Progress team/upgrades team

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  • #18962
    tayls123
    Participant

    Hi.
    I have called the advice line this morning as due to travel in 2 weeks and have been told I’ve been put through to the progress team who will call back in 24-48 hours a frustrating wait given the circumstances.

    Does anyone know what the progress team actually do? Is it worth me waiting for their call or will they just tell me what to put in an email to the upgrades team? I was considering just getting on with sending an email to the upgrades team with my travel date and proof etc.

    #18965
    Flyby
    Participant

    Had a callback from progress team Saturday after calling Friday.

    They escalated my application with expedited team and requested a callback from Liverpool where my apple has been sat since May 27th, she also said I should try and call Liverpool and ask for an email address to send my flight details to.

    Rang today but couldn’t get through, so waiting for the Liverpool call back today or tomorrow.

    #18967
    boblee4
    Participant

    @flyby interesting how they give everyone different guidance! They don’t tell you specific offices are contactable and I wasn’t contacted by Belfast where my daughters application is stuck but was given the EscalatedService email and the information I needed to provide to that email.

    #18968
    tayls123
    Participant

    I got the details from the forum a few weeks back- hope this helps you. Obvs you need to replace Belfast with Liverpool on the email address if that’s where your app is sat waiting to be processed. I’ve also emailed my local MP for support this morning…

    THERE IS NO POINT IN EMAILING THE UPGRADE TEAM UNTIL 2 WEEKS BEFORE TRAVEL

    I was put through to the very helpful upgrade
    team, who told me to do the following things
    (after many weeks of going round and round in
    circles).
    1. They will tell you to email the office that is
    dealing with your request. The online portal might
    tell you this – phoning the above certainly will.
    This is in the form of
    “belfastupgradeteam@hmpo.org.uk.
    2. Provide the following information:
    SUBJECT – Date of Travel [but if you are travelling
    early in the morning put the previous days date].
    Do not put any more information in the subject
    line.
    3. In the body write:
    Full name of person applying for passport
    PEX number
    Your name and contact details (if it is for your child
    etc – this will only work if you are mentioned on
    the application)
    IMPORTANT NOTE – write a sentence to explain
    why you have put a different date in the subject
    line IF you are travelling in the early morning. I
    wrote – PLEASE NOTE – Date of travel is 12 July
    2022 BUT travel is at 7am on that date so
    passport must be received by 11 July 2022 at the
    latest.

    #18969
    boblee4
    Participant

    Also going to do this now as my daughter’s is stuck at Belfast – thank you @tayls123

    #18970
    boblee4
    Participant

    @tayls123 should subject just be “25/07/2022” or “Date of Travel 25/07/2022” ? Thanks

    #18971
    Flyby
    Participant

    I asked about sending all my flight evidence to liverpoolupgradeteam@hmpo.org.uk and she said not to, and to get the email of the person I speak to and send it to that, tho they may say different when they call.

    #18972
    bltglark
    Participant

    Hi,

    Sorry a bit of an essay

    My experience:

    I was told our application was going to be sent to the upgrade team and to wait for 72 hours for them to call- I waited and got nothing. Called back, I was told it was being sent to the upgrade team – I waited 24 more hours and got nothing.

    I asked for a call back and finally spoke to someone helpful. They told me unless I had an automated reply from the upgrade team then it wasn’t with them. They gave me the email address of the office processing the passport (Durham)and told me to send evidence of travel but I wouldn’t hear back until a few days before our flight.

    We fly on Tuesday, having not heard anything by Thursday on Friday I queued at my local passport office (Newport) (waiting from 5,30am). I got a call back the same day from Durham who processed the application (I paid an additional £100), I collected it from Newport Saturday.

    I am not sure if it was the visit or the email that helped although anecdotally the people I met in the passport queue on the Friday and Saturday had all been called back as soon as they got home.

    My advise is, the call backs were a waste of time. If you email, make sure you get the correct address (the Durham email has capitals in it). And if all else fails be ready to go to the passport office (they normally ask for it to be 48 hours before your flight).

    Good Luck The last month has been so stressful! but it was ok in the end.

    #18987
    boblee4
    Participant

    Just received a call back from upgrades for a second request to upgrade as past 10 weeks and travel in 1.

    I asked if I should also email *upgradeteam@hmpo.gov.uk (* = office like belfast) and they said that is for people between 6 and 10 weeks since applied with less than two to travel seeking to pay to upgrade to a faster service.

    I am past that stage and should be eligible for upgrade at no extra cost as past 10 weeks and need in less than two.

    #18993
    tayls123
    Participant

    @boblee4 Sounds positive and hopefully you get it asap then. Mine hasn’t quite been 10 weeks so I’ll have to just wait for a response to my email.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by tayls123. Reason: Didn’t put the persons username
    #18994
    tayls123
    Participant

    @bltglark Thanks for this and agreed re the call backs being a waste of time!

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by tayls123. Reason: Didn’t put persons username
    #18997
    tayls123
    Participant

    @flyby I was told during my callback to send an email to the upgrade team today. If you haven’t emailed the team before and are due to travel in the next 2 weeks then I’d get the email sent as per above. Only exception is if it’s been over 10 weeks since you applied then it may be dealt with differently as per @boblee4 info above

    #19034
    bltglark
    Participant

    If your passport is in Durham this is the email:
    DurhamUpGradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk

    If you don’t use the capitals they don’t receive it.

    #19083
    Bhur
    Participant

    Hi, this thread is proving really useful. We’re due to travel on Saturday and are missing a passport for one child – all were submitted in May (9.5 weeks before travel), 2 came straight away, one hit a glitch in the system and appears to have been resubmitted. PO accept the glitch is their fault and for 4 weeks we have called them daily to try to resolve. At 14 days before we upgraded to fast track. It took a week for a call back to enable us to confirm travel and we still haven’t had a call back to pay, despite calling the helpline every day (more than once most days). Current plan is to spend the day on their case again. Have emailed Liverpool (where the passport is supposed to be) and plan to call but only have the general number (the customer services number on another thread here didn’t work). Then plan to go to the London office tomorrow, 48hrs before, with all the paper documents. Does anyone know if you can go to your local office. Is there any way of getting up to date information – no-one can even tell us the status of the passport and its progress?

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