Okay, so, yes I know that this should be done in advance.
My partner and I have just been given the opportunity to use her sister's apartment in London end of March, no rent, and we would take a few days afterwards for either Venice or Paris (latter less likely, and I don't want to connect back here from LHR on BA).
Her passport expires 8/17/27. Per travel.state.gov, UK requires merely 90 days passport validity after planned departure date from UK, same for France. No issues as we would have a plane ticket home for somewhere between March 30 and April 4. For Italy they have this cryptic entry, "Valid passport requirements: Passports must be valid for at least 3 months beyond your planned date of departure from the Schengen area. A 6-month validity is recommended.
Yes, she could have done this already. She cannot renew now, as we are flying into Canada in September - and her passport will have a name change, as she is finally getting the last vestige of her marriage which ended several years ago removed, her passport is the only remaining document that shows "Mary Jones Smith" and she is dropping the Smith. The full name is on the current airline ticket (always been entering surname Jones Smith) so we can't start this now. I am hesitant to start this end of September on our return as if there is a processing issue on the change, we will have already purchased the ticket with the corrected name and they won't match. Apparently with the name correction the passport can not be renewed online or by mail which will add who knows how much processing time.
Can anyone shed any light from experience here? Is 4 1/2 months remaining validity with a valid return airline ticket good here or not? If unclear, is there anywhere to get a better clarification? A complication, either a Eurostar to Paris or one way flight to Venice will NOT be on the same ticket as our flight one ran back, which means that those agencies won't know of our valid ticket for return.
Of course, TIA