Passports stolen - U.S. road trip
Jul 17, 2017, 11:39 pm
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: FRA
Posts: 1,398
You were turned away at the Passport Agency not for lack of materials, but for lack of an emergency. Once you are at 3 days, you will get help.
Let me go back to one document source. Presumably the necessary documents are sitting in a file back at home or in your office. Is there really no person who lives or works near your home or your office whom you trust to retrieve them? What would you do if there were a fire or a break-in? Isn't there someone with a key?
Once you have a trustworthy person with the documents, a PDF and overnight ought to be relatively easy.
Let me go back to one document source. Presumably the necessary documents are sitting in a file back at home or in your office. Is there really no person who lives or works near your home or your office whom you trust to retrieve them? What would you do if there were a fire or a break-in? Isn't there someone with a key?
Once you have a trustworthy person with the documents, a PDF and overnight ought to be relatively easy.
Nevertheless, I don't understand how it can't be regarded as an emergency when passports are stolen in the middle of international travel, 6000 miles away from home with an aggressive itinerary planned and hotels booked. Rather than seeing the National Parks of the Southwest,we will have to add San Diego to our route and stay put there until my wife gets her passport.
It took one hour to fix the situation for the kids and me, and it cost us a total of 24 USD. For my wife, it will take at least a whole week, involve travel to a different city, and cost her hundreds in fees.
Jul 18, 2017, 9:55 am
#17
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: LAX
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Posts: 20,597
At least you'll be able to make your flight home.
I have a couple of general safety observations.
About thirty years ago, my rental car, a small hatchback, was burglarized in Milan, Italy. My camera bag, with my spare camera and other gear and about twelve rolls of already exposed film with hundreds of photographs were stolen.
I learned two things from that incident.
First, whenever possible, I rent cars with locking trunks; it's not absolute protection, since locks can be picked and trunks popped, but potential thieves can't see what's inside and breaking into trunks is not as easy as smashing windows. It's never a problem renting sedans in the US; however, while traveling abroad, sometimes, despite my best efforts, I do end up with station wagons (recently Portugal and Israel) or hatchbacks (e.g., my last time in France). Most times, though, I end up with sedans (the year before last, I was upgraded to an Audi A6 in Spain). IIRC, you rented an SUV for this trip; even with the so-called privacy glass, thieves can peer in and scope what's inside.
Secondly, I never ever leave our passports and other identification documents, cash and credit cards in unattended cars. We always carry those on us in travel wallets hidden under our clothes.
I have a couple of general safety observations.
About thirty years ago, my rental car, a small hatchback, was burglarized in Milan, Italy. My camera bag, with my spare camera and other gear and about twelve rolls of already exposed film with hundreds of photographs were stolen.
I learned two things from that incident.
First, whenever possible, I rent cars with locking trunks; it's not absolute protection, since locks can be picked and trunks popped, but potential thieves can't see what's inside and breaking into trunks is not as easy as smashing windows. It's never a problem renting sedans in the US; however, while traveling abroad, sometimes, despite my best efforts, I do end up with station wagons (recently Portugal and Israel) or hatchbacks (e.g., my last time in France). Most times, though, I end up with sedans (the year before last, I was upgraded to an Audi A6 in Spain). IIRC, you rented an SUV for this trip; even with the so-called privacy glass, thieves can peer in and scope what's inside.
Secondly, I never ever leave our passports and other identification documents, cash and credit cards in unattended cars. We always carry those on us in travel wallets hidden under our clothes.
Jul 18, 2017, 10:28 pm
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: FRA
Posts: 1,398
At least you'll be able to make your flight home.
I have a couple of general safety observations.
About thirty years ago, my rental car, a small hatchback, was burglarized in Milan, Italy. My camera bag, with my spare camera and other gear and about twelve rolls of already exposed film with hundreds of photographs were stolen.
I learned two things from that incident.
First, whenever possible, I rent cars with locking trunks; it's not absolute protection, since locks can be picked and trunks popped, but potential thieves can't see what's inside and breaking into trunks is not as easy as smashing windows. It's never a problem renting sedans in the US; however, while traveling abroad, sometimes, despite my best efforts, I do end up with station wagons (recently Portugal and Israel) or hatchbacks (e.g., my last time in France). Most times, though, I end up with sedans (the year before last, I was upgraded to an Audi A6 in Spain). IIRC, you rented an SUV for this trip; even with the so-called privacy glass, thieves can peer in and scope what's inside.
Secondly, I never ever leave our passports and other identification documents, cash and credit cards in unattended cars. We always carry those on us in travel wallets hidden under our clothes.
I have a couple of general safety observations.
