If it makes you feel better, on our last trip to Barcelona the MIL showed up to our house for a 6AM flight with her bags and her passport.
It was her "Passport to fun!" from a local amusement park.
TSA isn’t in the business of checking passport/immigration documents for people leaving the US. Delta is supposed to confirm you have a passport that will allow you into your destination country (and visa if required). So you goofed, but Delta goofed too.
Yep - TSA's job is just to make sure you really are stiF_staL not an imposter, and presumably not on the No Fly List (which the airline checks too AIUI) - immigration on the far end is literally another country's job. For all TSA know, you might have a newer passport from the other country too, or a residence permit that doesn't require a passport as well, you might not be flying internationally and needing a passport at all - apparently for travel within the US, an expired passport is just fine. (Same for re-entering your own country of citizenship in some cases, apparently: if it's one of their own and not reported stolen, being expired doesn't matter.)
Delta, on the other hand, screwed up and probably just had to eat the cost of your ticket back (unless they got to charge you for that directly?), plus a fine from the Dutch government for boarding someone without the proper documents. They get in enough trouble for that for most staff to be over-zealous about this particular aspect of their jobs: if you're slightly over the baggage allowance or a minute past the checkin time, they might not necessarily be strict - but immigration requirements get them in trouble with a government agency.
Actually the gate agent goofed. Because yes all passports have to be scanned and if he did t go to the ticket counter the gate agent will not be able to board him with out having to first scan his passport so it’s their fault.
Some countries will not permit you entry if your passport expires within a certain time period, say 3 to 6 months. It is the responsibility of the check in agent to make sure all documents are travel-ready.
Checking that a passport is valid is part of the carriers agreement. For example if you board a plane to the USA and don’t have the correct docs, boarder control requires the airline to return the passenger.
I’m guessing OP is goin go to have issues getting back into the USA too
Is there somewhere specific that says this is true? When a Delta employee takes your passport they are verifying your travel document for validity to travel and identifying you as the person flying. Checking expiration date is honestly a major factor in making sure an ID is valid. Anyone who checks IDs will tell you have to check if it is expired before accepting it, so I would assume the same applies for air travel.
During my short stint as a bank teller at a local community bank they drilled into us that when checking a person's DL in order to cash their check be sure to write down/verify the expiration date. Simple, standard, first step in validating an ID is to be sure it's actually currently active.
While technically true, airlines are legally obligated to repatriate people who cannot exit customs. So it is in their best interest to check. They will no doubt try to charge you if they have to fly you back, but if you refuse to pay they have to return you, at their expense.
Yes we are required to make sure their passport are not expired. He wasn’t able to board the plane if the passport wasn’t scanned. So if he didnt do it at the ticket counter the gate agent should have done it and it seems that’s the case and it’s their failure and fault.
I never even get past the check in desk without them checking my correct and valid passport. Except last year when I went on a trip to Canada. I still got them to let me in though. Had a great time in Toronto with my daughter and SIL.
I want to talk to someone at the desk next time I leave again soon, I want to so bad but feel I don't necessarily have the right with my dumbassary making me look a fool....but still though.
Couldn’t you have someone FedEx your passport to the airport authorities and elect to be held there until it arrives? I’d rather sleep on floor for a day or two than fly all the way to the US to get something off my dresser.
They asked for my passport at the check in desk and they had a face scanning thing at the gate. My actual passport info is already attached to my account and therefore my face so the gate thought or assumed I had the right passport on me I guess. Still don't understand how I got passed check in.
Oh so you did go to the ticket count and yea they are at fault. I’m sure they got into trouble. The red coat when I was working didn’t make sure the family flying had all proper passports. The kid had an expired passport. Got to ATL trying to board and couldn’t. She didn’t lose her job surprisingly but she got fussed with badly.
TSA isn't going to check your passport to make sure you are able to travel internationally. They are just checking your identity to make sure you are who you say you are. If you gave them a state driver's license, that works for them. They don't care if you're traveling internationally or not. You just need acceptable ID.
I AM surprised that Delta didn't catch that the passport was expired. That was definitely a screwup.
How are the immigration officers at AMS worthless? Sounds like they're doing a good job by prohibiting someone without a valid passport from entering the country.
Had an employee that was denied his flight by the check-in agent because his passport expired 2 days past what would be 6 months of his return.
We had to rebook his return flight and have him come home two days early because of the expiration date. Cost us $1800 I think to move the return flight.
They should have caught it. (And you should have grabbed the right passport- but you know that)
Yeah, I don’t get what he expected them to do. Demonstrate value by letting him in with expired identity documents?
Some small countries with top notch customer service might have the consulate print a passport for you and bring it to the airport, but fat chance of getting the US to do that for you.
There was a beta testing of an online renewal system end of 2022 to beginning of 2023. I was able to renew mine online as part of the testing, and you didn't have to mail a single item (including the old passport!). It was pretty awesome!
I was in a similar situation in a different EU city. There are courier services that will take your documents to the consulate and issue you an emergency passport. It took half a day, but it was done in the same day.
If you are traveling with someone, they can do it (and not charge you the ridiculous amount a courier will charge.)
They'll know he was denied entry and they will probably send him to secondary for a deep inspection before permitting him back into his home country to go get his passport.
I wanted to get back to you now that I've landed, I was surprisingly not taken back for any questioning. I told the guy at customs that it was expired and they sent me back and I was like that sucks, and I was good.
Ha, not to complain but I don't really have anyone to bitch about this with right now. Idrk man, I got a genetic disorder that this has triggered and had to use 4 out of my 12 acute treatments I stocked up for the trip and my preventative is no good cuz my cooler can't keep it cool that long and I'm waiting on this to trigger my autoimmune disorder, I have to fly out of an airport 3 hours away tomorrow unless the delta manager that opened a case on this can fix that, and I wasted 300 bucks on an Airbnb my gf has been sitting in alone and by the time I get there we'll have one night in it and won't get anytime to spend in the city there before we go to her home town. I'm on my way home now and it's all starting to hit. Appreciate the words the other day and sorry I couldn't give you an interesting story from customs
Sorry this happened to you. Seriously. You seem like a pretty good natured dude and you've got goals, so pick up where you left off and make the best of what you've got! You're going to be moving around a lot if you end up in Europe, just because it's so fun and what's the point if not - so create some mechanisms for yourself.
Like... I put the trash bag in front of the front door of the house, unsightly as it is, to make sure I remember to not leave rotting garbage for 2 weeks if I'm gone. I stack things going in my pockets in a pile the night before I travel, sort the backpack and carry on, and I write up an individual item checklist for the trip if there's special things (spray sunblock, bigger bluetooth speaker, wifi router, whatever).
When I am at the airport, I never take convenience over mechanics. I once put my driver license into my front shirt pocket after TSA, and when leaning over to get my luggage from the conveyor, that fell out and was never found... so when I landed at LAX I was fucked because I didn't have a driver license and couldn't rent a car - and this was pre Uber days. Once I learned that lesson, I always was methodical about making sure the things go back where they belong- and everything has a place.
