Kates1988 you could send a DM on twitter a and ask them to note on the application that you are travelling on xxxxx. I did that because although my son is not travelling, I need the passport to get a new provisional licence before his test at the end of the month as he has lost his licence.
Our details so far are:
Documents submitted 28/10
Documents received 2/11 (was actually 29/10, but they take a few days to log)
Application being processed 8/11
I told the person on Twitter that he was “travelling” 21/11.