About thirty years ago, my rental car, a small hatchback, was burglarized in Milan, Italy. My camera bag, with my spare camera and other gear and about twelve rolls of already exposed film with hundreds of photographs were stolen.
I learned two things from that incident.
First, whenever possible, I rent cars with locking trunks; it's not absolute protection, since locks can be picked and trunks popped, but potential thieves can't see what's inside and breaking into trunks is not as easy as smashing windows. It's never a problem renting sedans in the US; however, while traveling abroad, sometimes, despite my best efforts, I do end up with station wagons (recently Portugal and Israel) or hatchbacks (e.g., my last time in France). Most times, though, I end up with sedans (the year before last, I was upgraded to an Audi A6 in Spain). IIRC, you rented an SUV for this trip; even with the so-called privacy glass, thieves can peer in and scope what's inside.
Secondly, I never ever leave our passports and other identification documents, cash and credit cards in unattended cars. We always carry those on us in travel wallets hidden under our clothes.
Our next trip to the U.S. will be for Christmas. I guess I will have to prove I left the country as scheduled, since I won't be leaving on my passport. I'll retain my boarding pass and will check with the American consulate in Frankfurt when we go in to order new passpots for the kids.
I take the documents with me now, but crowds make me nervous, e.g. today in Hollywood, since pickpocketing is also s risk. One of these wallets to wear under the clothes soundd great. I'll look into buying one tomorrow.
Last edited by TWA884; Jul 19, 2017 at 12:24 am Reason: Merge consecutive posts by the same member for readability
Jul 22, 2017, 3:57 pm
#19
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Canada
Programs: BA Gold (OWE), Star Alliance Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,194
Our next trip to the U.S. will be for Christmas. I guess I will have to prove I left the country as scheduled, since I won't be leaving on my passport. I'll retain my boarding pass and will check with the American consulate in Frankfurt when we go in to order new passpots for the kids.
Jul 23, 2017, 7:52 pm
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: FRA
Posts: 1,398
That's great. I'll check the wesite that shows the travel history to make sure my departure will be recorded correctly .
Things are finally starting to come together. On Tursday, we went to San Diego, where my wife had her passport appointment. Folks there were nice and helped her through the process. She did need her original birth certificate as well as our marriage certificate, which we had arranged to be overnighted to our hotel in Laguna Beach. The form for the new passport had to be signed in the presence of an officer there, so my wife had to fill out and sign the last page again, but otherwise everything went ok. Her German driver's license was accepted as a form of ID. Initially, they told us it it would take three days to print the passport, but they were able to prioritize her passport for next day pick-up, when we told them about the implications for the rest of our itinerary.
On the plus side, she received a full passport, valid for 10 years, not just a temporary travel document. Apart from a 60 USD express fee, no additional fees were tagged on to the regular price of the passport.
We are now enjoying the happy hour at our hotel in Palm Springs, before will will continue on to the Grand Canyon and to Las Vegas for our return flight.
Otherwise, things are coming together as well. Our cleaning lady dropped her keys off at our neighbors, who will let us in. The VW dealer closest to the airport received a copy of the title of my car and has odered new keys. As soon as they arrive, the car will be towed to the dealer so that the electronic immobilizer can be reprogrammed to accept the new set of keys.
If all goes as planned, we will be able to fly home and drive away from the airport as if nothing happened. Of course we learned a lot in the process and will be much more careful going forward
Things are finally starting to come together. On Tursday, we went to San Diego, where my wife had her passport appointment. Folks there were nice and helped her through the process. She did need her original birth certificate as well as our marriage certificate, which we had arranged to be overnighted to our hotel in Laguna Beach. The form for the new passport had to be signed in the presence of an officer there, so my wife had to fill out and sign the last page again, but otherwise everything went ok. Her German driver's license was accepted as a form of ID. Initially, they told us it it would take three days to print the passport, but they were able to prioritize her passport for next day pick-up, when we told them about the implications for the rest of our itinerary.
On the plus side, she received a full passport, valid for 10 years, not just a temporary travel document. Apart from a 60 USD express fee, no additional fees were tagged on to the regular price of the passport.
We are now enjoying the happy hour at our hotel in Palm Springs, before will will continue on to the Grand Canyon and to Las Vegas for our return flight.
Otherwise, things are coming together as well. Our cleaning lady dropped her keys off at our neighbors, who will let us in. The VW dealer closest to the airport received a copy of the title of my car and has odered new keys. As soon as they arrive, the car will be towed to the dealer so that the electronic immobilizer can be reprogrammed to accept the new set of keys.