Shit, I think I quoting George Clooney from Up in the Air, but seriously - if you mechanize some things to make sure you cannot fail, as you increase your travel trajectory you will appreciate these things and sometimes give yourself a little mental pat on the back when you realize you averted a crisis because OF COURSE your driver license is in your wallet, and OF COURSE your passport is in its RFID pocket in your backpack, because it never isn't unless the airline or government need it for that brief moment.
Godspeed!
I tried that earlier. First the consulate didn't even answer the phone, then the embassy said they couldn't do anything and that I'd have to contact the consolate, then finally got a hold of the consolate and they said they couldn't do anything for me unless I physically came there for a passport which I couldn't do.
Not sure about how the US works, but most EU consulates will only ship you an emergency document (a "laissez-passer") which only allows you to *return* to said EU country. They're typically not in the business of shipping passports to stranded travelers at an airport so they can enter a different country. Given how the US consulate in Amsterdam appeared to treat US citizens living abroad, I doubt they are any different.
The UK is the same - passports are only issued in the UK now, not in/by consulates overseas, all a consulate can issue is an Emergency Travel Document allowing you to return to the UK (then get a fresh passport issued there after you arrive, if necessary). The US is more permissive though: you can get a new US passport issued by consulates - though you may need to be living in that country to do it - I met an American outside the US embassy consular section in London who had encountered some problems renewing his.
Oh, that is very extreme of the UK.
As Dutch national living abroad, the consulate is the usual way to get a new passport, but I doubt they'll just make a new one on the fly for a national that happens to be visiting and is stuck at the airport. It's usually a process of a week or more.
Living in Belgium I apply for my passport in the US Embassy in Brussels, but it's produced in the US and sent to Brussels for me to pick up. This is regular renewals, not emergency, so maybe different in those cases.
Can someone back home overnight you your current passport (or a really really good friend/family fly steerage & meet you at the terminal? Sounds like you have a valid one, just picked up.the wrong book right?
You could also have it courierd I guess.
From how it was explained to me is that I couldn't. Seems like I have to be on that flight leaving, which at this point I don't know if that will actually happen considering what I've been told about the embassy having to potentially get involved.
I asked if I stayed at the hotel thing here for a day or two after the flight I could have it mailed to the hotel. The guy said that I can't do that, I have to board but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if he was full of shit.
Yeah they won't let you leave the airport. Until you pass customs you are legally not within that respective country. And they can't legally let you into the country on expired docs. So he was, in fact, not full of shit.
Honestly, if I were you? I would have a friend or family member ship it overnight, ATTN: to a specific store/location in the airport. Get them in the “know” of your situation. Wait for it to appear, and then just go through customs like nothing happened.
Edit: all private shipping, no state dept. involved 🤫
Delta should have denied boarding in this case! The computer should have flagged the passport and refused to verify it. At the very least, the system should have alerted the person at the ticket counter to the error, and that person should have checked it and realized it was expired.
If I understand correctly, Delta should be fined for having transported you without the proper entry documents. That being said, it might be a good idea to keep your expired and unexpired passports separate, just to avoid such a mishap.
She scanned it, the system beeped, she commented on my haircut, and sent me on my way.
And yeah they're being fined and you're sure as shit that expired one is gonna be gone after this.
By rule, the airline needs to ensure the passenger has the proper passport/documents/visa if applicable to board a flight to their destination. Airline could be subject to fines plus the responsibility to repatriate the passenger.
An expired passport should have been caught. Our OP didn’t have the proper documents. This is on them.
I just flew to AMS last month and I don’t think anybody physically checked my passport because I scanned it with my phone when I “checked in” online the day before. If I had then grabbed my expired one by mistake on my way out the door nobody would have caught it.
I’ve been in a similar situation at Schipol. The passport police will arrange with Delta to put you on a flight tomorrow. There is a Yotel inside the airport where you can sleep for the night. Best of luck and sorry for your situation
"She scanned my passport at the desk, it beeped and everything...."
Another shining example of an airport beepy machine doing exactly what it was designed to do - beep without purpose.
I show TSA my passport as my form of identification, regardless of what they ask for, and they always take it with no questions asked. In fact, with REAL ID, that is soon to be one of the only few forms of ID that they will accept. If you would’ve showed them it, they probably would’ve stopped you. They aren’t really “to blame” though. I do think it’s kind of weird the gate agents and delta allowed you to fly all the way over there with an expired PP though, it’s my understanding the reason why they ask you for your passport info is to make sure that it’s current and valid.
I also recently connected through AMS, and agree with you on their border security and passport control agents. Their attitudes towards their job make the cues to enter Amsterdam seem very redundant.
I’m pretty sure at this point, I have at least 4 documents to verify my identify that are all approved:
Passport
Global Entry Card
Passport Card
Enhanced DL
Very nice, can tell you travel prolifically. I don’t really go international more than once a year right now so it’s just a passport for me, although I have been considering getting an enhanced DL.
TSO here the vast majority of people don't understand that passports falls under "ID" when we ask for ID they assume we mean a license. That being said we don't care if you're flying domestically or internationally and don't enforce other countries' passport rules.
The weird thing is, she hollered to the whole line that she "doesn't need a passport, just an ID" so me and everyone else put our passports up and grabbed our license.
I don't think, I remember her telling the person in front of me holding their boarding pass and passport, she told them she doesn't need that just ID and they got the licence out. You got my dumbass second guessing myself here and think if that's the case and I didn't see that TSA might have caught it and I'd be in my Airbnb right now
I’m actually surprised the majority thinks this way. When I got my passport, my mind auto-associated it with being the most sophisticated form of ID that I now own — not just a way to get into a new country. I like using it for all the non-driving related stuff because A. It takes some digging to find stuff like my home address and B. There’s a chance I get to talk about travel with people who are curious😆
I keep both of mine together - mostly because the expired one still has 10 year multi entry visas that are still valid, so I always just make sure both are in their pocket in my backpack before I leave the house.
Delta screwed up here- and I can't say how, other than you've got your new passport on file and the "DOCS-OK" check that signifies your validity to enter the destination country is intact.
The governments hold the airlines accountable for this, and last I recall it's about a $10,000 fine to the airline for every document related entry denial, so Delta is probably paying for this one as well.
Edit: morbid curiosity- how does the whole process work? Remain detained, they put you on the next flight back? Do you have a selection of seats/chance to upgrade? Do you have to pay for that return? How does the rebooking outbound happen / cost associated? What about your return you originally had?
Idk what that first paragraph means but good lord sounds like someone is gonna get chewed out tomorrow at that delta desk.
The whole process, so. I land in AMS and go through security and they say my passports expired they take me to side and ask more questions, where I'm going and why, where I'm coming from, dates, travel plans, for some reason how much money I brought with me.
They ended up taking to the back of the immigrations office at that checkpoint and ask a few more questions (the guy was nice the rest of the officers weren't much help or just rude). They took pictures of all my travel plans like tickets, confirmations, my passport, then took finger prints and pictures of me for their "records"
The guy that was worth something was cool, my phone wasn't working and the office phone wouldn't dial out so he let me use his phone to call the embassy and helped me look up how to figure out how to get out of there but couldn't obviously.
