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Flying to Germany with an expired German Passport [updated info]

Flying to Germany with an expired German Passport [updated info]

Old Feb 6, 2021, 5:48 pm
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Flying to Germany with an expired German Passport [updated info]

Has anyone flown with an expired German passport to your home country?
How was your experience?
Location USA
Destination Germany.

Last edited by Danny Don; Feb 7, 2021 at 6:31 pm
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Old Feb 6, 2021, 8:06 pm
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Originally Posted by Danny Don
Has anyone flown with an expired passport to your home country?
How was your experience?
I would assume that during an ID check, most airlines would not let you board if your passport was expired. You would most likely be sent to your country's Embassy to renew or at least get a waiver to travel back to your home country. Military flying home after being overseas for a long period of time may be an exception.
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Old Feb 6, 2021, 8:54 pm
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Originally Posted by teddybear99
I would assume that during an ID check, most airlines would not let you board if your passport was expired. You would most likely be sent to your country's Embassy to renew or at least get a waiver to travel back to your home country.
Agreed. An Emergency Travel Document is what we call it in the UK and can be applied for if:

"your passport has been lost, stolen, damaged, is full, has recently expired or is with HM Passport Office or a foreign embassy"

plus a few other conditions.
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Old Feb 6, 2021, 9:03 pm
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Originally Posted by Danny Don
Has anyone flown with an expired passport to your home country?
How was your experience?
Welcome to Flyertalk. Please continue to follow this thread in the Travel/Safety/Security Forum.
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Old Feb 6, 2021, 11:22 pm
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Originally Posted by Danny Don
Has anyone flown with an expired passport to your home country?
How was your experience?
Welcome to FlyerTalk Danny Don!

We have several threads discussing traveling with expired passports. In order to give you better advice, it would help to know the home country and citizenship, and from where the person traveling is going to fly.
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Old Feb 7, 2021, 7:09 am
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Without the details, e.g., where are you now, what is your "home" country and how will you get there, e.g., nonstop or connections (and if so, where will you connect), it is impossible to answer your question and you need an accurate answer.

The general answer is that your problem is not being admitted if you make it to your home country, but that air carriers will generally not permit you to board without a valid passport and any other documents required for each connection point and destination.

to that end, many countries will either replace the passport at a consulate where you are located or at least issue a "passport replacing document" which is a temporary document good for travel from where you are back home (where you will be required to obtain a new passport).
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Old Feb 7, 2021, 5:25 pm
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As mentioned above it differs from country to country.

In Australia (and I'm sure this is the case in most countries) whilst you're meant to have a passport to arrive, Australian citizens who can be verified can fly without a passport back home (ie you've lost it or it's expired etc). It's highly frowned upon but there is a procedure to make it happen and whilst I've never tried it, I've heard reports of it being possible however often the biggest problem is the outbound country letting you out. Some countries don't really care as much whilst others like Indonesia or China are very strict on that sort of thing and want to see a passport upon you leaving.

Pre covid there were also flights that left the Australian east coast (SYD/MEL/BNE) and flew to New Zealand (AKL/CHC). These flights departed at 6pm local time and were often scheduled to arrive in New Zealand the same day but at 11:59pm. For travel between Australia and New Zealand your passport just has to be valid the day of travel (no 3-6 months validity stuff) and I've heard on numerous occasions of people traveling on the same day as expiry however more often than not the flight was 5-10 minutes late and by the time the traveler got to immigration it was the next day and the passport had therefore expired. In all cases, they let the passenger in with no problems.
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Old Feb 11, 2021, 5:49 am
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If you have a Personalausweis that should make everyone happy, airline and DE immigration.
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Old Feb 11, 2021, 6:32 am
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Always check TIMATIC before international travel. It is what your carrier's check-in personnel will see on their monitor when they check your documents. For a German national traveling from the US to Germany with no connections / transits, your expired passport is acceptable so long as it has not been expired for more than a year.

You should go on TIMATIC yourself and print out the entire listing for your situation. Do not shove it in an agent's face, but do have it handy in case there is an issue. You should also allow a good piece of additional time as it is possible that the front line agent may wish to consult a supervisor who may or may not be located at the airport where you are boarding.

Information as of 11FEB21 / 1327 UTC
National Germany (DE) /Embarkation USA (US)
Destination Germany (DE)
Germany (DE)

Passport required.
- Passports and other documents accepted for entry must be
valid for a minimum of 3 months beyond the period of
intended stay.
- Nationals of Germany are allowed to enter with an expired
passport. The passport is accepted when expired for a
maximum of 1 year.

- Nationals of Germany are allowed to enter with an expired
national ID card. The ID card is accepted when expired for
a maximum of 1 year.
- Temporary passports and Travel Permits in Lieu of Passport
(Reiseausweis als Passersatz) issued to nationals of
Germany must be valid on arrival.
Passport Exemptions:
- Nationals of Germany with a Travel Permit in Lieu of
Passport (Reiseausweis als Passersatz).
- Nationals of Germany with a Travel Permit Issued in Lieu of
Passport for Entry into the Fed. Rep. of Germany
(Reiseausweis als Passersatz zur Einreise in die
Bundesrepublik Deutschland).
- Nationals of Germany with a national ID card.
- Nationals of Germany with a temporary passport.
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