If all goes as planned, we will be able to fly home and drive away from the airport as if nothing happened. Of course we learned a lot in the process and will be much more careful going forward
Jul 24, 2017, 11:22 am
#21
Moderator: Hilton Honors, Practical Travel Safety Issues & San Francisco
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: San Francisco CA
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Posts: 11,001
Glad to hear your trip wasn't impacted too much
And I'm shocked by the few snarky comments here - this is obviously a huge deal to go through and I wish the LA passport office had been a bit more forgiving.
Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Jul 30, 2017, 10:55 am
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: FRA
Posts: 1,398
Thank you squeakr and thank you, everyone, who provided helpful tips to resolve the situation.
Here's the final update on how things played out: we arrived at LAS three hours before the flight at the time that check-in was scheduled to open so that we would have plenty of time to resolve potential problems.
The check-in agent looked at our documents and the letters from the consulate, took everything with her and disappeared for about 15 minutes before she returned and told us that everything was ok. She could apparently see that the kids had traveled to the U.S. on American passports since she told us they did not have to fill out a departure form for U.S. citizens as they left the country on German travel documents. No issue was made of it, though.
At security, the TSA agent gave me a bit of a hard time and initially told me I needed a passport and could not travel on my German identity card. He was not concerned about the kids, though. "The kids don't need ID to travel, it's his stuff that looks weird!" He called in a second colleague to debate my case, played around with my ID card in a device with UV light, read the letters from the consulate, asked me a few questions, such as my birth date, and eventually let me through.
Here's the final update on how things played out: we arrived at LAS three hours before the flight at the time that check-in was scheduled to open so that we would have plenty of time to resolve potential problems.
The check-in agent looked at our documents and the letters from the consulate, took everything with her and disappeared for about 15 minutes before she returned and told us that everything was ok. She could apparently see that the kids had traveled to the U.S. on American passports since she told us they did not have to fill out a departure form for U.S. citizens as they left the country on German travel documents. No issue was made of it, though.
At security, the TSA agent gave me a bit of a hard time and initially told me I needed a passport and could not travel on my German identity card. He was not concerned about the kids, though. "The kids don't need ID to travel, it's his stuff that looks weird!" He called in a second colleague to debate my case, played around with my ID card in a device with UV light, read the letters from the consulate, asked me a few questions, such as my birth date, and eventually let me through.
Jul 30, 2017, 11:42 am
#23
Moderator: Hilton Honors, Practical Travel Safety Issues & San Francisco
Join Date: Jan 2001
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Glad to hear your exit went "smoothly"
Guessing that any situation that TSA staff have not encountered before makes for a problem. Glad you were able to exit relatively easily.
Jul 30, 2017, 2:17 pm
#24
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Thank you squeakr and thank you, everyone, who provided helpful tips to resolve the situation.
Here's the final update on how things played out: we arrived at LAS three hours before the flight at the time that check-in was scheduled to open so that we would have plenty of time to resolve potential problems.
The check-in agent looked at our documents and the letters from the consulate, took everything with her and disappeared for about 15 minutes before she returned and told us that everything was ok. She could apparently see that the kids had traveled to the U.S. on American passports since she told us they did not have to fill out a departure form for U.S. citizens as they left the country on German travel documents. No issue was made of it, though.
At security, the TSA agent gave me a bit of a hard time and initially told me I needed a passport and could not travel on my German identity card. He was not concerned about the kids, though. "The kids don't need ID to travel, it's his stuff that looks weird!" He called in a second colleague to debate my case, played around with my ID card in a device with UV light, read the letters from the consulate, asked me a few questions, such as my birth date, and eventually let me through.
Here's the final update on how things played out: we arrived at LAS three hours before the flight at the time that check-in was scheduled to open so that we would have plenty of time to resolve potential problems.
The check-in agent looked at our documents and the letters from the consulate, took everything with her and disappeared for about 15 minutes before she returned and told us that everything was ok. She could apparently see that the kids had traveled to the U.S. on American passports since she told us they did not have to fill out a departure form for U.S. citizens as they left the country on German travel documents. No issue was made of it, though.
At security, the TSA agent gave me a bit of a hard time and initially told me I needed a passport and could not travel on my German identity card. He was not concerned about the kids, though. "The kids don't need ID to travel, it's his stuff that looks weird!" He called in a second colleague to debate my case, played around with my ID card in a device with UV light, read the letters from the consulate, asked me a few questions, such as my birth date, and eventually let me through.
The TSA doesn't accept German national ID cards as ID; and when they don't find the presented ID as acceptable ID for the TSA travel document/ID check, they more commonly ask identity questions and send the person to a secondary screening of sort, much akin to the kind gotten by those with SSSS on their boarding passes at US airports.
Most minors don't require ID for TSA TDC check, even when flying internationally.
