Travel with Katie Butler: Update on passport application fees

Katie Butler, Total Travel, writes: A standard online application has now increased from £82.50 to £88.50 for adults and from £53.50 to £57.50 for children.

The cost of a standard postal application has also increased from £93 to £100 for an adult passport and from £64.00 to £69.00 for children

The Home Office said: “The fees contribute to the cost of processing passport applications, consular support overseas, including for lost or stolen passports, and the cost of processing British citizens at UK borders.”

The Home Office added that passport applications from within the UK “will usually” be issued within three weeks.

As the peak holiday season is upon us it is an extremely busy time for the passport office and so we have put them to the 'three week' test.

Both my husband and daughter's passports are due for renewal and so last week, Tuesday to be precise, I applied for both passports online following the simple instructions and returned the old passports by secure delivery to the address it advised online.

I will keep you updated on our progress and turnaround time. However, I must add how straightforward I found the online application process and we even took the passport photos at home on our phones. It will be interesting to see how soon we get them back.

Last week, pre-registration opened for P&O Cruises 2026 summer season which includes two cruises to see the solar eclipse.

Cruisers who book before June 4 for departures up to 31 October 2026 will qualify for a ten per cent discount and a special deposit offer of just ten per cent of the total cruise fare.

If you are an avid P&O customer then now is the best time to book to get the best deals and to secure the cabin you prefer… but more on this next week when we will know more around sailings and pricing.

It was a busy week for Total Travel last week, for both our staff in Heckmondwike and Ossett, as we attended a training event in Bradford, hosted by Travel Gossip, with suppliers including Cathay Pacific, Travelpack tailormade holidays, Virgin Voyages and the tourist board of Belize to name a few.

In addition, both shops enjoyed a breakfast training event with the lovely Stephanie from Canadian Affair, a specialist tour operator focusing on Canada.

Training events are an important part of our learning and development and I am lucky to have a team who are keen to attend these events, many of which take place on an evening, and in their own time.

The weather at home is certainly still having a positive impact on late bookings and last week bookings to travel in the next eight weeks accounted for a whopping 35 per cent.

May was our best selling departure month and we now see Antalya in Turkey and Dalman in Turkey as the top-selling destinations for new bookings.

Cruises took a 17 per cent share of our new bookings and we certainly expect that figure to increase next week with the launch of P&O 2026.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​