You've booked your flight and accommodation, bought the sun cream and checked the temperature at your destination - all you're waiting for is your new passport.
Sound familiar? With record numbers of people putting off renewing their passport during the pandemic, delays at the Passport Office are threatening to derail holidays for many families. In an ordinary year, passport renewals or applications take around three weeks, longer in the run up to summer, but this year, the Passport Office is currently advising you allow up to 10 weeks.
More than five million people put off applying for passports during the Covid-19 pandemic due to restrictions to international travel, according to the Passport Office, which is anticipating 9.5 million passport applications will be made this year.
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The problem is made worse by new rules since Brexit, which mean that your passport needs to have at least three months left on it after the day you plan to leave an EU country, and it must be less than 10 years old on the day you enter.
Despite these factors, the Passport Office says that 90% of applications were completed within six weeks according to the latest figures, and is urging people who need a new passport to apply or renew as soon as possible to ensure it arrives in time for the peak summer season.
It costs £75.50 to renew or apply for an adult passport online, but if you're in a hurry, the Passport Office offers two urgent services for an extra fee – a one-week Fast Track service which costs £142 for an adult passport, or £122 for a child (including the passport itself), and a one-day Premium service which can only be used to renew an adult passport and costs £177, including the passport fee. However, these services are booked up quickly as soon as they become available – when we checked for appointments at midday on Thursday 19 May there were none available "due to high demand", although the website said that extra appointments are added each day.
If you've only paid a small deposit so far you're not confident you'll be able to get your passport renewed on time, it may be worth cancelling and not paying the remaining balance. This will mean losing the deposit you've already paid but it's likely this will save you money money than if you have to cancel nearer the time.
If you find yourself about to go on holiday but your passport hasn't arrived, your options are limited. Here we look at the avenues you can explore to salvage something from your booking.
Travel or flight company
Because your travel firm is still offering the service you booked, even if you can't take them up on it, you will not be entitled to a refund from them. The only exception to this is if you were promised the right to cancel and get a refund while booking – for example, if you booked a fully-flexible flight or a cancellable hotel booking, although these are usually more expensive options when you plan your trip.
It's also worth checking your original booking confirmation. Depending on when you booked, for you might just be covered by the firm's pandemic-related flexibility policy if you're lucky.
If everything else fails, it's still worth contacting your holiday provider to explain the situation to see if it can help, although they are no obliged to by law. If you're offered anything, it's best to take it, whether it's a change of dates, voucher or credit note, as it's better than what you're entitled to legally.
Travel insurance
If you booked insurance at the same time as your holiday, unfortunately it's unlikely to pay out either. Moneysavingexpert.com checked the policies of 10 providers, including Aviva, Axa, Direct Line and LV=, and found that all of them exclude claims for cancellations where you can't travel because you don't have a passport.
Travel insurance policies usually provides cover if you lose your passport when you are on holiday, but rarely covers cancellations where you don't have the necessary travel documents to travel. It's always worth calling your insurer to explain the situation and double check whether you can claim – just in case.
Passport Office
If you paid extra for a one-week fast track or Premium service and your application was delayed due to an error by the Passport Office, and you missed your trip as a result, you may be able to claim compensation. However compensation is NOT payable where the delay was because additional checks had to be made or where the delay was caused by a third party, such as a counter-signatory taking a while to reply.
If you believe you have a valid claim, you can write to the Passport Office following the instructions in its complaints procedure. The Passport Office's definition of an error by the Passport Office, according to its official guidance, is:
"A straight forward and non-questionable compensation claim is one where it is clear we:
- -Made an error which has caused the customer extra expense
- Have damaged or lost a customer's document and we must replace it
"A straight forward non-questionable guaranteed service level fail is one where we:
- Clearly failed the service level due to an error, omission or unnecessary delay."
The standard passport application and renewal service - which most people use - does not have a guaranteed turnaround time – so you're not due a refund or compensation if it takes longer than the current 10 weeks.
Is there anything else you can do?
If none of the above routes work for you, and you're due to travel imminently, your options are very limited. But here's what you can try:
- Call the passport advice line on 0300 222 0000. The Passport Office has said it will prioritise applications if you've been waiting more than ten weeks and you're due to travel in the next two weeks or need to travel due to "compassionate or compelling circumstances". But be aware the phone lines are swamped at the moment, so you may be in for a long wait to get through.
- If you urgently need to travel, for example to attend a funeral, contact your MP. In genuine emergencies only they may be able to escalate your case.
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