Families told to make two urgent checks or face missing out on holidays
With tens of millions of British holidaymakers prepping to jet off for sunnier climes this summer, there are one or two things people might want to triple-check before catching their flights, trains and ferries.
A whopping 13.6 million holidaymakers are expected to set off from the UK this year, with airlines like Jet2, TUI and easyJet ramping up their capacity to accommodate the massive demand.
But many British travellers, according to The Sun, are still making the same sad error over their passports despite the current rules having now been in place for more than six years.
Since 2018, British passport holders have not been able to transfer 10 months of validity from their old documents to their new ones.
Additionally, many countries require you to have three to six months left on your current passport before being granted entry.
The newspaper reports that many holidaymakers still aren’t aware of the rules, and find themselves being caught out on a near monthly basis.
It’s worth noting that online passport renewals can take approximately ten weeks to process, and postal renewals even longer.
So if you’re not sure about the validity of your documents, it is advisable to start the process as soon as possible.
Another requirement that apparently has people finding their holiday plans thwarted at the gate is a confusing change to rules about taking liquids on board planes.
The government has announced the introduction of new CT scanners at the nation’s airports, which are supposed to enable the 100ml limit to be increased to 2 litres.
These were supposed to be installed by June 1, but the sheer scale of the installation has apparently seen most major airports unable to meet the deadline, leaving people in the dark about what volume of liquids they might be able to take with them.
To date, just three airports – Teesside, London City and Aberdeen – are understood to have completed the rollout.
While Liverpool, Bristol and Birmingham Airports apparently remain hopeful they might have the new systems in place by the deadline, Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester have apparently suggested it’s unlikely.
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