Passport and traveling to America

pompeyrich

Judderman62, the link in Vampgirls post above takes you to the U.S. Embassy website and states their entry policy with regard to passport validity under the VWP, which clearly states there is no requirement for the passport to be valid for any length of time, other than the time you are in the U.S., not 30 days, nor 90 and certainly not 6 months as you seem hung up on. Other Countries may or may not have different rules with regard to this but this thread is specifically about the U.S.

From your enthusiasm regarding this matter I feel you must have had a bad experience with regard to an un expired pasport, maybe you could share this with us and then we could choose whether to accept your advice or that of the U.S. Embassy. Sorry if this sounds aggresive but far too many people think they know things which can quite easily be proven or disproven with a few clicks on a keypad.

judderman62

pompeyrich wrote: »

Judderman62, the link in Vampgirls post above takes you to the U.S. Embassy website and states their entry policy with regard to passport validity under the VWP, which clearly states there is no requirement for the passport to be valid for any length of time, other than the time you are in the U.S., not 30 days, nor 90 and certainly not 6 months as you seem hung up on. Other Countries may or may not have different rules with regard to this but this thread is specifically about the U.S.

From your enthusiasm regarding this matter I feel you must have had a bad experience with regard to an un expired pasport, maybe you could share this with us and then we could choose whether to accept your advice or that of the U.S. Embassy. Sorry if this sounds aggresive but far too many people think they know things which can quite easily be proven or disproven with a few clicks on a keypad.

and a few clicks on a keyboard mean more than my 28 years in the travel industry (mostly busniness travel) and 1st hand experience of customers being denied boarding becuase, despite our advice to ensure they have 6 months, they go to the airport anyway - most recent was someone going to Amsterdam of all places - had 4 months - Airline turned him away - business trip missed . non refundable air fare (over £300 lost)

I couldn't give a **** whether you believe me or not , but it does anger me enormously (so excuse my anger please) when people who do not have the background, training and experience pontificate with such authority and give out advice that could be damaging should anyone actually take heed of it.

Guess what we in the travel trade don't just say it for a laugh


fed up mser

Pinklepurr

I'd recommend renewing. I recently did mine. I filled out the application on line and the forms were sent to me within a couple of days. During this time I'd had my photos taken and then sent the application off. It said to allow 3 weeks but they had posted my new passport back to me within a week. If in doubt, ring the passport agency and see how long it is taking at the moment.

pompeyrich

judderman62 wrote: »

and a few clicks on a keyboard mean more than my 28 years in the travel industry (mostly busniness travel) and 1st hand experience of customers being denied boarding becuase, despite our advice to ensure they have 6 months, they go to the airport anyway - most recent was someone going to Amsterdam of all places - had 4 months - Airline turned him away - business trip missed . non refundable air fare (over £300 lost)

I couldn't give a **** whether you believe me or not , but it does anger me enormously (so excuse my anger please) when people who do not have the background, training and experience pontificate with such authority and give out advice that could be damaging should anyone actually take heed of it.

Guess what we in the travel trade don't just say it for a laugh


fed up mser

Thanks for taking the time to reply and qualify your statements. Of course a few clicks on a keyboard are no substitute for experience and your example shows that it is probably better to renew if time allows. I can,to a degree, understand your anger at non qualified people advising on boards such as these, however "background, training and experience" are not always everything. I accept that experience should help minimise, even eliminate, errors but there is no guarantee that it will. For example not all road accidents are caused by inexperienced drivers are they?

