Here's something from the passport agency site:

Why do I need a specified validity period remaining on my passport to travel to certain countries?

Some overseas countries have an immigration requirement for a passport to remain valid for a minimum period after entry to that country. The holding of a British passport does not exempt the holder from complying with these requirements. If your passport is in its final year of validity, you are advised to check the requirements of the country of destination before you make your final travel plans. Any questions should be addressed to their consulate or embassy. Your travel agent willl also be able to give you advice on this matter.

You do not have to wait until your passport expires before you renew it. If you renew your passport before it expires, any unexpired period of validity rounded up to the nearest whole month (minimum of one month, maximum of nine months) will be added to your new passport. This period is calculated from the point at which your new passport is authorised for issue, not from date of application. You therefore need to apply at least six weeks before your passport expires to get this benefit


I think the only reason this has got a tad heated is because those who did know about this potential ruling just took it for granted that others were aware that this may be the case, and those that had never heard of it are curious as to why they've never heard of it. C'est la vie!

And that of the bungling TOs who apparently sometimes tell people there is a minimum time when actually there isn't, sometimes tell them there is a minimum time and get it right, and sometimes say nothing at all! I'd rather they say nothing at all than give the wrong information.

With respect - is this topic actaully going anywhere?

We have established that a passport needs to be valid in some cases for six months.

You can get upto nine months added onto your new one.

TOs seem, in some cases to have rules that are at odds with the rules of the destination country.

It does not always make clear in the T&Cs how long a passport should be valid.

There will always be people who do not know the rules and will continue to have problems.

fwh

With regard to flights this is normally done through a company on the internet. They do not physically issue tickets, you print out your booking confirmation and hand that in at check in. All this consists of is the flight times, numbers, dates,destination, names of people travelling and the amount paid plus confirmation that it has been paid in full. Again with no T & C's or small print.

Hi, Sarah, I know that you've locked the original topic that the above quote comes from but I think it's important to point out that even if one books on the Internet there are always Terms and Conditions to the contract you enter into. I've never booked a flight over the Internet and not had to tick a box that says that I've read the Terms and Conditions as posted on the site. In fact you can't usually proceed with your booking if you don't. And these days the email confirmation for most airlines and booking companies consists of pages and pages of terms and conditions. I've never had one that consists only of the flight details.

If you've ticked the box, and in my experience as I said, you can't usually proceed with the booking unless you do, you really don't have a leg to stand on if you try and complain that you weren't told about something that is in the said terms and conditions. I suspect to that this is why some TOs and airlines have a blanket rule on passport validity - it keeps it simple and they don't have to list all the different requirements for different countries.

I hope that by pointing this out I haven't breached the etiquette about locked topics - feel free to delete this if I have - but I thought it important not to leave people with the impression that Internet bookings don't have Terms and Conditions attached to them because you could come a cropper in the event of a complaint if you don't make sure that you know what they are.

SM

I agree that it is going around in circles now.

It seems everyone has put their point across. Time to lock this topic now and move on.

SM I have merged your comments into this topic, however, lets make that the last comment.

Sarah