I am so upset right now it’s not even funny. I was supposed to go to Toronto for four days to spend the weekend with a good friend of mine. I did all my research for what I needed to get on the plane. I tried to board my flight for Canada this morning with my driver’s license and an expired passport - as it says you can do on the US State Department’s website, which both ORBITZ AND AMERICAN AIRLINES link to to tell you to verify the requirements for your destination country, and they wouldn’t let me on the flight. They’re saying I need a valid passport that’s good for at least six months past the date of departure from Canada. Can you tell me why and why no one told me this information when their own websites link to the State Department, which says I only need what I took? I don’t have a birth certificate original - it’s lost - and they let me board with copies last year when I went to Toronto, but I took the expired passport this time because I figured I didn’t want to take a chance. I understand that they have to follow the rules, but they never let me know what the rules were! I went off of the American website and the Orbitz website, and they BOTH link back to the Department of State – the US department of State, which TELLS me I can use an expired passport as proof of citizenship.
I’ve already called American, and they’ve said they’re going to change my flight without penalty (Uh, ya think?) so that I can get an updated passport, but I’m still angry - they also told me that the info is supposed to be on their website, but when I go to International Travel to look at requirements - again, it takes me back to the US Department of State website. Am I supposed to be psychic? If I’m going off of the US website, WHICH THEY SAY IS VALID, shouldn’t I be allowed to board? If they don’t TELL me that I need these documents, how am I supposed to know?
I’m really angry right now…I don’t know what steps to take from here. My weekend with my friend is ruined, I have to reschedule, and now she’s probably going to lose money from taking time off of work. I know I’m writing a letter to American and to Orbitz, but what else can I do? I am beyond disgruntled, I am seriously angry and disappointed at this point. They even admitted on the phone with American that this wasn’t my fault and that there was a breakdown in communications somewhere - hello? They said there’s a new rule in Canada that if you use a passport, it has to be valid 6 months past the date of departure? There is nothing on any of the Canadian websites about it, I find nothing on the American Airlines website about it, and it’s not on the US State Department - they said it’s a Canadian thing, but I can’t find it ANYWHERE. Ugh.
So my weekend is screwed because they can’t get their stories straight. Nice.
Assholes. I have given up the idea of ever crossing the border (the other way, for me) because it’s become a demeaning, absurd exercise in prostrating yourself to the Important and Always Right Customs and Immigration people. You can’t fight them. They can treat you like garbage and there’s no recourse whatsoever.
Also have heard too much about American Airline’s utter lack of interest in customer service.
Wow, what a bummer. Sounds like we should all be in the habit of maintaining valid passports. I know that an expired U.S. passport is accepted as valid identification almost everywhere – except the DMV in Maryland, where a few years ago they told my husband it wasn’t good enough for them, even though he’d just used it as ID with the federal government down the road getting his post identification for Walter Reed. The rules are what THEY say the rules are, I guess. And it’s up to us to read their minds or something.
Yes, welcome to the fate that awaits us all. PAPERS, PLEASE!
I feel your pain, avabeth. I went through similar crap with the INS/BCIS, getting info on the phone and website that was completely inaccurate when I went into the offices to get Advance Parole so that I can visit home. I dread getting as far as the Montana/Alberta border and being turned back, because yet again, I’ve been told the wrong information.
But I’ve been to Toronto SINCE 9/11 leaving FROM NYC, and I was able to use a copy of my birth certificate to travel. So this can’t be blamed on 9/11. I have been looking EVERYWHERE for this supposed information and I can’t find it - not even on the American Airlines website, where the supervisor swore it was located. It’s not.
Ginger, now I’ve had just a tiny taste of what you go through, and I am sorry. I’m just a visitor - you should be able to visit your home country whenever you want to without going through this crap.
I spent the morning crying and on the phone with the various places and my dad and I spent an hour scouring the web. I ended up coming to work because I can’t afford to lose two days of pay if I’m going to take the time in August.
I just wish people would get their information straight.
Thats really odd. My brother lives in washington, my parents live in bc. my mom goes down to see my brother and take care of my nephew about once a month. the only thing they want to see is her drivers license. Same thing everytime i’ve gone down too. I’ve never been asked for a passport. My mom just went down there three days ago too and I know she didnt have any trouble otherwise i would have heard about it. My sister in law comes up to visit her parents all the time too. none of us even own passports.
Welcome to the wildly inconsistent world of border crossings. I don’t think anything in the regs has changed, just in how some Joe Schmoe border guy might decide to enforce them on any given day. Ain’t it fun?
On a more practical note, it might be faster, depending on where you were born, to get a new birth certificate than a new passport, especially this time of year. (Also probably cheaper.) In Chicago you can get them in a day or two through most currency exchanges if you were born here. Just a thought.
What a load of crap. And not really a damn thing you can do about it, really. Isn’t it great?
*Checks to see if this is the pit… yep. *
Asshat goat-felching motherfucking asshole fucktwat troglodyte nazi bastards!
Although, actually, getting back to what Eva Luna said, lots of states let you order birth certificates online. I’ve had to order official ones twice (I keep losing the damn things) from Michigan, and it was pretty painless, and only took a couple of days… cost about $10 I think.
