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Final Update : I got my passport!
I went to go pick it up at Liverpool, they had put me on a “list” of premium appointments as it was just a pick up, literally in and out in 20 minutes.
Showed up, proved I was who I said I was with my ID, and then walked out with the passport and got to go home and chill before my 5am flight!So, there is hope to the upgrade service, if you have the right people call you!
My process was this, to anyone wondering.
7 days to flight : called, told i was put on upgrades “list” (did not get added actually), told to wait for call.
6 days to flight : called multiple times, was finally put onto upgrades “list”, told to wait for callback within 48 hours (but more likely 36 as there were delays), given email to send upgrade request to and told to have documents ready to prove flight
5 days to flight : no call, i called THEM, and a sweet lady gave me a DIFFERENT email adress for the liverpool upgrades office and forwarded me to the upgrade team directly. Upgrade team waived my fee and started my upgrade, told me they would call me back within 48 hours.
4 days to flight : saturday, got a call back from Upgrade Team around 2pm/3pm, lady had documents and told me it would be processed and that i could pick it up on monday (i resheduled to tuesday as i was busy monday with a work meeting i couldnt duck out of to drive to liverpool), and then she even googled the closest office to make sure it definitley WAS liverpool and if not was happy to re-route it so i could pick it up somewhere closer! what an angel!
3 days to flight : weekend / closed
2 days to flight : Passport approved morning, Printed by afternoon (could have picked up then but couldn’t make it that day as said above)
1 day to flight : Picked up passport from Liverpool at 9am with appointment made by lady on phone previously.I wish everyone else luck on their quest to get this little laminated piece of paper!
update again!
I got the confirmation text today that it’s been approved!
Should be printed today ready for pickup tomorrow.
They gave me the time of 10am to pickup from liverpool tomorrow via an email!Also, the upgrades team ended up waiving my fee for upgrade (as it had been both 11 weeks and so close to the flight date)!
I wish everyone else luck with their own passports!!
Update:
I got a callback at 9am, which had no noise and immediatley cut off!
I was horrified that my chance to upgrade might have been jeaprodised, but after calling the general line they re-listed me for an urgent callback and assured me someone would be in touch later today.I got that callback today around 2pm to confirm my details, and they’ve said I should be clear to pick up my passport on Tuesday (24 hours to flight) from Liverpool unless they find any glaring holes in my paperwork!
thank you all so much for your help, and I’ll update again if any problems pop up on monday in case anyone else has similar problems in the future!
@hjiki thank you so much for your replies, i’m put slightly more at ease about everything!
hopefully tomorrow (sat 16/07) they finalise me on the upgrades list after a call back!
I know they’re closed sunday (17/07), so if it took them two days it would hopefully be ready monday (18/07) if your estimation is right!Also, I’m flying from london on Weds at 5am, so really i’d need to be able to pick it up tuesday (18/08) at the latest!
My closest HMPO is Liverpool, which is i believe where my passport currently is!my process so far has been requesting the upgrade, and then 48 hours of silence, if that also helps.
After it reaching a week until my flight, I frantically called the support line.
Unaware of this upgrade service until then (I had been busy worrying about work the last few weeks and assumed my passport would “show up” on time – the fool that i was), they told me they would start the request and someone would call me back.the next day, nobody called back by 6pm, so I re-called the support line and they informed me nothing had been done, and they forwarded me to the support line again, who promised THIS time they would start my request to upgrade.
today, the third day in this hellish process, nobody called me. As it approached 7pm, i called the support line once more and they informed me the “upgrade team” is behind shedule, and taking upwards of 3 days to call people back for “urgent” requests.
It’s now 4 days until i fly, and nobody is being helpful at all!!
at this rate i’m going to have to drive all the way to the passport office to beg them to give me my passport 24 hours before my flight- which is about 3 hours from where i live and even further from where i’m supposed to be catching my plane from!!!!what a nightmare!
But it does seem the passport upgrade service is overwhelmed at the moment- likely due to a number of requests all reaching the 10+ week timeline now (i wonder how backed up they are for it to have gotten this bad, yikes)!