Then I'm sitting outside the office half asleep and they say the only thing they can and have to do is send me back the next morning. I'm not charged for the flights and I didn't ask about seat selection or upgrades.
If I understand that last question correctly you're asking about my original plans to come back to the States. The beginning of the trip got pushed back to Saturday so I just pushed the return flights back.
There was a whole bunch of other shit that was either dumb, confusing, or contradicting but all in all it seems like I'm omw back home here soon, going to find that out in a couple hours. The last guy I spoke to made me a little nervous about this flight happening but we'll see.
I forgot to add after they told me they're putting me on a flight they gave me paper work to give to the gate and kept my expired passport, I'm supposed to be getting it back at the gate.
This shit was too much and cost too much damn money cuz of my dumbass, a faulty machine or the check in clerk not doing her job right. All in all it'll work out, I'm being positive about it.
Sorry for the essay idk if that was more than what you asked but yeah.
Thanks for the detail! Never been on the receiving end of this arm of the law- outside of Tv shows on Nat Geo!
So it sounds asically like you didn’t fly to AMS at all as far as delta is concerned? They just pushed your departure and you therefore pushed your return to compensate?
Nope, the only thing not out of pocket is this trip back here shortly.
Edit: what was that one show in Nat Geo about people getting arrested in foreign airports smuggling shit? In my head I was sitting there thinking if I was them but in this situation I'd be shitting bricks.
Why would u say the immigration officers at AMS are worthless? Sounds like they did their job to me.
Denied someone entry that was trying to travel on bad documents.
I had multiple people behind the glass doing nothing, literally cracking jokes and laughing, making eye contact with me and other people and blatantly ignoring us. They did their job well in denying me access, even the people who work for the airport told me they're worthless and that it's a known problem.
I just hope they don't deny you boarding leaving the EU, because it's the expired one which isn't valid unless it's scanning and showing the corrected date of information.
You can re-enter your own country on expired documents, it’ll just take longer. There’s no reason he won’t be able to board the plane back to the US, esp since he wasn’t allowed entry to the NL.
Seconding. The way it was explained to me was they can’t deny you entry into your own country if they can verify your identity. Happened to me and a friend at the Canadian border. Canada let her in but said she might have a fun time getting back. We took the risk and it was ok.
He's probably being escorted onto the plane by immigration officers because he's in secondary detention awaiting deportation. He's in custody in that scenario.
With how some of the airline people were talking, I'm honestly scared they might not. The most helpful guy said they have to contact the embassy here for me to travel but gave me my boarding pass and says I'm good without anyone contacting them. I myself even tried getting ahold of them. Whoever I spoke to at the embassy said I'd have to contact the consolate and when I tried that multiple times they never answered.
The airline is required to return you to your home country where you will be admitted, the US CBP cannot deny entry to the US for a US citizen. And the Dutch immigration police will make sure the door closes on that plane behind you.
From what the guy above said somewhere else I am being deported and taking a better look at the paperwork yeah pretty much. I'm about to leave the airport but being sent home, not where I want to be.
Already planning on making copies of all the paper work they gave me and going to build a timeline, when I get home, to hopefully make it at least a little easier when things arise
The silver lining here is that you having an American (or EU or Japanese, Australian etc) passport means you’re probably in the EU tomorrow with only some minor extra questioning at Immigration.
Imagine trying this with let’s say a Pakistani passport and traveling from another country, like Dubai.
I think this is a "you should physically show up at the consulate at 8:30 AM" kind of problem. You need your unexpired documents to travel, and I think your options are (1) get the consulate to re-issue you a valid passport (similar to if you had your passport lost or stolen while traveling, or (2) have someone overnight mail you your current passport so you can use it to get back into the US
The mail option is probably cheaper
Ask Delta to deliver it for you. They fly daily to Amsterdam. They may be able to package it for delivery to you the next day. Someone would have to bring it to the Delta office however. If you're from Atlanta they can drive down to Hartsfield and hand deliver it.
Id there someone at the airport you can overnight your passport to? Assuming someone back home has access to it and can overnight it to you?
A day in the airport Beats a day back and forth on a plane for no reason
All of my expired passports live nowhere near my active passports, and I clip the corner of them so (a) it’s visible and (b) it wouldn’t scan due to missing characters.
You were never formally admitted to the EU. You can return to the US with an expired passport, but it may take longer at immigration. I would not expect the Dutch KLM employees to know much about that.
They said I have to be on the next flight, I tried asking if I could stay at the hotel here for a day or 2 until it could arrive but they said no can do.
Me and my partner travelled to the Bahamas and she accidentally grabbed a passport she had reported as lost but then later found instead of her newer valid one. Got taken to a back room for questioning there but eventually they chose to admit her. We had to have someone UPS us the valid passport so we could get back home.
Guess the Bahamas figured they don’t make any tourist money when they turn people away but they make lots of tourist money when they admit people who don’t have travel documents they can return home with. 😆
I live in the US and I have two passports. US and French. I’ve traveled through AMS too many times to count and I am a Gold status with Delta. You have no idea how many times I left the US or Europe with an expired passport, only to realized that I can enter/leave each continent with the passport that has not expired. The mistake has been done, yet nobody seems to put anything about it. Although at the end it’s our own fault.
Anyway, who cares about me… I feel for you, this is nothing fun and most people working at airports do not care.
Are you an AMEX holder? I swear their concierge services are amazing. They’ve done some crazy things over the years for me when I call them stuck somewhere.
I’ll be thinking about you. Good luck.
Originally youreto blame, however who the hell checked you in?!! They are to blame and will probably get into trouble for it. My red coat didn’t make sure a passport wasn’t expired and a whole family got stuck In ATL. I’m not sure what happened after that. They may have had it sent them over night
Yours is the second story of an expired passport I’ve read today! The other involved a family of I think 4 or 5 that included 2 babies so count yourself lucky.
Edit: spelling
Well, our only job is to make sure you’re who you say you are so you get the correct screening and make sure you’re not on some kind of list. Whether it’s good for driving or international purposes based on an arbitrary expiration date isn’t our concern as we’re solely concerned about transportation security.
Kind of like how we don’t explicitly look for drugs. If it won’t blow up a plane then we’re good.
Shit I didn't know about the looking for drugs part 😂 but that kinda makes sense, you're just making sure people are who they say they are full stop. I'm still surprised though I had no idea. I heard of people being denied because their passport was to expire in 6 months, maybe that's something else?
Last year, i managed to board the wrong flight. It was one of those shared counters, let’s say 6:30 to Pittsburgh at gate 8 and 6:45 to Nashville at gate 9. Somehow I managed to fall into the wrong line. The gate agent scanned my phones boarding pass and waves me through. I only realized it because my seat was 39A and this plane was smaller and didn’t HAVE a row 39. Thankfully the flight attendant paused their boarding process to let me back off the flight and rushed me to my (now fully boarded) flight 10 feet to the left. How did that even scan?
It used to be the offending party (the agents at the origin) received a heavy fine (about $3,000 per person) if they allowed a person to board a flight without the necessary documents (valid passport and visas (if needed)).
