Jump to content

Urgent help needed re photo ID for internal UK flight


taxi4ballet

Recommended Posts

Hi all, Please - I need some ideas...

 

I've just booked an internal flight in 10 days time and AFTER I booked online it told me that I have to take photo ID with me ie: passport or driving licence.

 

I don't have a passport - the old one expired years ago and i can't find it, and the passport office say it will take at least 6 weeks to issue a new one.

 

I have a paper driving licence and they say it will be several weeks to change to a photo one.

 

Help!!

 

What other kind of photo ID can I possibly apply for that I can get quickly?

 

And why didn't flaming EasyJet TELL ME BEFORE I BOOKED THE BLOODY FLIGHT????

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a pain!  I have to say I am surprised you don't have a photo driving licence yet as it is so long ago that they wrote to me to get mine changed over that I have since had to update the photo - nice money maker they have now as it has limited validity with the photo!  We just renewed my DDs passport and it came after 5 days so is the 6 weeks from the passport office for a 'lost' passport.  Are you able to visit a passport office in person? I'm not sure I see any other way. 

 

Edited to add - we did not use any premium service and they quoted 2-3 weeks.  But I think you need to find your old expired one or at least have its number to fast track anyway

Edited by 2dancersmum
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Airlines have insisted on photo ID for flights within the common travel area (UK, Republic of Ireland and the Crown dependencies) for some time so I suppose the carrier must hve assumed that you already knew.

 

I think we are supposed to renew our driving licence photos every 10 years so you should check with DVLA about the validity of your licence. The Piassport Office and DVLA have been known to expedite passport and driving licence applications.   My late registered as a British citizen and obtained a passport within a week when the Sierra Leonean consulate refused to renew my spouse's passport on the ground that it had run out of forms".

 

If the Passport office and DVLA won't help, you could call or contact the airline and seek their advice. As you can get a passport with a photo countersigned by a local worthy such as a C of E minister you might suggest that a similarly attested photo ought to be good enough for the airline;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found my old passport now, but as it's an old-style blue one, I still have to apply as though it is a new application and that takes six weeks so I'm told...

 

Thanks for telling me about the one-day one, but I'm travelling one day and coming back the next, so I'll have to look into that!

 

I have been on the phone to the passport office, the airline and DVLA all blinkin' day and this is driving me potty!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PS - I had no idea, I haven't been on a plane for about 20 years (which is why my old one hasn't been replaced and was in my previous name anyway) :unsure:

 

The passport office say it would be classed as a 'new' application and the DVLA say they can't fast-track it despite the passport office saying that the DVLA could do that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh I thought if you turned up in person on the day ......you'll pay over a hundred for this though.....you can fast track it.

 

The passport office is virtually behind Victoria Underground station and I did this recently for my partner.

As long as form filled in and all relevant docs with you although a bit of a palava and some hanging about but you can do it all in one day.

 

However his was a normal renewal so not sure if you can fast track a new application though you are UK citizen presumably!! Can't see what the fuss is about for them.

 

I cursed him at the time for forgetting but now realise both my passport AND driving licence are due by end of April!!

I can see me forgetting to get done in time as well.

 

Hope you get yours resolved!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you any other form of identity which has your photo on it such as a ID security pass for work?

 

Regarding getting a passport quickly, it use to be the case of turning up at the London (or other) passport office and waiting that day. My DS had to do this about 3 years ago. Appointment at 8.15, passport by 3.30 but it was for a renewal (1st adult passport).

 

Regarding the paper driving licence. I still have mine and I have official confirmation that it remains valid. You don't have to have a photo version unless you move home or reach the age of 70. It's free when you reach this good age so no moving for us for a few years!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too don`t have a passport and haven`t had one for years. The only way I could travel to England from Ireland was to take the ferry from Belfast to Liverpool. Belfast being classed as the UK. If I had got the ferry from Dublin or Dun Laoirhe [not how it`s spelled] i would have had to have shown a passport.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know you live in NI Quays, but do you have a parent born in the Republic?  They are far faster than the UK when it comes to issuing passports, I one got one in five days, if you could pop down to Dublin in person they might speed it up further. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a feature in yesterday's Liverpool Echo about a pensioner who lost his passport on one of the Canary Islands as he was due to fly home.  The airline asked him if he had any other form of photo-id and a family member faxed a copy of his Merseytravel senior travel pass, which the airline accepted.  Apparently immigration were NOT amused when he landed at Liverpool and conducted extensive identity checks before they would let him pass through.

 

As far as I am aware, for internal flights you only have to show your id when checking in and boarding and not when you get off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was a feature in yesterday's Liverpool Echo about a pensioner who lost his passport on one of the Canary Islands as he was due to fly home.  The airline asked him if he had any other form of photo-id and a family member faxed a copy of his Merseytravel senior travel pass, which the airline accepted.  Apparently immigration were NOT amused when he landed at Liverpool and conducted extensive identity checks before they would let him pass through.

 

As far as I am aware, for internal flights you only have to show your id when checking in and boarding and not when you get off.

 

That was still the case when I flew with easyjet last week :-)

 

The citizen card claims that all flights within the UK except ryanair will accept it:

 

https://support.citizencard.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/47/2/where-is-citizencard-accepted

 

It's not government issued - I think its endorsed by the police but is issued by a conglomeration of retailers mainly as proof of ID for buying alcohol, entering clubs and using bookies.