Being married to a non-US citizen and having done a lot of international travel, I have come up with the theory that immigration laws in every county are intentionally kept vague and confusing.
So confusing and contradictory that it is impossible at any given moment to follow every rule written down somewhere, especially given that each different immigration officer you encounter will only know and attempt to enforce a different subset of each body of law.
The result of this is that any government can detain or harrass any person they want at any given time for any reason. “Sure, you have form 13452-X/D filled out in triplicate and notarized, but you stapled your photo to the form, not paper clipped! Not to mention that your photo is not quite in 3/4 profile with no earrings and not smiling! Don’t you know I could send you back to <your home country> for this?” (this is their favorite line).
You might think I’m exaggerating about conversations like this… I wish I were. It was bad before 9/11, and it’s worse now.
It used to be that Canada was considered to be better than most in regards to how they treated immigrants, but now they seem just as bad as everyone else.
Individual customs/immigration officers are given a lot of discretion to exercise their power as they see fit. If they don’t like your haircut that day, they have the option to turn you back and you essentially have no recourse except to comb your hair and try again.
Given this, it’s always best to keep your paperwork up to date and try to expect the unexpected. As for myself, at one point I was crossing the US/Canada border on a twice weekly basis and I never knew if I would be waved through or be held up for 2 hours. For the moment, I’ve resolved never to cross into the US again, mostly due to my intense hatred for the current US administration.
You were screwed over completely, American Airlines and Orbitz were wrong in giving incomplete/faulty information, and immigration and airline personnel are notoriously capricious. You are right to write a letter and you should send a copy to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Consumer Affairs. That as least has a possibility of correcting the information on the websites, but it won’t do a thing for you. American changed your reservation without fee, and they probably think they were saints to do that. There is a possibility that AA will give you a voucher for future travel, if you ask for it. Lay out your case and ask for compensation.
BTW, I think this:
Let’s keep in mind that in the OP it wasn’t the Canadians or US BCIS that was causing the problem. It was the airline. Which is different.
The airline is subject to a humongous fine everytime they transport passengers into the US that they cannot prove are US citizens or hold valid visas. One of their concerns is that you - the citizen - will board the plane in the US, and an “illegal alien” (I hate that term. Ningun humano es ilegal) will take the return flight posing as you. There should be NO reason why you couldn’t board with an expired passport - uh, did your CITIZENSHIP expire??? I don’t think so!! - but airlines can’t seem to get it together between their customer service people, their websites, and the folks at the airport. American Airlines is more concerned about getting the fine, I assume, then letting you on the plane.
This explains why you can cross the border in a car or on foot and won’t run into this problem.
Parenthetically, my sister had the same problem trying to get to Mexico. She was told repeatedly that she only needed a driver’s license as proof of citizenship. THEN when she shows up to board the plane, they won’t let her board. She gave them holy hell, and they acquiesed by letting her sign an affidavit that she was a citizen when she got to her connection in Houston. But of course they told her that that was no guarantee that they would let her fly BACK. (???) So, my dad tries repeatedly to get someone to even answer the phone at INS with no luck. Of course, in the end it worked out like I thought it would. She looks like a white, middle class American, and they DIDN’T EVEN ASK HER FOR PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP when she went to board in Mexico City. After causing an incredible amount of panic for no reason.
I say fuck it. Next time fly a Canadian airline. Are there any of those???
I did some searching and discovered that I could go to the health department and get my birth certificate - so I did that a couple of hours ago - surprisingly, it only took about twenty minutes to get the birth certificate (they only needed my driver’s license- does this make sense to ANYONE else?). I called American and I am rebooked on the same flights for tomorrow morning without cost to me, but I plan on taking all of the documentation that I printed from THEIR website to the airport with me, and at this point, I’ve lost a day of vacation and dealt with a lot of crap and rigamarole, so I either want to be bumped up to first class for this trip, or I want some travel vouchers. The supervisors on the phone were helpful, but as you said Anita, I’ll be forwarding letters onto the US Department of State and the US Department of Transportation. I’ve lost a day of my vacation because of this, and have spent practically all day on the phone and researching this, trying to get it straight. I’m still angry, although I’m relieved that I’ll see my friend tomorrow - the worst part of this was the thought that I was disappointing her - she’s used to people letting her down and even though she and I both knew this wasn’t my fault, I didn’t want to be the one to let her down, you know?
niblet, you’re right, they told me they were subject to a $150K fine. But I also requested at the front that the ticket person get a manager up, and she never did - despite repeated requests. I still think something could have been done this morning, and the staff at the airport didn’t feel like exerting any effort to find a solution (when it was their error in the first place!). I will be having a discussion with a manager in the morning.
In the meantime, I’m going to take a nap. I’m exhausted. Thanks to everyone for their advice and for just letting me vent. I stopped crying around 8:30 this morning and from that point on, I’ve just been hopping mad.
Enjoy your trip to Toronto. And glad to see that you’re bearing in mind that it was AMERICAN AIRLINES that screwed you over, and not any of us nice Canadians.
I had the same problem flying the other way on AIR CANADA (the bastards). I was going to Florida, and they would not let me board without a birth certificate. WTF? This was several years ago, when I KNOW that you only needed proper picture ID to enter the States (by car, anyway)
Why don’t these moronic airlines at least get the rules straight and then tell us what they are???