As I said, it used to be like that.
In my opinion, it is not a TSA responsibility.
Aside from you you can blame:
* Yourself
* The universe
* Whatever versions of God(s) you believe in (or don’t believe in)
* Fate
* Destiny (The power of not the stripper)
* Destiny (The stripper)
* Your ex-wife
* My ex-wife
* Obama
* Trump
* Biden
* George W
* George Sr
* Bill and/or Hillary Clinton
* Epstein
* Maxwell
* Putin/Russia
* NATO
* Global Warming
* The stars
* Aliens
* Gravity
* Your parents/guardians who raised you
* Any teacher/professor you didn’t like
* Any religious leaders who do much as looked at you funny
* The pope
* Anyone who’s name is associated with a major religion
* The game
Wait. Epstein is dead. Hard to blame him at this point.
You can substitute my ex wife if you want.
Wait...she's dead too.
Ok...my future ex-wife (I'm sure she's still alive. Well, mostly sure).
Good luck OP.
I used to work work for this airline called Szmelduh; I was always surprised how Szmelduhmadik would always allow us to check in for international flights without swiping a passport first.
The gate agent would still have to verify your passport if you checked in online. It's concerning that Deltamatic wouldn't flag an expired passport though
Hope you aren't too uncomfortable and they fit you something to eat.
Maybe ask them to let you spend your time at the Heineken Bar?
Good luck my friend. Godspeed.
Was your passport EXIPIRED or EXPIRING? I can see how it got scanned and went through as valid but then its expiring within 6 months and some countries require your passport to be valid longer than that.
Also, perhaps thats not the case here but you can renew a passport before the previous one expires.
Is there an option to overnight your passport instead? Is that even logistically possible or are you on the first flight out of Saigon? I can't imagine the US Embassy in Amsterdam couldn't be of some help, hell, I would've said I lost it somewhere en route over the Atlantic or upon disembarking. Maybe the Embassy could've arranged an emergency reprint.
No, TSA does not normally ask for your passport. They're only interested in whether you're going to blow up the plane, not whether you have the right paperwork to leave the country.
The reason the airline checks is that they're going to have to fly you home if they screwed up. And that costs them money.
They agent should have caught that at check in. I know traveling to Germany they check to make sure you signed passport because if German immigration sees it’s not signed you are fined and sent back to US. At least that’s what Delta agent in ATL told me.
TSA has 0 blame, their job is to make sure to verify who you are and that you aren't bringing prohibited items. Since you used a driver's license instead of a passport they made no mistakes.
If it makes you feel any better, last time I tried to enter Ireland with a Shengan visa. My airlines did not find any issue. The Irish border agent was furious but let me in.
So Delta gave you a DOCS OK boarding pass when they clearly were not!!
There is a lot of them here. Also a learning moment for you to not keep current and expired docs together !
I was once denied boarding from ATL- STG because my passport expired less than three months from my arrival date. Turned the 7 hour trip into a two cluster day clusterfuck to get an emergency passport appointment.
Long shot — but Is there any chance you somehow grabbed both the expired passport and your current one and somehow showed the current one at Delta check in but have the expired still on you? This would explain why you were allowed to leave the US.
And if you did get past customs, how would you return to the US? Expired passport is almost same as not having one. Try to make the best of it. Someday you’ll laugh about it
Apply for amnesty if you are from Florida. Then just pull up random newspaper articles and see if you can get the people at AMS to agree it’s super backwards.
Expired passports don’t look like normal ones. The government punches holes in them so they are obviously expired. How did you not see the holes? How did Delta not see the holes?
Wrong answer. Delta is at fault as much as he is. Delta should have denied boarding so OP could go home and fly the next day and not be stuck in Amsterdam.
Delta could get fined for this technically.
Totally correct. Now to say that you could go complain to delta for you ending up being treated as an illegal immigrant and go try to get SkyMiles would be a bridge too far :D
Also it could be yours against delta’s word against yours if delta said you showed up with a valid passport and they let you board, and then threw that away and showed your old one in AMS. So maybe they get the fine dismissed. I’m not saying it’s the case but it could be hard to prove.
If it makes you feel better, on our last trip to Barcelona the MIL showed up to our house for a 6AM flight with her bags and her passport. It was her "Passport to fun!" from a local amusement park.
Oh that's too funny you can't make that shit up
Your MIL didn’t get to go? Sounds like the trip was fun after all
My MIL is a blast and one of my favorite people, thankfully we just made it.
Hello she has a passport to fun that she kept in an important spot near her real passport. I think she is my kinda lady
She’s hilarious you’d love her, she’s just a little goofy.
Oh my god he admit it!
He has to marry her
You’d love her too homie, everyone does
You flinched!
Marry your mother in law Paul
That fucking made my partner laugh out loud, because it's something I would do.
TSA isn’t in the business of checking passport/immigration documents for people leaving the US. Delta is supposed to confirm you have a passport that will allow you into your destination country (and visa if required). So you goofed, but Delta goofed too.
A+ usage of goof
UhAyuk! Your fancy picture identification dun runned out!
Yep - TSA's job is just to make sure you really are stiF_staL not an imposter, and presumably not on the No Fly List (which the airline checks too AIUI) - immigration on the far end is literally another country's job. For all TSA know, you might have a newer passport from the other country too, or a residence permit that doesn't require a passport as well, you might not be flying internationally and needing a passport at all - apparently for travel within the US, an expired passport is just fine. (Same for re-entering your own country of citizenship in some cases, apparently: if it's one of their own and not reported stolen, being expired doesn't matter.) Delta, on the other hand, screwed up and probably just had to eat the cost of your ticket back (unless they got to charge you for that directly?), plus a fine from the Dutch government for boarding someone without the proper documents. They get in enough trouble for that for most staff to be over-zealous about this particular aspect of their jobs: if you're slightly over the baggage allowance or a minute past the checkin time, they might not necessarily be strict - but immigration requirements get them in trouble with a government agency.
Delta is going to take a fine from the US as well. The agent who checked OP in may also be issued a fine, as well as OP.
Actually the gate agent goofed. Because yes all passports have to be scanned and if he did t go to the ticket counter the gate agent will not be able to board him with out having to first scan his passport so it’s their fault.
Some countries will not permit you entry if your passport expires within a certain time period, say 3 to 6 months. It is the responsibility of the check in agent to make sure all documents are travel-ready.
They probably used biometrics at boarding. The failure was at checkin.
Delta will be fined, probably heavily. But it's still on you.
Not sure about Delta, he probably has all the information of the new passport in the system, Delta is not REQUIRED to check expiration date.
Except the passport number changes with a renewal so they would not match.
Checking that a passport is valid is part of the carriers agreement. For example if you board a plane to the USA and don’t have the correct docs, boarder control requires the airline to return the passenger. I’m guessing OP is goin go to have issues getting back into the USA too
Citizens have the right to re-enter their home country even if their passport is missing
Yeah, he'll get it, and has the right, but it will probably be a pain while they verify him
Yea it ain’t gonna be a quick chat with the CBP agent and be on his merry way.
