty of care and if in their opinion that duty of care requires that you have six, or any other, months on your passport then six months it is - end of.

[yorkshirephil]

7 minutes ago, david63 said:

I think that whole point is being missed here.

 

It is totally irrelevant what the Government, or anybody else, says P&O have a duty of care and if in their opinion that duty of care requires that you have six, or any other, months on your passport then six months it is - end of.

So in your opinion P&O can do what they like regardless of government regulations. P&O has a duty of care to follow government guidelines/regulations, there is a reason why they are there.

[david63]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

So in your opinion P&O can do what they like regardless of government regulations. P&O has a duty of care to follow government guidelines/regulations, there is a reason why they are there.

Yes of course they can - it's their business and they make the rules that they want.

One thing that the likes of P&O are cognisant of is potential problems should a passenger have to medically disembarked in another country and no doubt there would be an outcry if somebody, patient or relative, could not get home because their passport had expired.

A UK passport is currently £75 for ten years so I don't see a problem with paying/loosing £7.50 for a year on a passport, and if it is then probably you should not be cruising, or travelling anywhere abroad.

[Gettingwarmer]

4 minutes ago, david63 said:

One thing that the likes of P&O are cognisant of is potential problems should a passenger have to medically disembarked in another country and no doubt there would be an outcry if somebody, patient or relative, could not get home because their passport had expired.

This is a very valid point.

[Camberley]

We are not unhappy if a company chooses to have firmer requirements: we have a choice to use them or not. And I doubt they are breaking the law.
 

Whatever the rules etc are, once the passport is 9 years old, we renew it without question. For us it just saves any potential frantic stress nearer the holiday that has befallen several of our family members over the years - and a few friends on joint holidays.

 

And I recall one relative who tried to wring every second of life out of it (“I paid for 10 years…I will get 10 years”) only to forget to renew in good time - despite reminders from us all. Only for her to be not allowed to travel with us - and no end of subsequent whining ever since!

Edited May 2, 2022 by Camberley

[Thejuggler]

On 4/26/2022 at 9:26 AM, Thejuggler said:

Currently going through a renewal and you need to remember just because someone in a post room signed for a document it doesn't mean it is at the department it needs to be at.

 

The passport I sent was also signed for on 20 April, we received the email that it was received on 25th.

 

There is confusion on the 10 year from issue matter, but for me using 10years from issue is a foolproof guide to know you have a valid passport.  Relying on 'flexibility' of airlines and ports and regulations is too much of a gamble.

To update this for anyone renewing.  Following the application being submitted on 19 April the new passport arrived today.

 

I suspect the ten week is either for first passports where extra checks are required, or some offices may be busier than others.  The return address for the old passport was the Glasgow office, so assume they handled the application.

 

[Mrs applehead]

Mine came today too.

I sent it to Durham on the 9th April.

I'm wondering if all the bad publicity recently has made them speed up!

[KatKish01]

On 5/1/2022 at 10:05 PM, jeanlyon said:

I think if you call P&O that would be an acceptable date.

Hi, yes thank goodness…I called yesterday morning, got straight through and all is ok as there is more than 3 months from the day we enter back into the UK.

 

will never leave so late to renew again…definitely recommend everyone to renew way before - it’s not worth the stress, believe me! 

[Snow Hill]

From anecdotal evidence from friends an family who have recently renewed their passports, if you do it online it comes through quicker than via a paper renewal. The online system does the checks automatically those submitted via paper have to be done manually, which will take longer. 
 

Same with driving licences I had to update mine as I am 70 in a couple if months I submit the request on a Saturday, new licence arrived following Thursday, a friend of mine did his by paper form over a month ago, still waiting. 

[Son of Anarchy]

On 5/2/2022 at 12:39 PM, david63 said:

A UK passport is currently £75 for ten years so I don't see a problem with paying/loosing £7.50 for a year on a passport, and if it is then probably you should not be cruising, or travelling anywhere abroad.

Good value imho.  About 6/7 years ago Mum renewed her Russian passport - £100 and only valid for five years.  The last time she renewed her UK passport it was free as she was over 80.

[Clodia]

I live in Durham and got mine in 9 days.

[cruise saint]

I feel the 10 week thing was a bit of media scaremongering.  I applied on 16 April and it Arrived 6 May - less than 3 weeks.

[Junction2]

47 minutes ago, cruise saint said:

I feel the 10 week thing was a bit of media scaremongering.  I applied on 16 April and it Arrived 6 May - less than 3 weeks.

Well I applied for my grand daughters renewal passport on the 10th March and email has arrived today to say it’s being printed. 9 weeks all but a day and still to be delivered. It was submitted on line so I guess it’s variable case by case as to how long it takes. 

[Eglesbrech]

On 5/3/2022 at 11:25 AM, Mrs applehead said:

Mine came today too.

I sent it to Durham on the 9th April.

I'm wondering if all the bad publicity recently has made them speed up!

It’s more likely that there has been a redirection to the different offices. Mine came back in 2 weeks in February and yours in under a month so obviously some offices are getting through them quicker than others.

 

Its not uncommon for them to move applications around the country to balance out the work when the delays begin to get too long in some offices.

 

Its also easier to process the ones which are pre checked by the post office or on line. We always get the post office check as it saves any delays, their fault if it is wrong then.

[Snow Hill]

7 hours ago, cruise saint said:

I feel the 10 week thing was a bit of media scaremongering.  I applied on 16 April and it Arrived 6 May - less than 3 weeks.

The up to 10 weeks statement was from Passport Office

 

“There is no backlog in passport processing as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, we are now seeing unprecedented demand as more than 5 million people delayed applying for passports during COVID-19 because of restrictions in international travel. Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) anticipate 9.5 million British passport applications will be made this year and in March 2022 alone, HMPO processed more than one million new passport applications, the highest output on record.

In preparation for the demand for international travel returning, since April 2021 HMPO have been advising people to allow up to 10 weeks when applying for their British passport. This remains the case.

The vast majority of all passport applications are being dealt with well within 10 weeks. However, a passport can only be issued once all the checks have been completed satisfactorily and will take longer if applications are submitted with missing or incomplete information.”

[purplesea]

So in 10 years time when everyone renews their passport will the same situation happen?🤔

[Eglesbrech]

9 minutes ago, purplesea said:

So in 10 years time when everyone renews their passport will the same situation happen?🤔

Probably not as passports will be changed early because of name changes, people don’t bother to renew, people die, people apply early as they need 6 months on the document etc.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

Probably not as passports will be changed early because of name changes, people don’t bother to renew, people die, people apply early as they need 6 months on the document etc.

And, hopefully,  no one will be WFH !

[Snow Hill]

14 minutes ago, wowzz said:

And, hopefully,  no one will be WFH !

In 10 years time it is likely more people will be working from remote locations including home, the days of going to the office are numbered. The pandemic has accelerated this shift which was already happening in a number of organisations prior to 2020. 

[Megabear2]

On 4/26/2022 at 12:53 PM, zap99 said:

As a slight, but on topic aside, when we went to Spain in October they stamped our passports on arrival and departure. I wondered if I would have enough pages to last 10 years. In Lanzarote this month they had an automatic digital passport reader gate thingy, like the UK. No stamp.

Aside from this, those that travel regularly within Europe will have to keep a calculation of how many days they spend in EU countries to ensure they stay within their 90 days in 180.  At least with the stamp you can count!

 

Also with buying our "visa" from 1 January more dates to add to remember renewals for.  I might need to go back to my Filofax days ...