So, what exactly happens if you lose your passport while you’re abroad? What do you need to do? Is there any chance of still making that flight home?
I found out the hard way after losing my UK passport in Menorca recently. Here’s exactly what happened, how to get an emergency travel document, and a few things I wouldn’t have thought about beforehand.
How did I lose my passport? Must confess, I still don’t know. I obviously had it when I went through passport control at the airport, but when I went to check in at my accommodation in Ciutadella it was gone. Most likely it fell out of one of my many pockets or my bag, perhaps in the taxi.
The weird thing is I’ve actually left my passport in a taxi before, on a Spanish island no less, but thankfully it was returned to me on that occasion. Since then I’ve always been paranoid about checking taxis when I get out. Obviously not paranoid enough!
Anyway. The next day I did a thorough check of the guesthouse and surrounding area but I couldn’t see it anywhere. I think the hard bit is know when to call it. What if you cancel it and then it turns up? Not ideal. As we’ll see, it depends on how much time you have to play with.
I called the Airport Lost & Found but they had nothing. They were able to point me in the direct of the taxi company too. Nada. The local police station was handily around the block. Lovely chaps, but how did we cope in the days before Google Translate? It hadn’t been handed in either there or in Mahon. They asked if I wanted to file a report. This was a day and a half after I had arrived – at this point I was still kind of hoping it would turn up, but decided to get a move on as it was a Saturday and the station closed imminently. If the weekend is approaching do this ASAP. You’ll need the police report for any insurance claims.
The next thing to do is report it lost or stolen to your government service. Once you’ve done this you can’t use it if it turns up. I actually found it quite hard to find the correct page on the UK Gov website to do this, every google seemed to send me somewhere new. I completed the form for getting a replacement passport, and as part of this process it cancels your lost one. It’s not necessary to do these two bits separately.
It’s worth noting here that most embassies and consulates don’t work weekends, and it turned out that the one I was dealing with didn’t work afternoons either (sounds like a great career option!). So although I filled in the form on Saturday, I didn’t hear anything until Monday morning – and that was an email to inform me that I’d filled in the wrong form! I filled in the correct one, paid the money and submitted.
It gave me the choice of picking it up from the consulate or having it couriered to me. I selected the latter as the nearest consulate was a ferry ride away on Palma. Once you’ve selected courier you can’t change it.
For me, the stressful part was that I received no confirmation or status report except for a receipt. There’s no estimate of how long it might take, so I had no idea of if I would make my original flight home or should be making alternative plans.
Thankfully flight and hotel prices and availability in Menorca in May weren’t silly so I could leave contingency planning til the last minute, but this must be very stressful if you’re somewhere busy in peak season or on a budget. Although they do ask for your travel details, it doesn’t say whether they take them into account or not. They mention that some people might need a video interview or appointment to confirm your identity, but don’t say who. I didn’t need either in the end, but had no idea if the best course of action would have been to change my travel plans to fly home from Madrid, Barcelona or Palma instead.
Also, you have to provide an address for the courier which might be an issue if you’re moving around and have no idea what day it will turn up or if you’re booked to stay in places that don’t have a reception. Luckily my final hotel was a good one so I gave them that, hoping that it would be there before me.
There hadn’t been any further communication by the time I got there so I was getting a bit edgy. I phoned the consulate and they told me they weren’t able to give an estimate but did tell me that it had been printed in Madrid and was en route, that I should have received emails (I hadn’t), and to expect a text message from DHL (I never did).
At this point I was browsing hotels but still praying for a miracle.
I phoned my travel insurance company with a few questions as it wasn’t clear at all from my policy documents what was covered. As this wasn’t a medical question it turned out to be surprisingly difficult to get hold of the right person to talk to. Eventually someone really grumpy (the cheek of a non-medical enquiry!) told me that I’d be covered up to £300 which would just about pay for the emergency document, replacement passport, and a second flight home if needed but wouldn’t stretch to any hotel stays. This was a bit of bummer (I would happily have extended my trip at the really nice hotel I stayed at the end of my trip). £300 really doesn’t cover much in the way of emergency travel costs. I would have been pretty pissed if it was peak season. However, this was a cheap policy and it’s not like it wasn’t in the policy details. It’s definitely one of those sections I’ve never really considered. The more expensive policies do have higher cover for this, look for ‘actual costs’ or separate sections for documents and expenses incurred.
At this point, I also discovered the limitations of my phone coverage. I live in the UK and use Giffgaff, and my allowance didn’t cover some of the numbers I was trying to call. Thankfully the hotel let me use their phone (I was staying at Jardin Ses Bruixes and they were so nice to me about it). Between the insurance company and the consulate, I spent a lot of time on hold.
On the day of my departure, I still hadn’t heard anything and was resigned to staying. My flight was in the evening and I had a spa circuit booked for midday. I was going to look for a new hotel after the spa but, as I exited in my robes, a delighted staff member told me there was a DHL delivery waiting for me! Emergency travel document in hand, I was going home.
So it took 4 days to get my emergency travel document once the right form was submitted. I guess if you lose your passport on a weekend break or just before an expensive flight home then you’re a bit screwed!
One more potential hurdle to note. I had to update Ryanair with the new document details now that I had them. You can’t do this online yourself. The prospect of trying to get in touch with Ryanair wasn’t filling me with joy, but I talked with their chatbot who quickly escalated it to a human.
In a nutshell, if you travelled on a return flight then they will need to escalate the request in order to detach your return flight from your document number and enter a new one. This isn’t immediate, it doesn’t appear to be a super quick process that customer support can do. Once they had done it, I received a new email with my reissued flight itinerary and was able to check in on the app and add the new document details. It took 1-2 hours altogether and was surprisingly straightforward, but would have been cutting it fine with the check in time if the document had arrived much later.
This emergency passport cost me £125 and was only valid for one trip (it has 5 pages and should come with any visas you need to get home). Passport control keep it on your way back into the country. Shame as it’s a rather nice turquoise colour.
A replacement UK passport is £95, it’s basically a new 10-year passport and you’ll need photos (it’s quicker and cheaper to upload digital ones). Thankfully it doesn’t reuse the emergency travel doc ones, because I had to take that one in a toilet and it wasn’t the most flattering. One website estimated 3 weeks turnaround time for this but it took nearer 1 week for mine.
I submitted my insurance claim in July and received the payout in November (this seems like a typical timeframe from what I’ve read). They didn’t cover the whole cost of the new passport, they pay pro rata for the time left on your old one which makes sense. Best to have photos of all of your travel documents, and also keep any emails and receipts.
I hope this recap helps someone as I couldn’t many stories online when it happened to me. Even the grumpy man at the insurance company said this didn’t happen very often. I guess that makes me part of the travel elite!
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