Originally Posted by
relberger
Ok, I have had the unfortunate incident where my US passport got water damaged and needs replacement. Replacement must be done in person. In order to get an appointment (I'm going to the NYC passport office), I need to have a tix within four weeks (since I have visas that require transfer to new passport) or two weeks without visa requirement. A real real pain in the... obviously a measure by them to cut down # of superfluous appointments but really is stupid for replacement when I fly based on need and my family is in Australia!
Anyways, sorry for the rant, but I have to schedule an intl flight even though I don't necessarily have to go to that intl destination at that time.
So, I am thinking of booking a flight to intl destination with fully refundable fare, get the passport, and then cancel the flight.
With fully refundable fare, do I still get hit with penalties? What's the impact of getting fully refundable fare and a flight is code shared?
Note I highly prefer doing this on AA, hence my post here.
Using a refundable eticket is possible and has done before. You will still have to pay the expedite fees to the State Department if you want the passport back on an expedited basis.
This has been done by people at the US Passport Agency office in lower Manhattan a lot and worked: on day of appointment/visit to US Passport Agency office, purchase any international roundtrip eticket with DL for a DL-operated flight; print out the eticket itinerary; apply for the passport at the Passport Agency office; after applying, cancel the DL ticket (penalty free) within 24-hours of booking but do so late at night.