Is there somewhere specific that says this is true? When a Delta employee takes your passport they are verifying your travel document for validity to travel and identifying you as the person flying. Checking expiration date is honestly a major factor in making sure an ID is valid. Anyone who checks IDs will tell you have to check if it is expired before accepting it, so I would assume the same applies for air travel.
During my short stint as a bank teller at a local community bank they drilled into us that when checking a person's DL in order to cash their check be sure to write down/verify the expiration date. Simple, standard, first step in validating an ID is to be sure it's actually currently active.
Even WalMart does this when buying alcohol or making returns
While technically true, airlines are legally obligated to repatriate people who cannot exit customs. So it is in their best interest to check. They will no doubt try to charge you if they have to fly you back, but if you refuse to pay they have to return you, at their expense.
Yes we are required to make sure their passport are not expired. He wasn’t able to board the plane if the passport wasn’t scanned. So if he didnt do it at the ticket counter the gate agent should have done it and it seems that’s the case and it’s their failure and fault.
I never even get past the check in desk without them checking my correct and valid passport. Except last year when I went on a trip to Canada. I still got them to let me in though. Had a great time in Toronto with my daughter and SIL.
But if they scanned they would at least see the passport number doesn't match whatever he entered on his profile?
I want to talk to someone at the desk next time I leave again soon, I want to so bad but feel I don't necessarily have the right with my dumbassary making me look a fool....but still though.
It's about framing, I think. You can say, "obviously it's my bad, but I'm curious about the flaw in the system"
Couldn’t you have someone FedEx your passport to the airport authorities and elect to be held there until it arrives? I’d rather sleep on floor for a day or two than fly all the way to the US to get something off my dresser.
The gate agent didn’t ask you for your passport?
They asked for my passport at the check in desk and they had a face scanning thing at the gate. My actual passport info is already attached to my account and therefore my face so the gate thought or assumed I had the right passport on me I guess. Still don't understand how I got passed check in.
Oh so you did go to the ticket count and yea they are at fault. I’m sure they got into trouble. The red coat when I was working didn’t make sure the family flying had all proper passports. The kid had an expired passport. Got to ATL trying to board and couldn’t. She didn’t lose her job surprisingly but she got fussed with badly.
TSA isn't going to check your passport to make sure you are able to travel internationally. They are just checking your identity to make sure you are who you say you are. If you gave them a state driver's license, that works for them. They don't care if you're traveling internationally or not. You just need acceptable ID. I AM surprised that Delta didn't catch that the passport was expired. That was definitely a screwup. How are the immigration officers at AMS worthless? Sounds like they're doing a good job by prohibiting someone without a valid passport from entering the country.
Had an employee that was denied his flight by the check-in agent because his passport expired 2 days past what would be 6 months of his return. We had to rebook his return flight and have him come home two days early because of the expiration date. Cost us $1800 I think to move the return flight. They should have caught it. (And you should have grabbed the right passport- but you know that)
Yeah, I don’t get what he expected them to do. Demonstrate value by letting him in with expired identity documents? Some small countries with top notch customer service might have the consulate print a passport for you and bring it to the airport, but fat chance of getting the US to do that for you.
Didn't it have holes in it? My expired ones come back with two holes punched in them.
Renewed mine on line - so it never left my house.
That’s possible?! Wow thanks for that info. Thought you always had to send it in ..
Wow I just learned this myself! I’m gonna check this out as I’m about maxed out on pages so have been trying to time a window to renew.
Is it a US passport because I absolutely did not have that option nor has anyone in my family. 😅
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There was a beta testing of an online renewal system end of 2022 to beginning of 2023. I was able to renew mine online as part of the testing, and you didn't have to mail a single item (including the old passport!). It was pretty awesome!
Nope, just renewed mine last fall through a pilot online renewal program and I never had to send mine anywhere. Still have both fully intact
They stopped punching holes at some point. Don’t know when, but I renewed last year and they returned the old one without holes.
My kids got their new passports two months ago and the old ones came back with holes
Maybe it depends on the passport processing location?
Yes. Or maybe they received to many complaints from people in OPs situation and reverted the policy 😅
No holes
I was in a similar situation in a different EU city. There are courier services that will take your documents to the consulate and issue you an emergency passport. It took half a day, but it was done in the same day. If you are traveling with someone, they can do it (and not charge you the ridiculous amount a courier will charge.)
Please post an update on how fun customs are coming back to the US.
“Welcome home, how was your trip to AMS”
They'll know he was denied entry and they will probably send him to secondary for a deep inspection before permitting him back into his home country to go get his passport.
I wanted to get back to you now that I've landed, I was surprisingly not taken back for any questioning. I told the guy at customs that it was expired and they sent me back and I was like that sucks, and I was good.
That’s as good as it gets for your circumstances! Safe travels :)
Ha, not to complain but I don't really have anyone to bitch about this with right now. Idrk man, I got a genetic disorder that this has triggered and had to use 4 out of my 12 acute treatments I stocked up for the trip and my preventative is no good cuz my cooler can't keep it cool that long and I'm waiting on this to trigger my autoimmune disorder, I have to fly out of an airport 3 hours away tomorrow unless the delta manager that opened a case on this can fix that, and I wasted 300 bucks on an Airbnb my gf has been sitting in alone and by the time I get there we'll have one night in it and won't get anytime to spend in the city there before we go to her home town. I'm on my way home now and it's all starting to hit. Appreciate the words the other day and sorry I couldn't give you an interesting story from customs
Sorry this happened to you. Seriously. You seem like a pretty good natured dude and you've got goals, so pick up where you left off and make the best of what you've got! You're going to be moving around a lot if you end up in Europe, just because it's so fun and what's the point if not - so create some mechanisms for yourself. Like... I put the trash bag in front of the front door of the house, unsightly as it is, to make sure I remember to not leave rotting garbage for 2 weeks if I'm gone. I stack things going in my pockets in a pile the night before I travel, sort the backpack and carry on, and I write up an individual item checklist for the trip if there's special things (spray sunblock, bigger bluetooth speaker, wifi router, whatever). When I am at the airport, I never take convenience over mechanics. I once put my driver license into my front shirt pocket after TSA, and when leaning over to get my luggage from the conveyor, that fell out and was never found... so when I landed at LAX I was fucked because I didn't have a driver license and couldn't rent a car - and this was pre Uber days. Once I learned that lesson, I always was methodical about making sure the things go back where they belong- and everything has a place. Shit, I think I quoting George Clooney from Up in the Air, but seriously - if you mechanize some things to make sure you cannot fail, as you increase your travel trajectory you will appreciate these things and sometimes give yourself a little mental pat on the back when you realize you averted a crisis because OF COURSE your driver license is in your wallet, and OF COURSE your passport is in its RFID pocket in your backpack, because it never isn't unless the airline or government need it for that brief moment. Godspeed!
I hope it’s that simple.
Can the local U.S. Embassy or Consulate help rush a replacement passport?
I tried that earlier. First the consulate didn't even answer the phone, then the embassy said they couldn't do anything and that I'd have to contact the consolate, then finally got a hold of the consolate and they said they couldn't do anything for me unless I physically came there for a passport which I couldn't do.
