6 months passport validity rule

almost all countries that have the rule in place enforce it. Not only that but the airlines will check before you get on a plane and if they aren’t happy they simply won’t let you on as they’ll be open to fines.

So really depends on where you want to go. I certainly wouldn’t book to a destination that requires 6 months validity in the hope that it will be waived. That way lies disaster, disappointment and potentially a lot of money that can’t be recovered.

Tim is spot on, I’ve 2 mates that have been caught out. And comically so, on a trip to our mates wedding in Sydney. Well at least for those of us not affected.
First mate allowed on KLM flight at EDI. Only to be stopped by the Garuda lass at AMS on our way to a Bali. He had to spend 2 days in Holland getting a new one.
In Sydney, my 2nd mate laughing at firsts misfortune, wasn’t laughing 5 minutes later when his travel agent girlfriend announced that he’d have to do the same,if their intended Singapore short stay stopover was going to go ahead on the way back to Blighty.

So be very aware of your itinerary..

Icenspice, renewing passport from overseas is notoriously painful if you need it in a deadline. one of my staffs attempts last year took 3 months! and with the amount of temporary passports he had to get + visas it ended up costing more in both money and days not working than if he had flown back to UK gone fast track and flown back to HK! my advise is if you can get to UK and have 3-4 days do it in person. 4 weeks is no gurantee

6 Month Rule. Recently on holiday in Bali, a fellow guest at the hotel, was telling me of the horrible experience her daughter had entering Indonesia( Bali). Her passport was just under 6 months to renewal. They refused entry, and as Emirates had not checked correctly, they made her return home to UK, get a new one and then return to Bali.She did not say who picked up the bill.Apparently Indonesia are very strict.

@IanFrom HKG — regarding your last comment – help from your local embassy or consulate? Are you joking? They couldn’t give a rat’s ***e!
Years ago, and not so many, I used to renew my passport at the Abu Dhabi embassy, I also use to see some Brits there too (as well as the Indian administrative staff) but now just recently, I went there to get some bank document attested and the ‘G4S’ would not even let me in without an appointment, and so I spoke at the gatehouse to a member of staff inside ( a Brit) who told me coldly “oh we don’t do that anymore”. So then I responded and said that ‘before you used to renew passports and now you don’t, and this (document attestation) is also something else you don’t do anymore, so could you explain to me what you do actually do here still?’ Any ideas what she responded forum members? ….. She said “we are here in case of an emergency and you need to leave the country in a hurry’ !!!! I said “Madam, if there is an emergency, and we need to leave the country, I shall not wait for your advice, I shall do it in my own way”.
So there you are folks, the British Embassies are there only for emergency situations, and that is what the tax payers are paying for, so they can ‘work'(doing what I don’t know) 5 hrs a day, 5 days a week and the rest of the time (here in Abu Dhabi) enjoying life in the Gulf. And before any of you ‘jump down my throat’ and say its the same for everyone, my French colleagues still renew theirs here (it takes a 7-10 days) and also my Italian friends do so, not to mention my staff, including Philippinos, Indians, Thais etc etc.

But not good ol’ blighty! You will have to make an emergency booking, fly to UK, travel to a Passport Office, pay 3 times the normal fee (over 135 quid) and have it renewed in 4 hours.
What a completely inept unprofessional and useless Government, ours has turned into!

Tut Tut alainboy56……How on earth are we supposed to lower our budget deficit man. It seems perfectly sensible to outsource official government activities in order to lower running costs. Empower the passport user to take responibility to organize their own budget and time to renew an official government document : )

Evening Ian & on the run …..i’m doing a bit of cross threading here. Your Manilla experience reminded me about my unfortunate mate’s brush with Garuda. He ‘d probably have wished he took your advice about packing a change of clothes in his hand luggage…a tale of his woes on the other thread about cabin baggage.

As you can renew a British passport 9 months in advance and have the unused part extended to the new passport, there is really no excuse for people not to renew well in advance. In fairness though little information is given to people about this and perhaps a bit of money should be spent on informing British citizens.

One of the difficulties British Embassy staff have is that there is no obligation to register yourself when you live in a foreign country, which there is for most other nationals, so they do not know you exist and so cannot inform you of the latest news/advice etc.