Originally Posted by
Delta3MM
I've had UA not check my passport on many occasions. First of all, you had to have flown UA with a passport in the recent past.
Secondly, you have to check-in online.
Third, you have to either carry your bags with you or check them at curbside.
I was following you until the curbside checkin part. Baggage for international flights cannot be checked in at curbside (although I find most sky caps will be happy to help me get my heavy bags to the counter). At the international departure gate, however, I can't recall ever boarding a flight without first having to show my passport to the GA. I fly out of the USA at least once/month, so unless it is destination specific it seems extremely unlikely that one would be allowed to fly without having shown proof of possession.
Originally Posted by
fastair
Because the ticket and thus the contract is from origin to final destination, not two separate tickets from origin to intermediate and another from intermediate to final. If UA were to board you at origin to intermediate w/out the requirements to complete the ticket/contract, and you were unable to meet the requirements to continue, the airline would be stuck on the wrong end of contractual liability. If you misconnect once you initiate travel, the airline's liability is to get you to your final ticketed destination. Now airline has accepted you without the ability to meet their obligation. As a side note, now let's say you have checked bags. Should they delay the hundreds of people on the intl leg to remove the cans, locate you bag, pull it, then reload the cans, or just let it go and eat the rather substantial fine and potentially endanger those onboard by violating security rules?
I'm no lawyer, just a CS agent, but how many regulated things allow 1 party to initiate a contract without having the ability to meet their end of it? Would you have planes take off into weather with minimum fuel hoping that the weather will clear and that they don't have to fly around/over the storm in your path or would you rather the airline take off knowing that without any unforseen circumstances, they have the ability to get to the destination?
Thank you. I now understand. It never really bothered me, as I would be some kind of frustrated if I flew to my international departure city only to learn that I had left my passport in yesterday's pants upon arrival from somewhere else. That is something I'm very capable of doing.