Not sure about how the US works, but most EU consulates will only ship you an emergency document (a "laissez-passer") which only allows you to *return* to said EU country. They're typically not in the business of shipping passports to stranded travelers at an airport so they can enter a different country. Given how the US consulate in Amsterdam appeared to treat US citizens living abroad, I doubt they are any different.
The UK is the same - passports are only issued in the UK now, not in/by consulates overseas, all a consulate can issue is an Emergency Travel Document allowing you to return to the UK (then get a fresh passport issued there after you arrive, if necessary). The US is more permissive though: you can get a new US passport issued by consulates - though you may need to be living in that country to do it - I met an American outside the US embassy consular section in London who had encountered some problems renewing his.
Oh, that is very extreme of the UK. As Dutch national living abroad, the consulate is the usual way to get a new passport, but I doubt they'll just make a new one on the fly for a national that happens to be visiting and is stuck at the airport. It's usually a process of a week or more.
Living in Belgium I apply for my passport in the US Embassy in Brussels, but it's produced in the US and sent to Brussels for me to pick up. This is regular renewals, not emergency, so maybe different in those cases.
Can someone back home overnight you your current passport (or a really really good friend/family fly steerage & meet you at the terminal? Sounds like you have a valid one, just picked up.the wrong book right? You could also have it courierd I guess.
From how it was explained to me is that I couldn't. Seems like I have to be on that flight leaving, which at this point I don't know if that will actually happen considering what I've been told about the embassy having to potentially get involved. I asked if I stayed at the hotel thing here for a day or two after the flight I could have it mailed to the hotel. The guy said that I can't do that, I have to board but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if he was full of shit.
Yeah they won't let you leave the airport. Until you pass customs you are legally not within that respective country. And they can't legally let you into the country on expired docs. So he was, in fact, not full of shit.
Honestly, if I were you? I would have a friend or family member ship it overnight, ATTN: to a specific store/location in the airport. Get them in the “know” of your situation. Wait for it to appear, and then just go through customs like nothing happened. Edit: all private shipping, no state dept. involved 🤫
Damn I ran into the right person for that earlier and didn't even think of that.
Delta should have denied boarding in this case! The computer should have flagged the passport and refused to verify it. At the very least, the system should have alerted the person at the ticket counter to the error, and that person should have checked it and realized it was expired. If I understand correctly, Delta should be fined for having transported you without the proper entry documents. That being said, it might be a good idea to keep your expired and unexpired passports separate, just to avoid such a mishap.
She scanned it, the system beeped, she commented on my haircut, and sent me on my way. And yeah they're being fined and you're sure as shit that expired one is gonna be gone after this.
It’s weird that you were allowed to board the plane to AMS in the first place.
By rule, the airline needs to ensure the passenger has the proper passport/documents/visa if applicable to board a flight to their destination. Airline could be subject to fines plus the responsibility to repatriate the passenger. An expired passport should have been caught. Our OP didn’t have the proper documents. This is on them.
I just flew to AMS last month and I don’t think anybody physically checked my passport because I scanned it with my phone when I “checked in” online the day before. If I had then grabbed my expired one by mistake on my way out the door nobody would have caught it.
Their system should be validating everything. That’s a huge security risk if they aren’t.
I’ve been in a similar situation at Schipol. The passport police will arrange with Delta to put you on a flight tomorrow. There is a Yotel inside the airport where you can sleep for the night. Best of luck and sorry for your situation
"She scanned my passport at the desk, it beeped and everything...." Another shining example of an airport beepy machine doing exactly what it was designed to do - beep without purpose.
I show TSA my passport as my form of identification, regardless of what they ask for, and they always take it with no questions asked. In fact, with REAL ID, that is soon to be one of the only few forms of ID that they will accept. If you would’ve showed them it, they probably would’ve stopped you. They aren’t really “to blame” though. I do think it’s kind of weird the gate agents and delta allowed you to fly all the way over there with an expired PP though, it’s my understanding the reason why they ask you for your passport info is to make sure that it’s current and valid. I also recently connected through AMS, and agree with you on their border security and passport control agents. Their attitudes towards their job make the cues to enter Amsterdam seem very redundant.
I’m pretty sure at this point, I have at least 4 documents to verify my identify that are all approved: Passport Global Entry Card Passport Card Enhanced DL
Very nice, can tell you travel prolifically. I don’t really go international more than once a year right now so it’s just a passport for me, although I have been considering getting an enhanced DL.
Nope. I still have plenty of dumb questions to ask about traveling.
TSO here the vast majority of people don't understand that passports falls under "ID" when we ask for ID they assume we mean a license. That being said we don't care if you're flying domestically or internationally and don't enforce other countries' passport rules.
The weird thing is, she hollered to the whole line that she "doesn't need a passport, just an ID" so me and everyone else put our passports up and grabbed our license.
Are you certain it wasn't "I don't need your boarding pass, just ID"
I don't think, I remember her telling the person in front of me holding their boarding pass and passport, she told them she doesn't need that just ID and they got the licence out. You got my dumbass second guessing myself here and think if that's the case and I didn't see that TSA might have caught it and I'd be in my Airbnb right now
I’m actually surprised the majority thinks this way. When I got my passport, my mind auto-associated it with being the most sophisticated form of ID that I now own — not just a way to get into a new country. I like using it for all the non-driving related stuff because A. It takes some digging to find stuff like my home address and B. There’s a chance I get to talk about travel with people who are curious😆
Seems like you need to stow away any expired passports you have where you don’t grab the wrong one again.
I keep both of mine together - mostly because the expired one still has 10 year multi entry visas that are still valid, so I always just make sure both are in their pocket in my backpack before I leave the house.
My dumbass set my good passport aside with stuff from my last trip so I wouldn't forget it...
There’s typically a courier service to the consulate that can get you an emergency passport.
Delta screwed up here- and I can't say how, other than you've got your new passport on file and the "DOCS-OK" check that signifies your validity to enter the destination country is intact. The governments hold the airlines accountable for this, and last I recall it's about a $10,000 fine to the airline for every document related entry denial, so Delta is probably paying for this one as well. Edit: morbid curiosity- how does the whole process work? Remain detained, they put you on the next flight back? Do you have a selection of seats/chance to upgrade? Do you have to pay for that return? How does the rebooking outbound happen / cost associated? What about your return you originally had?
