Originally Posted by
anabolism
Regardless of why a passport may have been extended beyond its stated expiration (COVID or not), I think that's what the text refers to. It doesn't make sense that it would apply to a passport with extra pages sewn in, since until this year I had such a passport and never had any problem anywhere, even South Africa.
You've had much better experience with BPs than myself. Getting all BPs at the start has been the rare exception for me, going back many decades. Even simple trips such as LAX-LHR-ARN, I'm always unable able to get LHR-ARN BPs in LAX, due to it being more than 24 hours. I have some hope that QR might be an exception, as they can check-in and issue BPs 48 hours ahead (except for flights to US). I would love for "first flight" to mean literary the first flight in the record that takes me to South Africa, as that would allow me to do a much more convenient PCR test near home, rather than a more expensive test requiring Uber both ways at the first overnight. Regarding stops versus layovers, I know a connection is under 24 hours while a stop is 24 hours or longer, but I don't know if "layover" has a technical definition. In my case, I have two overnights, one just over 24 hours, the other 33 hours.