Passport Check on Domestic Connecting Leg After International Flight
 

I flew from MAD-PHL-RIC today. AA checked my passport when I checked in at Madrid and again when I boarded the plane, which I expected since I was on an international flight. After clearing customs in PHL, I was attempting to board my connecting flight to Richmond, but when the gate agent scanned my boarding pass a red screen popped up on her computer telling her to check my passport. I asked her about that, since passports aren't normally required for a domestic flight, let alone at the gate. But she said sometimes the computer randomly asked for it and that she needed to see it before I could board. Is that normal? I can understand wanting to see the passport on a domestic flight that is taken before an international flight, since it ensures that you have the right documents for the international flight that you are about to take. But why does AA care on the way back, especially after I've cleared customs and can travel as freely as any other domestic passenger?

Just flew PVG-DFW-IAH and no issues on the second flight on needing a passport

You will be asked for a photo ID but most people in the US don't have a passport so it would eliminate a lot of pax to require them.

In many years and flights I’ve never been asked to produce my passport for a domestic flight other than if I was connecting to an international flight. Certainly never after an international arrival.

There is NO legal requirement to show a passport for a domestic flight, and didn't find anything in AA's terms that would suggest that it is.
Maybe someone else can comment on this, but that sounds a bit odd

Sounds like computer error, but a bad one.

Sometimes (and I can't figure out when), I am asked for a passport at DCA when I board DCA-JFK-EZE/YYZ/etc. -- but it seems totally hit or miss. I presumed it was related to whether I showed a passport at check-in (i.e. if I checked bags) but that hasn't seemed to be the case either.

But you should never have to show it for a domestic segment after the international leg. OP, do you have any future international segments on the same itinerary, or was PHL-RIC the end of the itinerary?

Just happened to my sister yesterday! SEZ-DOH-ORD-MCI. When she went to board the ORD-MCI flight, she was asked for passport.

Somebody be editing scripts over the weekend :)

AA probably got dinged for failing to check before an international flight and is making up for it by checking everyone on an international itinerary.

Could it be some sort of profiling in effect? Non USA passports used otherwise... In the current climate with securing the USA border. I returned to SFO from ICN via HKG into LAX and only showed my US passport twice (ICN and HKG) to board a plane.

I was asked to provide my passport for the outbound leg of a PHL-BUF//YYZ-PHL open jaw back in January.

PHL-RIC was end of my itinerary.

That could well be the case, since it seemed that they were looking at the passports much more closely on the way out as well. When I was heading out to Spain last week they actually checked my passport twice in RIC - once at the ticket counter when checking my bag and again at the gate for my flight up to PHL - and as both agents asked questions about how long I would be traveling I think they were both looking for document validity and admissibility. I didn't think much of it at the time because I was heading out of the country, and it still seems odd for AA to direct its efforts at those with only domestic flights left on the itinerary.

They'll absolutely check your passport when checking in for the domestic leg of an international itinerary - they don't want to be responsible for getting you home after you get to your connection point and they learn you don't have a passport.

on the OUTBOUND, yes. For example SFO-LAX-LHR, they will check your passport at SFO at check in.

The OP is referring to the inbound. If you fly back LHR-LAX-SFO, they do not (typically) check your passport after arriving in LAX (after immigration, of course) for the LAX -SFO flight.

They don't, nor should they. But I've seen a lot of people chime in with "well, they checked mine on the outbound!"