MSPeconomist

It would be more of a risk for the GA and DL if it were not the case that the OP was trying to travel back to his home country. That fact should have been considered.

flyerCO

However if there's a concern about the passport being valid, then how do they know the person actually is German. Part of the reason a passport like this would be rejected is because the biodata page could have been replaced. The passenger saying I'm German, has as much surety as them saying my name is. Both could be correct but there's no way to validate. I think I'm the technological world we have we should be able to verify with the issuing country that it's valid. Unfortunately that's not the case.

Lrtalk

Four pages about a passport that has been through some number of wash cycles and why a Delta agent is supposed to know that when pre washed passports are presented that OP should be allowed back to his own country. Okey dokey.

Grouchy

Surprised that OP never had any problems before with the wear and tear, (almost) detached parts and the watermarks.
That reisepass looks like a case of 'annoying thingies waiting to happen' when travelling frequently.

After 2.5 years started to get comments & the secondaries/supervisor/extra checks and that passport looked half as bad compared to the one on the pictures. Had it replaced last year, 3.5 years old but the last 6 months of it i travelled with an extra National ID card, Military passport/ID and if possible with my 2nd passport and still do after those experiences.

Nevertheless that's a somewhat 'dissapointing' follow up from Delta after someone refused your passport.
As a DL silver with a BRD adress your European customer service is most likely AF/KLM. Have fun with your flying blue miles and/or AF/KLM travel voucher (if you get one) as compensation :P

exwannabe

I was once "warned" about a damaged passport that was nowhere near that bad. Probably one of DL/BR/KE (I forget).

Since then I have always done the passport case thing.

saneman

This guy flies a lot. They could have checked his flying record , at least the Delta part, couldn't they?(I am not sure how accessible that is). It's all about insitinct and a frequent flyer is more credible than a guy who flies once a year and shows up with a suspicious passport. Then you have the fact that is was machine readable. You have visible stamps of his past travels to other countries on that passport. And maybe even ask him if he can show any email of his leaving germany at some point.

As someone pointed out , this is a purely business fdecision to avoid Delta having to pay a possible fine. It's not a major security threat as that is TSA's and immigration's responsibility. So one has to use common sense and look for factors that would indicate he is legit.

ajs123

If I were a GA presented with a damaged passport like this that is just 2-3 years old, I would be rather suspicious as well. Respectfully, if OP's spoken English is at about the same level as his written English, then he would have hard time convincing me (unless we switched to German) that all is fine and he can proceed.

Often1

It doesn't matter whether he is a German national. DL is subject to a fine if the guy is admissible and presents with improper docs. The only difference is whether DL is stuck with the additional cost and hassle of schlepping him back to his origin.

I predict that DL does nothing for OP here.

hard8

1. Why was this not escalated after the agent who processed the upgrade denied the passport? Certainly Delta has procedures for supervisors to provide a second opinion in such subjective cases

2. Expensive lesson learned: purchase and use a protective case for your passport

nikitta28

Dieses passport is sehr schlecht. nichts Gutes wird passieren

kettle1

I am with the DL agent on this. GET A NEW PASSPORT! I hope DL gives the OP ZERO! If the photos are correct, that is not a valid passport in that condition. Every person that looked at it should have rejected it. I guess that DL agent was on their toes!

Replace that passport that looks like it went though WWII with a proper passport that is in good condition.

That DL agent did their job. Next time stick with the original plans and sit in Y. The upgrade caused this. OP would have been fine (it seems) if they remained in Y.

I guess in the future, stick with LH. They seem to be willing to take the risk.

GET A NEW PASSPORT or you will be dealing with this on future trips.

Pharaoh

Once, returning through MIA, one struck up a conversation and ended up hiring me to give him and his wife some scuba lessons..... So, yes.

HDQDD

I used to be an agent. I try to look at it at it as I would have in my day. I would have accepted that passport. I might have mentioned nicely to the pax that it might be time to get a replacement. Since the pax was going to his/her home country, I definitely would have let it pass.

As others have stated, the cover doesn't matter, it's the ID part that's critical.

People in this country get way too agro about ID's. I've seen the TSA reject people who's drivers license is 3 days expired. It's not like you're a different person because your license expired...but I guess they follow the "rules".

BOSTransplant

I understand what you're saying, but if you google search the official US rules regarding passport damage, it says: "If your passport has been significantly damaged, especially the book cover or the page displaying your personal data and photo, you will need to apply for a new passport. Conditions that may constitute damage requiring you to replace your passport include water damage, a significant tear, unofficial markings on the data page, missing visa pages (torn out), a hole punch, or other injuries."

It's a judgment call, but I would say from the picture that the OP's passport definitely could be classified as having both "a significant tear" and "other injuries" to the book cover.

HDQDD

Yeah, but those are U.S. rules...I have no idea what every other countries rules are on the subject. Years ago I accidentally washed my passport, and while the ID page was intact, I went ahead and got a replacement.

I'm not saying the OP shouldn't replace his/her PP. They should, but it was acceptable enough to let them fly home (which is why he got home on another flight).

If it had been one of us FTers, we'd have known to ask for a red coat or higher to overrule the agent, but in the OP's case, they probably didn't know what to do.