My family and I had a vacation planned to the Paradisus Playa Conchal for December 10th-15th, but we never got the oppurtunity to experience it because we were deported from the country at Liberia Airport. I have nothing negative to say about the resort or about the airport in Liberia, and we are still eagerly looking foward to our rebooked vacation in February, but I'm looking for advice concerning action to take against American Airlines. Trust me, the story of our nightmare on December 10th is very long, so I will not go into gritty details, and I will just explain the gist of the situation. I had booked our vacation online in October, and later called American Airlines reservations to see what proper documentation my eight year old son needed to enter Costa Rica. I was put on hold, and then told that an original birth certificate with a raised seal would suffice. Seeing that all the other memebers of my family had passports, I had no reason to distrust the "expert" adivice of American Airlines and spend the extra money on a passport for an eight year old when he didn't need it. Subsequently, I called the the Costa Rican tourism board to see if my family needed any vaccinations, and I was politely told no. When we arrived at Laguardia airport at 4AM on Saturday morning, December 10th, we were officially checked in by an American Airlines employee, who told us that after December 31st, 2005, anyone leaving the United States will need a passport to return (the validity of this statement is now in question, and I think that rule goes officially into effect in a year). Anyway, we were checked in by American Airlines for an international flight with insufficient documentation. We connected in Miami after a two + hour layover, and actually flew to Liberia, Costa Rica, and were promptly turned away and put back onto the nest flight back to Miami. I cannot express the emotional stress and devastation this event has caused my family, and the series of events that followed once we returned to America (including a lost bag that went from Miami to Liberia to BOGOTA to Liberia, and then on Delta to Atlanta to Laguardia, and gotten to us on December 14th). We have rebooked our vacation to Costa Rica for February on American Airlines at the Paradisus Playa Conchal, but we are looking for everything to be covered by American Airlines, Contacting a customer service representative at the airlines was very challenging, seeing that there is no customer service phone number. After a lot of research and prying, we were finally put in touch with Tim Rhodes, a senior executive of customer service at American Airlines, who informed us on December 12th that the situation would be resolved by December 14th. This wasn't the case, and we are still told that out mishap is being investigated, and ultimately it is the passenger's responsibility to find out what documentation is required for travel. However, this is not what we were told by American Airlines in October, and once they checked us in at Lagauardia, it is my opinion that the fault rests with them. Please, any feedback or advice on the next step to take would be greatly appreciated.