TRAVEL experts have issued new advice for Brits heading abroad this summer.
With lots of families being caught out by changing passport rules, experts at ABTA have given their three top things to check before booking your holiday.
1. Passport validity
ABTA advises to check both issue and expiry dates before your holiday.
This is because some countries require between three to six months to be left on it.
They said: "Most places in Europe will require you to have a least three months left on your passport on the date of departure from your destination – check the Foreign Office advice for the passport rules for your destination.
"So, when checking if your passport will be valid for the dates of your trip, you need to check both the issue date and the expiry date in your passport."
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2. Ignore additional months on the passport.
ABTA also said that if your passport is more than 10 years old, you need to ignore the additional months.
This is because of new rules no longer seeing these as valid.
They said: "If you renewed your current passport early, extra months may have been added to its expiry date and this could affect the requirement for your passport to be less than 10 years old."
"Your passport cannot be more than 10 years old when entering the country – so check when your passport was issued and when it is due to expire."
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What do I need to check on my passport?
There are two things you need to check on your passport before booking your holiday.
The first time is the start date.
New rules for Brits since Brexit no longer allow you to have a passport longer than 10 years old.
Previous rules let you roll over up to nine months from your last passport if you renew it early – that means some can have 10 years and nine months on them.
For example, if your passport start date is July 2012 but the expiry date says it was December 2022 that is wrong.
For Europe, the new expiry would actually be July 2022.
The second thing to check after this is how long is left on your passport.
European countries now require you to have at least three months left on your passport.
So if your passport expires in September 2022, the last date you could have travelled to Europe would have been June 2022.
3. Apply for new passports early
Due to post-Covid demand, lots of families have been waiting months to get their passports back.
ABTA warns: "Her Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) is currently advising that it may take up to 10 weeks for applications to be processed when applying from the UK, so make sure you apply in good time."
Here is how to apply for a fast-track passport renewal.
Lots of Brits have been having problems with their passports, leaving many thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Mum Shirelle Quinn was banned from her flight to Alicante with her son Freddy because her passport was found to be out of date, as it was issued in August 2012.
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A four-year-old boy was turned away from his flight to a similar problem with his passport expiry.
And a woman's £2,000 holiday was ruined for the same reason.
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