 

https://support.citizencard.com/Core/Default/Index

 

I think I'd try to get confirmation from easyjet that they'll accept it before you fly. And maybe also try to get your application sent to the DVLA asap as sometimes these things happen more quickly than expectedZ

Edited by Sunrise
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know you live in NI Quays, but do you have a parent born in the Republic?  They are far faster than the UK when it comes to issuing passports, I one got one in five days, if you could pop down to Dublin in person they might speed it up further. 

If only.!!  Both my paternal grandparents were Irish,but I have no proof they were my grandparents,as they both died 20 years before I was even born,and my father,in his infinite wisdom when I was born,didn`t want to put his name down as my father on my birth certificate. He was 64 when I was born and he was concerned him having a child[he already had 4 grown up daughters by then with his first wife] would affect his pension,and the government would have taken money off him every week. Besides,my mum was still married,although estranged from her first husband,and my mum and dad did not get married until I was 10 months old,after my mum

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...mum`s first husband was born,[Don`t know what happened with my last post].So for all my life my birth certificate has said Lisa Baker,even though everyone in the family knew my dad was Tony O`Brien,including me. I finally changed my surname by Deed Poll to O`Brien about 10 years ago. But still to this day,because of the mistake[lie] on my birth certificate,I have no documentary proof Tony O`Brien was indeed really my father,so no proof of the Irish link to the family. One of the main reasons I dragged Sean`s useless,alcoholic father,who was over from Northern Ireland to Stockport for the birth of his son,why I dragged him to the Registry Office to put his name down on his son`s birth certificate. It was so important to me that Sean had his father`s surname on his birth certificate from the start. Incidentally,he is in the process of changing,or altering his surname as we speak,to add the O`Brien to his father`s surname,sohe will be double barrelled. Although keeping his father`s surname is mainly to keep his late father`s family in the Republic happy.He has already said he only intends to use the O`Brien part of his surname,not the first part as well. But at least he has proof who his father was,unlike me. AND...it means he can go ahead and apply for an Irish passport,which is something i would absolutely love to have,but because i never married Sean`s father,and because i am not resident in the Republic,or born anywhere in Ireland,I am not entitled to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...mum`s first husband was born,[Don`t know what happened with my last post].So for all my life my birth certificate has said Lisa Baker,even though everyone in the family knew my dad was Tony O`Brien,including me. I finally changed my surname by Deed Poll to O`Brien about 10 years ago. But still to this day,because of the mistake[lie] on my birth certificate,I have no documentary proof Tony O`Brien was indeed really my father,so no proof of the Irish link to the family. One of the main reasons I dragged Sean`s useless,alcoholic father,who was over from Northern Ireland to Stockport for the birth of his son,why I dragged him to the Registry Office to put his name down on his son`s birth certificate. It was so important to me that Sean had his father`s surname on his birth certificate from the start. Incidentally,he is in the process of changing,or altering his surname as we speak,to add the O`Brien to his father`s surname,sohe will be double barrelled. Although keeping his father`s surname is mainly to keep his late father`s family in the Republic happy.He has already said he only intends to use the O`Brien part of his surname,not the first part as well. But at least he has proof who his father was,unlike me. AND...it means he can go ahead and apply for an Irish passport,which is something i would absolutely love to have,but because i never married Sean`s father,and because i am not resident in the Republic,or born anywhere in Ireland,I am not entitled to.

After my mum`s first husband DIED,that should have said,not was born,LOL. !!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's shocking, isn't it? I realised only the other day that my passport was 6 months out of date. I wondered then whether I ought to bother getting it renewed just in case. Actually, I wonder whether my British Library card would be acceptable if I renewed it? (It's about 18 months out of date, as I noticed when I looked at it yesterday!)

 

And it was only when discussing the matter with a friend who's moved to the north of Scotland a few weeks ago that I realised about needing the passport for internal flights myself, so I guess it's not that widely known. Certainly Easyjet ought to have it in the terms and conditions, and probably more prominently on the website, too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's right.  I fly to Ireland a lot and in theory I don't need a passport but modern security demands I carry one, by the way on your return to your UK airport you go through a separate immigration channel where they don't ask for ID at all, you just have to hand over your boarding pass.

 

I'm one of those strange people that was actually looking forward to UK identity cards, every other EU country seems to have them and they can be used for just about everything including travel.  Very convenient to have something no bigger than a credit card in your purse I would have thought.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's right.  I fly to Ireland a lot and in theory I don't need a passport but modern security demands I carry one, by the way on your return to your UK airport you go through a separate immigration channel where they don't ask for ID at all, you just have to hand over your boarding pass.

 

I'm one of those strange people that was actually looking forward to UK identity cards, every other EU country seems to have them and they can be used for just about everything including travel.  Very convenient to have something no bigger than a credit card in your purse I would have thought.

 

I wasn't looking forward to ID cards, but I didn't mind either.  We use our photo driving licences everywhere when we are abroad, they seem to be accepted in most places.

 

A real pain having to have ID for internal flights.  Anyone with mischief in mind would simply take the train or the coach, so I don't know why it was introduced.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wasn't looking forward to ID cards, but I didn't mind either.  We use our photo driving licences everywhere when we are abroad, they seem to be accepted in most places.

 

A real pain having to have ID for internal flights.  Anyone with mischief in mind would simply take the train or the coach, so I don't know why it was introduced.

 

I'm a pretty regular flyer and flying is stressful enough without the added worry of mischief. So I'm all for increased vetting and security if it makes things a bit more difficult for mischief-makers.

Edited by Sunrise
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...