The OP in this thread has less than 5 weeks until they travel, in MY (limited) experience, enough time to renew a passport, however there are a number of potential reasons why 5 weeks might not be enough time leaving the OP with NO passport as opposed to a legal and valid one that is perfectly acceptable to the US Immigration Service, although maybe not to an ill-informed airline check in agent!

moonrakerz

judderman62 wrote: »

most recent was someone going to Amsterdam of all places - had 4 months - Airline turned him away - business trip missed . non refundable air fare (over £300 lost)

What nationality passport did this passenger have ? if he was travelling from the UK to Amsterdam there is absolutely no way he would have been turned away. If the airline turned him away he should take legal action against them to recover his costs, they were as misguided as you appear to be.

judderman62

pompeyrich wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to reply and qualify your statements. Of course a few clicks on a keyboard are no substitute for experience and your example shows that it is probably better to renew if time allows. I can,to a degree, understand your anger at non qualified people advising on boards such as these, however "background, training and experience" are not always everything. I accept that experience should help minimise, even eliminate, errors but there is no guarantee that it will. For example not all road accidents are caused by inexperienced drivers are they?

The OP in this thread has less than 5 weeks until they travel, in MY (limited) experience, enough time to renew a passport, however there are a number of potential reasons why 5 weeks might not be enough time leaving the OP with NO passport as opposed to a legal and valid one that is perfectly acceptable to the US Immigration Service, although maybe not to an ill-informed airline check in agent!

In fairness it isn't necesarily that they are ill informed but rather that their management do not want to take ANY risk of being fined (it is in the thousands when airlines are fined for this) and so mae a commercial decision to make certain they are not exposed to this risk

It's called cover your **se - just commercial common sense really - especially in the litigious times we live in these days.

M4RKM

my thought on this (and it is only a thought)

what is the point of an expiry date, if you have to have 6 months left ?

pompeyrich

judderman62 wrote: »

In fairness it isn't necesarily that they are ill informed but rather that their management do not want to take ANY risk of being fined (it is in the thousands when airlines are fined for this) and so mae a commercial decision to make certain they are not exposed to this risk

It's called cover your **se - just commercial common sense really - especially in the litigious times we live in these days.

Surely there was some litigation to be had for your client who was wrongly denied his flight, unless there are different rules for business travel. I appreciate a refund or even some compensation, would not make his meeting happen, or make up for a ruined holiday but surely a non-refundable fare becomes refundable if the Airline fails to provide the service paid for through it's own negligence. Sorry if this comment falls into the ill-informed/no experience category

Voyager2002

moonrakerz wrote: »

What nationality passport did this passenger have ? if he was travelling from the UK to Amsterdam there is absolutely no way he would have been turned away. If the airline turned him away he should take legal action against them to recover his costs, they were as misguided as you appear to be.

As this experience demonstrates, airlines may be ignorant of the rules set by governments and impose their own policies. The advice of Judderman62, or any experienced travel agent, is a good way to protect yourself against this kind of experience.

To give another horror story, one of my colleagues had to attend conference in the USA (at the expense of the British taxpayer, and the expense was very substantial). She travels on a Greek passport, and has a US visa stamped into another passport. The US embassy website specifically states that this is permitted.

Anyway, she was booked on KLM, via Amsterdam. At the airport in Amsterdam she was denied boarding, because some brain-dead jerk there apparently knew better than the US embassy about US entry requirements, and so would not allow her to continue her journey.

pompeyrich

Voyager2002 wrote: »

As this experience demonstrates, airlines may be ignorant of the rules set by governments and impose their own policies. The advice of Judderman62, or any experienced travel agent, is a good way to protect yourself against this kind of experience.

To give another horror story, one of my colleagues had to attend conference in the USA (at the expense of the British taxpayer, and the expense was very substantial). She travels on a Greek passport, and has a US visa stamped into another passport. The US embassy website specifically states that this is permitted.

Anyway, she was booked on KLM, via Amsterdam. At the airport in Amsterdam she was denied boarding, because some brain-dead jerk there apparently knew better than the US embassy about US entry requirements, and so would not allow her to continue her journey.

Wish you hadnt mentioned this as I am in the same situation, well a UK Passport not a Greek one. I have found the US Embassy rule that the Visa is still valid so long as I have another valid passport in the same name, I am travelling in 3 weeks. The Airline wont know that I need a Visa at check-in so would it be best to just present my current pasport and ask for the white visa form after take off. Does this sound ok? I will also print the US Embassy web site page just in case.