Not me, but I am picking up (I hope) my 21-year-old daughter tomorrow on a flight from the UK to Newark International–and she just e-mailed me to say she might get hung up entering the country because she just mailed her passport home. (Normally, she’s a very intelligent young woman–this is not her brightest hour.) I plan to wait around the airport for quite a while.
She’s got a lot of other ID with her, including (she says) a copy of her passport. Someone at the State Department in the UK told her to bring her ID, and to prepare to do an abnormal amount of arguing with officialdom, and maybe she’ll be ok.
Anyone know what to expect? I have no ID to support her (Other than my own passport, with our rather unusual last name on it)–her birth certificate is in her mother’s house upstate, and of course on Xmas Day everything is going to be closed anyway. Outside of bringing a LOT of reading material with me, anyone have any useful ideas?
Your daughter should contact the US embassy ASAP for an emergency travel document. Not sure if this still exists but it used to. Essentially a letter from the embassy good to get you directly back to the US but not to travel anywhere else.
I’d be completely surprised if the airline lets her on without a passport. But, yes, she should also take along every bit of ID that indicates who she is and where she lives.
Have her call or text if she is actually allowed on the plane.
Passport and Customs control for the US is in different places for different countries.
Canada, and Aruba, you clear US customs and immigration before boarding in those places.
Coming back from Europe (Sweden, Denmark, England, Germany) I have always cleared customs and immigration back here in the US.
Have flown from umpteen places world over and have never been past check-in without having been vetted for a valid passport and/or visa for place of landing.
Even check-in has computerized access now. They know if your ID is valid; if you are cleared from no-fly; know your ultimate destiation - hell they even know your allergies because of meal prefs!!!
In this day and age I cannot imagine a carrier allowing a passenger to even pass into security without valid international ID (read passport) - just is inconceivable unless is maybe in a military scenario where paperwork may be different.
My daughter lost her passport on a trip to Paris and it took several days for the embassy to issue her a new one. They could probably have gone a little faster if they needed to but she definitely needs to visit the embassy right away.
Echoing what everyone else said about not being allowed on the plane, the airline being levied a huge fine if they do, and she should go to the embassy and ask about some sort of emergency travel document (not a new passport).
In addition though, I recall reading somewhere in State Department bulletins that it’s helpful if you can take along a fellow American (with valid passport ID) who can officially hereby swear that the person in question really is to the best of their knowledge an American.
These days, the State Department keeps some sort of “e-vault” that can store a copy of your issued passport in case you lose it in the future. I don’t mean they can print out a new copy for you, but it’s helpful in case you’ve lost it. It’s not automatic, you have to register for it on the departmental website.
Call the airline and explain what happened. Ask them what the procedure is. She may very well have to visit the Embassy and get a replacement. That could take a couple of weeks. It may be easier (and faster) for you to send her passport back to her by FedEx International Overnite or fly to the UK with it yourself.
Whatever happens, make sure your daughter does not get snarky with the airline staff, airport staff, Embassy officials, etc. If she does it’s one of the fastest ways to get her name on the no fly list. At that point, passport in hand or not, she won’t be flying at all.
Another one to say she will not be allowed on the plane. Most governments put the burden of repatriating people without the correct documentation on the airlines, and they’re damned if they’re going to do that and then have to follow up to reclaim it from the passenger; quite a clever first threshold really but doesn’t help your daughter.
She needs to get onto the airline and say she’s “temporarily mislaid” the passport and ask if they can possibly change her flight date; contact the embassy to see what can be done; then assess if this is going to be quicker/cheaper/less hassle than FedEx. She may have to buy a whole new ticket for some time in the near future. Expensive.
The paternal art of understatement. Short of committing a crime, this is the single dumbest thing anyone can do when in a foreign country. Breathtakingly stupid. (No offense - I’m sure she’s a sweetheart but jeez she did a an unbelievably brain-dead thing!) When I first went travelling my dad sat me down and said “you can lose everything - clothes, money, cards, whatever - but whatever you do don’t lose your passport”. With the passport you can get some assistance from your embassy if required to replace what you’ve lost; without it you are a non-person.
IIRC having flown from Heathrow to JFK as well as other places, they check passports at least three times before you enter the flight. The first time is at check in, It will be far better to stay in th UK as she will nit be permitted to fly. Stay in the UK and get some help from the embassy and get a travel document. Otherwise she could be in for a LOT of bother.