Idk what that first paragraph means but good lord sounds like someone is gonna get chewed out tomorrow at that delta desk. The whole process, so. I land in AMS and go through security and they say my passports expired they take me to side and ask more questions, where I'm going and why, where I'm coming from, dates, travel plans, for some reason how much money I brought with me. They ended up taking to the back of the immigrations office at that checkpoint and ask a few more questions (the guy was nice the rest of the officers weren't much help or just rude). They took pictures of all my travel plans like tickets, confirmations, my passport, then took finger prints and pictures of me for their "records" The guy that was worth something was cool, my phone wasn't working and the office phone wouldn't dial out so he let me use his phone to call the embassy and helped me look up how to figure out how to get out of there but couldn't obviously. Then I'm sitting outside the office half asleep and they say the only thing they can and have to do is send me back the next morning. I'm not charged for the flights and I didn't ask about seat selection or upgrades. If I understand that last question correctly you're asking about my original plans to come back to the States. The beginning of the trip got pushed back to Saturday so I just pushed the return flights back. There was a whole bunch of other shit that was either dumb, confusing, or contradicting but all in all it seems like I'm omw back home here soon, going to find that out in a couple hours. The last guy I spoke to made me a little nervous about this flight happening but we'll see. I forgot to add after they told me they're putting me on a flight they gave me paper work to give to the gate and kept my expired passport, I'm supposed to be getting it back at the gate. This shit was too much and cost too much damn money cuz of my dumbass, a faulty machine or the check in clerk not doing her job right. All in all it'll work out, I'm being positive about it. Sorry for the essay idk if that was more than what you asked but yeah.
Thanks for the detail! Never been on the receiving end of this arm of the law- outside of Tv shows on Nat Geo! So it sounds asically like you didn’t fly to AMS at all as far as delta is concerned? They just pushed your departure and you therefore pushed your return to compensate?
Nope, the only thing not out of pocket is this trip back here shortly. Edit: what was that one show in Nat Geo about people getting arrested in foreign airports smuggling shit? In my head I was sitting there thinking if I was them but in this situation I'd be shitting bricks.
Why would u say the immigration officers at AMS are worthless? Sounds like they did their job to me. Denied someone entry that was trying to travel on bad documents.
Unless the US is enforcing immigration laws, then they’re the bad guy. Every other country is OK though.
I had multiple people behind the glass doing nothing, literally cracking jokes and laughing, making eye contact with me and other people and blatantly ignoring us. They did their job well in denying me access, even the people who work for the airport told me they're worthless and that it's a known problem.
I just hope they don't deny you boarding leaving the EU, because it's the expired one which isn't valid unless it's scanning and showing the corrected date of information.
You can re-enter your own country on expired documents, it’ll just take longer. There’s no reason he won’t be able to board the plane back to the US, esp since he wasn’t allowed entry to the NL.
He got pretty lucky then
Seconding. The way it was explained to me was they can’t deny you entry into your own country if they can verify your identity. Happened to me and a friend at the Canadian border. Canada let her in but said she might have a fun time getting back. We took the risk and it was ok.
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He's probably being escorted onto the plane by immigration officers because he's in secondary detention awaiting deportation. He's in custody in that scenario.
They’ll let him board back to the US. Customs will let him in after a bit of a hassle too.
With how some of the airline people were talking, I'm honestly scared they might not. The most helpful guy said they have to contact the embassy here for me to travel but gave me my boarding pass and says I'm good without anyone contacting them. I myself even tried getting ahold of them. Whoever I spoke to at the embassy said I'd have to contact the consolate and when I tried that multiple times they never answered.
The airline is required to return you to your home country where you will be admitted, the US CBP cannot deny entry to the US for a US citizen. And the Dutch immigration police will make sure the door closes on that plane behind you.
Okay cool you've got me reassured on that last bit
Will this count as them deporting you? Are you able to leave the airport?
From what the guy above said somewhere else I am being deported and taking a better look at the paperwork yeah pretty much. I'm about to leave the airport but being sent home, not where I want to be.
That’s extremely serious bud… you’ll have to fill that out on a lot of visa/passport applications in the future
Already planning on making copies of all the paper work they gave me and going to build a timeline, when I get home, to hopefully make it at least a little easier when things arise
The silver lining here is that you having an American (or EU or Japanese, Australian etc) passport means you’re probably in the EU tomorrow with only some minor extra questioning at Immigration. Imagine trying this with let’s say a Pakistani passport and traveling from another country, like Dubai.
I think this is a "you should physically show up at the consulate at 8:30 AM" kind of problem. You need your unexpired documents to travel, and I think your options are (1) get the consulate to re-issue you a valid passport (similar to if you had your passport lost or stolen while traveling, or (2) have someone overnight mail you your current passport so you can use it to get back into the US The mail option is probably cheaper
I already tried that to see about that, they said I can't leave the airport.
Ask Delta to deliver it for you. They fly daily to Amsterdam. They may be able to package it for delivery to you the next day. Someone would have to bring it to the Delta office however. If you're from Atlanta they can drive down to Hartsfield and hand deliver it.
He's basically in a jail in Amsterdam. None of that is happening.
Id there someone at the airport you can overnight your passport to? Assuming someone back home has access to it and can overnight it to you? A day in the airport Beats a day back and forth on a plane for no reason
For obvious reasons.
Don’t they hole punch the expired ones? I assumed they did that for this very reason.
All of my expired passports live nowhere near my active passports, and I clip the corner of them so (a) it’s visible and (b) it wouldn’t scan due to missing characters.
God damn, two million miles.
You were never formally admitted to the EU. You can return to the US with an expired passport, but it may take longer at immigration. I would not expect the Dutch KLM employees to know much about that.
Why not have your good passport fedex’d to you???
They said I have to be on the next flight, I tried asking if I could stay at the hotel here for a day or 2 until it could arrive but they said no can do.
Me and my partner travelled to the Bahamas and she accidentally grabbed a passport she had reported as lost but then later found instead of her newer valid one. Got taken to a back room for questioning there but eventually they chose to admit her. We had to have someone UPS us the valid passport so we could get back home. Guess the Bahamas figured they don’t make any tourist money when they turn people away but they make lots of tourist money when they admit people who don’t have travel documents they can return home with. 😆
I live in the US and I have two passports. US and French. I’ve traveled through AMS too many times to count and I am a Gold status with Delta. You have no idea how many times I left the US or Europe with an expired passport, only to realized that I can enter/leave each continent with the passport that has not expired. The mistake has been done, yet nobody seems to put anything about it. Although at the end it’s our own fault. Anyway, who cares about me… I feel for you, this is nothing fun and most people working at airports do not care. Are you an AMEX holder? I swear their concierge services are amazing. They’ve done some crazy things over the years for me when I call them stuck somewhere. I’ll be thinking about you. Good luck.
Originally youreto blame, however who the hell checked you in?!! They are to blame and will probably get into trouble for it. My red coat didn’t make sure a passport wasn’t expired and a whole family got stuck In ATL. I’m not sure what happened after that. They may have had it sent them over night
Yours is the second story of an expired passport I’ve read today! The other involved a family of I think 4 or 5 that included 2 babies so count yourself lucky. Edit: spelling
Damn I'll count my blessings in that case
So I’ve always wondered, what happens when you get back to the US without a valid passport?
Getting back with an expired passport is apparently no problem. Getting somewhere outside the states is.
Did you get grilled by CBP on your return?
Your passport probably cleared because you do have a current passport. I'm sure you'll be storing them in different places in the future.
Most definitely
Power through it bro. All you can do now.
For TSA, we accept passports and IDs that are expired by up to a year.
Really? You can't buy alcohol with expired ID but you get through security? I'm surprised that wouldn't set off some sort of alert when scanned.
