arollins

Delete, I see this is about departure.

ThreeJulietTango

AA adopted the former US policy of requiring passengers to have a passport swipe on file to avoid the possibility of passengers or agents inputting incorrect information and then sending bad data to CBP.

Some stations are more strict about it than others, and some are more misinformed than others. I find it ironic that the SFO agent made up her own rule about denying you boarding for having a passport that failed to swipe while simultaneously disregarding the State Department's actual policy on dual nationals leaving the US.

A passport that fails to swipe is not automatically considered damaged or altered. There is also the possibility that it is the reader on the keyboard itself that is not working. In these cases, inputting the passport data manually is always an option, just one of last resort.

^ IME, AA only enforces this when the destination country requires it. Ecuador comes to mind.

My guess is that the agents at JFK and MIA see this more often because of the greater variety of international cities served from those two hubs.

no2chem

As I've posted in the other thread on SFO, it seems that the ticket counter agents there either don't handle international pax often or fell asleep on international pax training day. Or, maybe they got in trouble for letting pax through without the proper documents and now they're pedantic to the point that they make up their own rules, even the rules of other agencies!

I've discovered that AA will let me check into the domestic sectors of an international itinerary if you punch your passport info in on the mobile app. If there really is a policy to require a passport swipe on file, you might have better luck with a gate agent -- my guess is they would be more willing to apply to override to type in the passport information manually.

inpd

True. If I'm traveling with carry on I just check in online for international flights. But when checking in luggage they want to see your passport.

GUWonder

Customer-facing airline reps really shouldn't get into the business of trying to interpret international travel-related government policy beyond just using TIMATIC with the provided documents and providing DHS the feeds which DHS mandates of the airline.

In a world where even State Department employees -- in the OLA or otherwise -- sometimes disagree about policy interpretation and applicability conditions, airline agents and contractors may do their employer better by not trying to act as an agent of the government when they are not.

AA check-in at ORD has a higher proportion of former USAir employees working check-in than JFK and MIA? USAir check-in staff at ORD and DFW struggled way more with international check-in than AA staff when it came to my trips. And they indeed seemed way more paranoid about international travel documents than AA.

As of late, I've even seen some AA check-in counters try to figure out what to do with those with US passport users who have foreign residency cards when leaving the US. In prior years with AA, I never saw an AA rep try to swipe a foreign residency card when a US passport was being used to leave the US. This year, a completely different dynamic.

N830MH

That will not a problems. They don't want to stealing by another person's passport. They have kept in private. They don't want this happens. If AA staff member will steal it and passengers will notify the manager. if ticket agent will be fired from the airlines. They will never work for airlines again. As long if they behave well. They had respect with passengers' privacy.

inpd

No problem what so ever. Immigration/Border Official at LAX said passport was fine. Swiped fine and there was no need to get a new one as far as they were concerned.

So if immigration/border officials accept it then shouldn't AA be fine or do they enforce/expect a higher standard.

stifle

If I had this kind of difficulty I would be minded to claim IDB compensation if not allowed on the flight. Of course that's a bit more reliable here in the EU...

RogerD408

I'm not sure IDB would apply if they claim/prove invalid documentation to fly. T&Cs put full responsibility on the flyer. Now if it does turn out to be faulty equipment, then AA would have responsibility, but doubt it would equal IDB.

Kate2015

I had no idea this was such an issue. My passport decided not to swipe back in June - no damage. The agent manually entered it, no questions asked. FWIW, it happened twice at the same airport.

inpd

Exactly my experience as well. Passport didn't swipe, agent manually entered it. But this time around the agent refused to citing some policy.

RogerD408

That must have been the "I don't want to do it" policy that some CSRs adopt. I'll bet their supervisor must have been on break or out of the area too. Just like we might get a DYKWIA attitude, CSRs are prone to the same thing. Only difference is they may be able to deny you the service you are trying to get.

There have been many policies that did not take into account real life situations. And the only way to get past these is to succumb to their demands or escalate to someone that has the ability to figure out what is happening and get the situation addressed within their organization, be that new training or equipment repair.

It's examples like this that reinforce my desire to plan a little extra time so I'm not running to catch a flight. Yes, it's nice to walk up and board right away, but let's face it, there are way too many places a simple hiccup can cause major delays.

Zaynab

Sounds like normal wear and tear, which is permitted.

richarddd

According to aa.com:

"Passports must be:

"Valid for at least 6 months after the date you enter a foreign country."
http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInforma...ravel/main.jsp

Is this really the rule? We're traveling to European countries which have a much shorter requirement and it would be a hassle to renew sooner.

I suppose it's best to comply with AA's policy as written, even if they don't always enforce it, but wonder if there's some other policy that allows you to board AA flights so long as you comply with the destination country's rules, even if less than six months.

apeortdz

Why risk it. The downside is unacceptable so I would renew the passport.