If you do not meet strict passport rules, British people on vacation abroad will be turned away at check-in.
Not only does your passport need to meet the required validity date, it also requires you to be in good condition or risk being denied travel. Government rules state that damaged passports must be exchanged or that they may not be allowed to travel together, especially if personal information is difficult to read. Passports with clefts, tears, holes or water damage can be denied, but a new study shows that as many as 9.6 million travelers are unaware of the rule and millions have problems with airport problems.
Financial Services Company Go.comPare has set up this passport mistake to drive out two Brits this year to five Brits this year as travelers are unaware of these rules, and many have not realized that travel insurance won't cover them if they can't travel due to these errors.
Rhys Jones, travel insurance expert at Go.comPare, explains: “Unfortunately, you may be covered by travel insurance for costs incurred from passport issues that prevent you from leaving, so it is very important to know the rules of the destination you plan to visit before you travel.
“You can check the validity requirements for passports from various countries on the UK Government's Foreign Travel Advice page. If you're not sure if your passport will be a date, it's better to be on the safe side and renew it before attempting a trip.”
The HM Passport Office believes that your passport is damaged if any of the following five criteria are met:
You cannot read the details. Any of the pages are ripped, cut, or missing. There are holes, cuts or rips in the cover. The cover is gone. There is dirt on the page (for example, ink or water damage).
While you will need to replace a passport that is seriously damaged, such as torn pages, isolated covers, or difficult-to-read personal information, minor wear and tears such as bent covers should not generally affect its validity.
If you need to exchange your passport, you can apply for a new one on gov.uk, for £94.50 for an adult passport and £61.50 for a child passport. If you choose to exchange your passport using a paper application, you can pay an adult a slightly higher fee of £107 and a child a £74.
Holiday makers will be encouraged to apply properly before travelling and ensure that they receive their passport on time. In 2024, no further information was required, 99.7% of standard applications from the UK were processed within three weeks.
