djohannw

May be a different perspective...but why hassle yourself with an expedited renewal? If TIMATIC says your passport fulfills the rules for your destination-county, you will be good to go. United even provides access to this system for travelers (sadly not working in Chrome) under:

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/app...aspx?i=TIMATIC

Whatever result you get...if your passport fulfills that, you are good to go. Any agent in doubt should just be directed to check their version of TIMATIC...rules are there for a reason, and if you comply with them, you are good to go.

In my case I am doing this for eight years now - my daughter holds a machine-readable children's passport that has no biometric data, and these are still valid if they have been issued before October 26th, 2006 and remained unchanged since (which is listed as such in TIMATIC). Been given a second look a few times when boarding a US-bound flight, but everyone that was in doubt has just looked up the information in said system, and I was good to go - maybe a five minutes wait to find out.

Greetings - Dirk

sinoflyer

I'm a gambler; I would be doing the same thing as you plan to be doing.

My experiences are not exactly the same scenarios as yours, but they do pertain to flying UA.

A few years ago, I flew to PEK 2 or 3 days before the expiration of my China visa. It was clear that I would be staying in China past the expiration date, but the UA agent knew that as long as I entered China before the "Enter Before" date on the visa, I was alright.

A couple of months after that, I transited PEK on a UA/TG itinerary still without having renewed my China visa. The UA agent who checked me in clearly saw my expired visa, but she also knew about TWOV, and my trip went smoothly.

YMMV. Traveling within a month of an expiring PP is a concern, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Fanjet

I had a trip to Europe with less than two months left on my U.S. Passport. I came back the day before it expired. No one at the airline gave me a problem. Although I believe I was originally booked to come back two or three weeks earlier. If you have a lot of stamps in your passport, I think an agent would not be so concerned. Moreover, I hardly ever deal with an agent when checking in for an outbound international flight. It's just the kiosk or online check-in.

artvandalay

One month left on a visa, maybe I'd go for it. One month left on a passport when I had the chance to eliminate that as a possible travel issue before I left...are you really asking that question?

And pls remember that at the point of conflict in a foreign country, the airline "overzealous" employee who denies your boarding--rightly or wrongly--has all the power at that time. Your previous assurances from a State Department phone call or well-intended posters on this thread (who have nothing to lose) are worthless.

Why not eliminate one more hassle from an international trip...while it's still 100% in your control?

kettle1

A word of advise. Renew the Passport. Done that game before - NEVER AGAIN.

halls120

If you were flying on an airline that offered consistent professional customer service I wouldn't worry. But since you're flying on UA, get a new passport.

inpd

Wow your good at research! Yes they both expire in Feb.

worldwidetraveler

I have read that certain countries in the EU require that your passport be valid at least three months beyond your return date. However, I doubt that it has ever been enforced for US citizens.
Also, when traveling on a OW ticket to western europe, european immigration has never asked to see a RT ticket.

Bonehead

While at a club in Bruges you meet the most beautiful woman you've ever seen, and she asks you to please, please come back with her to Yogyakarta...she has to return the next day. OOPS...need 6 months' validity to enter Indonesia. Damn.

inpd

Thanks Dirk! The website confirms what the State Department said. So long as the passport was valid on the day of entry I am okay.

Thanks everyone else for your comments. I get your comments about risk, but I think getting your passport replaced so closed to departure is a bigger risk. The State department passport renewal website only says *their time processing* is guaranteed. So the passport can still be misplaced, gotten lost in the mail etc. I think that risk is bigger than United ignoring the state departments own rules.

Thanks again all, you guys are great.

pmarrsouth

you are a dual citizen, so you can actually enter the USA with a US state drivers license afair - there will be slightly more hassle and questions when reentering obv

so since you have a 2nd passport (Australian) the clearly obv play is to have your US passport renewed now. If for some, insanely small, chance that you dont get it back in time then just travel on your Australian passport and get a bit of hassle back when you enter the USA. In the very likely event that you will get your renewed US passport back in time, then there wont be any issue

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/ar...-revealed.html

Often1

1. It appears that you are a USN traveling to other countries. The US State Department is not the source of information as to what other countries will or will not accept. Rather, it is the foreign ministries of those countries. All of that information is cataloged in TIMATIC.

2. You need to check every country you will be visiting. If any one of them requires an expiration date beyond your passport's, you are at risk of being denied boarding for all preceding segments.

3. Bear in mind that this is not just about UA unless you are flying a UA-operated aircraft for every segment of your itinerary.

Before making your decision, I would run the TIMATIC database for your details for each country on your itinerary and then read through it carefully. If no country requires or may require a passport validity date beyond entry and there is no language about proof of your ability for onward travel (sometimes a bit of a mask for the fact that the country does routinely use passport expiration as a factor), you are all set.

boss315

+1: at least six months of validity to avoid a disaster

Kacee

Yup so just go ahead and ignore the threads about airline employees misreading Timatic and denying boarding. Because we all know that check-in agents never make mistakes and always resolve uncertainties in the passenger's favor

flyingbroom

yes, my partner was denied boarding with a passport that was expiring in about 4months.
got rebooked for 2 days later. we hurried to seattle to get an expedited passport.
do not take a chance!