erickfuks

Hi,

AA check-in agent broke my passport while scanning it on my flight from FRA to SFO (layover in CLT) two weeks ago. They acknowledged this, and it's on the record with my PNR. I have had several interactions with Customer Service through the official e-mail, phone, Twitter and Facebook. Their offer is to pay for the processing fees to get my passport renewed. The problem is that I'm a foreign citizen living in San Francisco, where there's no Consulate.

I don't want or expect any compensation, but I do expect AA to cover my travel expenses from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the nearest city with a Consulate. I have explicitly asked for this, which I think is more than appropriate, and they have declined to do so, quoting policy and comparing my example with a "lost bag" where they don't pay for "any travel or inconvenience associated with that", only the bag+stuff lost. Of course this is outrageous, not a good comparison.

Do you have any suggestions on what else I can do, or who else I can contact, to get my problem solved?
Thanks,
Erick

jab

Can you not mail in a broken passport to the consulate and stay in SFO?

You don't say where what country the passport was issued and I recognize each country can do whatever, but a quick google search for countries on 5 different contents suggest that damaged passports can be mailed to a consulate.

platbrownguy

Assuming you can use FedEx, etc., I would expect their offer to cover processing fees would also cover shipping both ways. I don't see why you'd need to go in person unless that's actually required by your country.

ryan182

Not sure what passport you hold and if this is possible but often there are services that can handle all this for you vs you flying to LAX to visit the consulate, I cannot remember the name of the company we used at one of my previous jobs but we routinely had non-US folks get passport or visa assistance via FedEx+$ with them and they were quick. Rather than flying to LAX and dealing with that I'd see if that's an option for you then ask AA to reimburse you the expense which will likely be cheaper than flying and much less work for you.

Also, just curious: what do you mean by "broke your passport"? Most passports now have chips but there's a fallback for machine readable code on the bottom, I get that lacking an e-passport means you cannot use certain expedited channels but it will be still valid I'd think. How did they break it, and is it at all still usable?

C46

If OP holds e.g. a german passport, issued before 2017, the RFID-chip is in the front cover.
If he holds the newer version, the chip is integrated in the biodata-page - the one with photo & MRZ.

A damaged passport shall be considered invalid, especially if pages are missing - with the biggest focus lying on the biodata-page.

And with frequent usage some passports show remarkable wear & tear, to that biodata page.
The old german passport is one of them; the swiss passport is quite flimsy as well.

In which state was that - now broken - passport before?
Was it brand-new or already, slightly damaged?

fotographer

AA100k

Often1

We don't know what passport OP holds. Without that information, nobody here can say what has to be done to get it replaced.

If the sole means of obtaining a replacement is in person, then AA ought to reimburse that. If the document can be replaced via use of a courier service, it is that. If not, then overnight, USPS or whatever.

Need some facts here to be useful.

erickfuks

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments!

I have considered couriering the document and the forms. I certainly do NOT want to fly to Los Angeles for a few hours to do this, but unfortunately renewals can only be processed in person, as they have to take my fingerprints. I confirmed this with the corresponding authorities in Argentina, where I'm from.

The passport was brand new, recently renewed 2 months ago, and by broken I mean that the biopage is ripped. Most airlines/countries will not let me check in or may stop me at passport control because the damage is high and the passport may be seemed invalid. I cannot run that risk, and I also have a few upcoming trips.

It's frustrating that AA acknowledges everything, but still declines to give me an appropriate solution. I'm trying to get ahold of someone at AA who can actually help instead of repeating policy over and over. I believe this is a very rare mishap and I'm not asking for anything crazy.

Antarius

I'm amazed they ripped a passport page. Trying to envision this happening, but not sure how they pulled that off.

zeebanker

Small claims court?

zeebanker

Snagged on the reader and the person handling the pp used force to unsnag it? Not inconceivable.

330West

Not to sound overly dismissive of your problem but I'd suggest just paying for the flight and moving on with your life. You'll probably spend more time fighting AA than it's worth. Assuming you travel early next week a same day roundtrip can be had for under $300.

Antarius

for sure. And I wasnt doubting the OP.

just envisioned a GA being less careless with something as critical as a passport.

bchandler02

Try CIBT.