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Flying domestic leg of international itinerary without passport: possible?

Flying domestic leg of international itinerary without passport: possible?

Old Jan 1, 2020, 9:49 am
  #16  
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Originally Posted by Often1
Fedex overnight shipped from Los Angeles to Nashville on 1/2, has a delivery commitment of 8:00 AM on 1/3 for "First Overnight". Cost is $89.95. That drops to $49.85 if 10:30 AM works. Don't know what time you have to leave for the airport, but if 8:00 AM will do, go for that.
Flight is 7:59a :/

If not for the holiday today it would already be in the sky.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 10:01 am
  #17  
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Other option that could possibly work is making an appointment at the Atlanta passport office (I'm assuming that's the closest one to you) tomorrow and heading down there to get one replaced same day. Would probably be cheaper than the $900 one way flight, assuming you want to go through the hassle of it to save the money.

Just be sure you have an appointment and all the necessary documentation, photos, etc.

https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...s/atlanta.html
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 10:12 am
  #18  
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UPDATE:

Check USPS for Priority Mail Express. In some cities there is holiday pickup and that provides for 1-day delivery. Cost is $25.50. If Los Angeles either picks up or there is an acceptance location in Los Angeles which is open today, you can have the passport tomorrow in good time for your Friday departure.

I see that the 8:00 AM delivery via Fedex on Friday won't suit. On the other hand, AA has a later flight with a 6:29 PM arrival into LAX. That drops your connection from 10 hours to 2.5 hours which ought to plenty of time, particularly because you won't have the detour to pick up the passport while on the ground at LAX.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 10:18 am
  #19  
 
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Airlines used to and it looks like still do have package express services. If you can get someone to pack up the passport and take it to the airline's airport shipping facility you should be able to get it on the next flight out.

https://pro.delta.com/content/agency...e-service.html

https://www.deltacargo.com/Cargo/cat...press-shipping

https://www.deltacargo.com/Cargo/cat...irportName=LAX
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Last edited by skimthetrees; Jan 1, 2020 at 10:26 am
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 10:20 am
  #20  
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The long layoer was also needed for them to do their packing not just to get the passport.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 10:34 am
  #21  
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Originally Posted by UKtravelbear
The long layoer was also needed for them to do their packing not just to get the passport.
Hopefully, if there is someone to fetch the passport and run around Los Angeles to ship it by whatever means, that is someone who can do the packing. Never a guarantee, but I can see someone doing this via Facetime, Skype or whatever other video service they have. All a bit mad and not to be done voluntarily, but it beats the alternative of missing a trip.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 10:38 am
  #22  
 
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This is very anecdotal, and happened many years ago, but I have heard of something like this. A distant cousin of mine was flying with a very inexperienced person to the Far East from Midwest US. They had a layover in LAX. I am not sure of the details, such as the airline(s). Anyway, my cousin's traveling companion had evidently never traveled outside the US before, and forgot that he needed a passport. IIRC, they figured it out when they went to check in for their flight.

What happened is that the airline flew them to LAX and then changed their connecting flight to a day or two later. While in LAX, they went to the passport office and he got a passport.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 10:51 am
  #23  
 
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can she go to LAX today? I see some 12.5k awards available on AA.com for BNA-LAX nonstop for 1/1 and 1/2. There are also returns for LAX-BNA albeit with a connection for 1/1 and 1/2.

That might be the easiest course of action if you can book the reward ticket and head to the airport.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 10:55 am
  #24  
 
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I actually was in exactly this situation recently, flying YYC - YVR - SAN. My passport was in YVR. As a Canadian, I need a passport to fly to the US. I had checked in online, and as I had my passport information I was able to enter the data at check in. I was asked for a passport verification prior to boarding, I explained the situation to the gate attendant who simply put a note on the file, I collected my passport at YVR (had a friend bring it to the airport for me), I was asked again for a passport verification prior to boarding the SAN flight, I produced it - no issues.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 11:02 am
  #25  
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UPDATE

Thank you all for the helpful feedback and ideas. I really do appreciate it.