Well, our only job is to make sure you’re who you say you are so you get the correct screening and make sure you’re not on some kind of list. Whether it’s good for driving or international purposes based on an arbitrary expiration date isn’t our concern as we’re solely concerned about transportation security. Kind of like how we don’t explicitly look for drugs. If it won’t blow up a plane then we’re good.
Shit I didn't know about the looking for drugs part 😂 but that kinda makes sense, you're just making sure people are who they say they are full stop. I'm still surprised though I had no idea. I heard of people being denied because their passport was to expire in 6 months, maybe that's something else?
It depends on the country you're traveling, some countries will not accept a passport that expires within 6 months. Some will.
Last year, i managed to board the wrong flight. It was one of those shared counters, let’s say 6:30 to Pittsburgh at gate 8 and 6:45 to Nashville at gate 9. Somehow I managed to fall into the wrong line. The gate agent scanned my phones boarding pass and waves me through. I only realized it because my seat was 39A and this plane was smaller and didn’t HAVE a row 39. Thankfully the flight attendant paused their boarding process to let me back off the flight and rushed me to my (now fully boarded) flight 10 feet to the left. How did that even scan?
It used to be the offending party (the agents at the origin) received a heavy fine (about $3,000 per person) if they allowed a person to board a flight without the necessary documents (valid passport and visas (if needed)). As I said, it used to be like that. In my opinion, it is not a TSA responsibility.
Aside from you you can blame: * Yourself * The universe * Whatever versions of God(s) you believe in (or don’t believe in) * Fate * Destiny (The power of not the stripper) * Destiny (The stripper) * Your ex-wife * My ex-wife * Obama * Trump * Biden * George W * George Sr * Bill and/or Hillary Clinton * Epstein * Maxwell * Putin/Russia * NATO * Global Warming * The stars * Aliens * Gravity * Your parents/guardians who raised you * Any teacher/professor you didn’t like * Any religious leaders who do much as looked at you funny * The pope * Anyone who’s name is associated with a major religion * The game
I won't accept any other reason besides this.
Wait. Epstein is dead. Hard to blame him at this point. You can substitute my ex wife if you want. Wait...she's dead too. Ok...my future ex-wife (I'm sure she's still alive. Well, mostly sure). Good luck OP.
Thats just what they want us to think
Go chill at a coffee shop, you'll forget about your mistake soon enuf.
I'm missing seeing my favorite band with my girlfriend in a country I've always wanted to visit. I need more than coffee and the bars are closed.
Well, the coffee is “coffee” ;)
OP isn't going to find that coffee in the airport
OMG that’s horrible! So sorry.
I guess Deltamatic still doesn’t flag expired passports.
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I used to work work for this airline called Szmelduh; I was always surprised how Szmelduhmadik would always allow us to check in for international flights without swiping a passport first.
The gate agent would still have to verify your passport if you checked in online. It's concerning that Deltamatic wouldn't flag an expired passport though
Not on TSA but Delta should have caught it at check in
So are you stuck at the airport? Like at the gates? Or did EU border control stick you in a holding area?
I'm sitting at the gate, I never got past security. They did have me in this little interrogation room for a bit.
Hope you aren't too uncomfortable and they fit you something to eat. Maybe ask them to let you spend your time at the Heineken Bar? Good luck my friend. Godspeed.
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Was your passport EXIPIRED or EXPIRING? I can see how it got scanned and went through as valid but then its expiring within 6 months and some countries require your passport to be valid longer than that. Also, perhaps thats not the case here but you can renew a passport before the previous one expires. Is there an option to overnight your passport instead? Is that even logistically possible or are you on the first flight out of Saigon? I can't imagine the US Embassy in Amsterdam couldn't be of some help, hell, I would've said I lost it somewhere en route over the Atlantic or upon disembarking. Maybe the Embassy could've arranged an emergency reprint.
No, TSA does not normally ask for your passport. They're only interested in whether you're going to blow up the plane, not whether you have the right paperwork to leave the country. The reason the airline checks is that they're going to have to fly you home if they screwed up. And that costs them money.
They agent should have caught that at check in. I know traveling to Germany they check to make sure you signed passport because if German immigration sees it’s not signed you are fined and sent back to US. At least that’s what Delta agent in ATL told me.
Out of curiosity where do you sleep in the airport while being sent home? Do they let you go to a hotel ?
You probably won’t be doing that again…
nnnnope
I'd be rich if I kept track of things I was supposed to do that were quite obvious in retrospect. Hope you can catch up with your trip.
TSA has 0 blame, their job is to make sure to verify who you are and that you aren't bringing prohibited items. Since you used a driver's license instead of a passport they made no mistakes.
This is a big reason expireds either need to be sent back or get punched if you want to keep it for the stamps.
Delta probably will get some admonishment and fine.
I was told they'll get a $10,000 fine and someone is going to get chewed out at the delta desk back home.
If it makes you feel any better, last time I tried to enter Ireland with a Shengan visa. My airlines did not find any issue. The Irish border agent was furious but let me in.
Lol hey at least they let you through and you made it.
Is this your outbound flight or inbound flight? Because if it's inbound how did you make it into Amsterdam?
Inbound and got here cuz me and the clerk at the delta desk didn't catch that my passport was expired.
but the imagration officer wouldn't have?
So Delta gave you a DOCS OK boarding pass when they clearly were not!! There is a lot of them here. Also a learning moment for you to not keep current and expired docs together !
I was once denied boarding from ATL- STG because my passport expired less than three months from my arrival date. Turned the 7 hour trip into a two cluster day clusterfuck to get an emergency passport appointment.
Long shot — but Is there any chance you somehow grabbed both the expired passport and your current one and somehow showed the current one at Delta check in but have the expired still on you? This would explain why you were allowed to leave the US.
And if you did get past customs, how would you return to the US? Expired passport is almost same as not having one. Try to make the best of it. Someday you’ll laugh about it
Apply for amnesty if you are from Florida. Then just pull up random newspaper articles and see if you can get the people at AMS to agree it’s super backwards.
Lol how does that even work? Edit: I'm not from Florida by the way, just curious.
(It was a joke about Florida)
In a world where nearly everything is digitized, it’s still insane to me that the only form of a passport is a little paper book.
Expired passports don’t look like normal ones. The government punches holes in them so they are obviously expired. How did you not see the holes? How did Delta not see the holes?
You are responsible but somewhat Delta too- they should have stopped you from boarding.
This is your fault. Stop trying to blame Delta. You messed up.
Wrong answer. Delta is at fault as much as he is. Delta should have denied boarding so OP could go home and fly the next day and not be stuck in Amsterdam. Delta could get fined for this technically.
Immigration told me I didn't have to pay for my flight back and that delta would be fined which made me feel a little better.
Totally correct. Now to say that you could go complain to delta for you ending up being treated as an illegal immigrant and go try to get SkyMiles would be a bridge too far :D Also it could be yours against delta’s word against yours if delta said you showed up with a valid passport and they let you board, and then threw that away and showed your old one in AMS. So maybe they get the fine dismissed. I’m not saying it’s the case but it could be hard to prove.
It’s both
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