Booking a first family holiday just got a bit cheaper. easyJet holidays is running a promotion that refunds the £66.50 cost of a first child passport for babies up to 18 months old, provided parents book a package holiday with the operator during the offer window.
The airline's tour arm says demand for baby-friendly trips is growing — it recorded a 10 per cent rise in infants travelling this year. But its own research suggests plenty of new parents are caught out by the paperwork: in a survey of 2,000 parents, one in ten didn't realise a baby needs their own passport until they started planning a trip abroad, and a quarter said it took up to six attempts to get an acceptable passport photo of their infant. Anyone who has tried to photograph a newborn against a plain white background with their eyes open will sympathise.
Stuart Wright, customer director at easyJet holidays, framed the giveaway as a way of getting families travelling sooner, calling a baby's first holiday one of those moments parents remember for years.
The details worth knowing: a first child passport in the UK can be applied for by a parent or guardian for any child under 16. It costs £66.50 online or £80 via a paper form at the Post Office, is valid for five years, and currently takes around three weeks to process. To claim the easyJet offer, check easyjet.com/firstpassport — and note the deadline: the promotion closes at 11pm on 26 November.
There's also a wider bit of good news for travelling families. Since 8 July, children aged eight and nine returning to the UK have been allowed to use the automated e-gates at border control, which previously admitted only passengers aged 10 and over. The facial recognition gates are usually quicker than queuing for a manned desk, though kids must be at least 120cm tall so the biometric scanners can see them, and they still need to be accompanied by an adult. For families, that should mean shorter waits at immigration on the way home.
Why it matters: anyone planning a first trip abroad with a baby knows the passport fee is just the start of the costs, so a free one takes a small sting out of the bill — especially when you factor in infant fares, cot supplements and all the rest. It's a targeted deal rather than a blanket discount, so it only pays off if you were already leaning towards an easyJet package. The three-week processing time also means last-minute bookers should get the application in fast to travel before the offer window matters. Families with older kids won't benefit from the passport refund, but the e-gate change does quietly speed up their airport exit too.
Details on how to claim the offer will be available at easyJet.com/firstpassport. Promotion ends 26 November at 11pm.