I called AA and asked them to split the PNR. I didn't say anything else to avoid confusion. The agent was clueless, and apparently really stuffed it up. After she made an attempt, she told me I had to talk to the International Transfer Desk and put me on hold for 10 minutes. The next agent was quite good, but it took her 30 minutes to sort out the issues (I still hadn't asked for anything besides a PNR split at this point!).

Since I had the good agent on the line, after she returned and said the itinerary was back in order again, I explained the problem to her. She said that definitely, there would be no way to board at BNA without a Passport. Then she removed the BNA-LAX flight successfully. I was able to book the same flight again as a web special for 18k AA miles and $80. So that seems to have worked out well.

My only concern is that her new FJ PNR is still showing 'on hold awaiting payment', and the AA itinerary says the ticket is 'on request'. Just hoping that it goes through without issue.

Last edited by CPMaverick; Jan 1, 2020 at 11:08 am
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 11:24 am
  #26  
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Here are a few responses to your posts:

With regard to getting the Passport here:
- USPS doesn't seem to have a next day guarantee, and DHL/FedEX/UPS all have same-day service but it seems to require some hoops to set up which I couldn't understand
- I did try signing up for Southwest's cargo service but I got a response that my application to join will take 5-7 days
- The Delta Cargo service looks promising, but when I tried to request a quote for tomorrow, it gave me an error and said to try again later

With regard to trying to check-in anyway:
- The AA agent seemed to think this would be impossible
- There are so many bad experiences posted here (granted not with AA) of people being properly denied boarding, it seemed like a big risk
- Even if the BNA staff on 1/2 thought it would be OK, I just would not be confident that it would be on 1/3
- Once I found the web special on that flight for 18k, I wanted to jump on that.

Cheers
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 11:26 am
  #27  
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Originally Posted by CPMaverick
UPDATE

Thank you all for the helpful feedback and ideas. I really do appreciate it.

I called AA and asked them to split the PNR. I didn't say anything else to avoid confusion. The agent was clueless, and apparently really stuffed it up. After she made an attempt, she told me I had to talk to the International Transfer Desk and put me on hold for 10 minutes. The next agent was quite good, but it took her 30 minutes to sort out the issues (I still hadn't asked for anything besides a PNR split at this point!).

Since I had the good agent on the line, after she returned and said the itinerary was back in order again, I explained the problem to her. She said that definitely, there would be no way to board at BNA without a Passport. Then she removed the BNA-LAX flight successfully. I was able to book the same flight again as a web special for 18k AA miles and $80. So that seems to have worked out well.

My only concern is that her new FJ PNR is still showing 'on hold awaiting payment', and the AA itinerary says the ticket is 'on request'. Just hoping that it goes through without issue.
Keep an eye and if by the evening it still shows "on request", call AA or send a twitter DM to see if it can be manually reissued.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 11:53 am
  #28  
 
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Can the roommate take a photo of her passport and text/email it to you or her?
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 12:44 pm
  #29  
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I'm surprised with some of the experiences above. I've only ever been asked for my passport on a domestic leg when checking a bag. The GA at origin has never once asked for it.

I've tried to initiate the doc check at origin a few times. Half the time, I'm turned away with "you'll do that during your connection".

Of course, I am asked for my passport on the int'l flight every time.
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Old Jan 1, 2020, 1:13 pm
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by TBD
I'm surprised with some of the experiences above. I've only ever been asked for my passport on a domestic leg when checking a bag. The GA at origin has never once asked for it.

I've tried to initiate the doc check at origin a few times. Half the time, I'm turned away with "you'll do that during your connection".

Of course, I am asked for my passport on the int'l flight every time.
In the past six months or so, I have presented my PP at check-in getting boarding passes but was still required to show it at the gate to board the domestic portion of the trip. Swiped at BOTH locations. And to visually show it again at INTL boarding.
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