You see a sale ticket and you want to buy it. But during the purchase process, you find that the booking system asks you to fill in your passport number and it is either expired or about to expire.

Can you buy a ticket with an expired passport? Yes. Just fill in the old document number and update the new passport number in the reservation management before departure.

Question from our reader:

We would like to buy air tickets to India and Bangladesh for 5,500, planning to fly next February. However, our children's passports will expire this year. The booking system requires a passport number and it will be invalid at the time of travel. We won't be able to get new documents before buying the tickets - now what?

The solution is simple - fill in the old passport number.

You do not need a valid passport to purchase tickets. You only need it at check-in and during the journey itself. The ticket is in your name, not your travel document.

Simply fill in the old document number in the booking system or, in extreme cases, any other number if you do not have a travel document. You then add an extra year to the expiry date and the document will appear valid.

Apply for a new passport early and then update the details in your booking management through the retailer or airline.

When do I need to have the correct details?

Airlines require what is called Advance Passenger Detail, which is a set of passenger data including:

• Name
• gender
• date of birth
• nationality
• travel document

This information is for security and immigration purposes. It is essential to have them correctly filled in at the time of check-in, which may be just a few days before your trip.

Remember that the passport should be valid for at least 6 months from the planned date of return - see the list of countries by minimum passport validity.

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