platbrownguy

Valid, when signature is required (and "unsuccessful delivery" gets them out of the guarantee -- I think it's scammy)

OP should ideally have it sent without the signature requirement to a secure address (like a work address with a staffed front desk etc)

Lomapaseo

Agree that passport /documents check start with first flight on pnr on the day of departure.

However I have often had to display my passport at the gate of the intnl flight , supposedly just to make sure it is me and not some guy who picked my pocket

xliioper

This was on Delta and was a number of years ago (so take it with a grain of salt), but I recall a few cases where I was able board originating domestic flight (online check-in and carry on only) without a Docs check and didn't have passport Docs-Ok check until at the gate of the international segment. The flights were on a single fare.

hbtr

I would think that one reason for the check would be to verify not just the validity of the passport but also that it is actually in the traveler’s possession. I know that AA has another shot at doing this check before the international leg departs but I could understand them not wanting to take any chances. You can certainly argue that the rules are too rigid, but unless there is a well-defined process for performing such a remote check, doing so as an exception has the potential to create more problems than it solves.

econ

This has also been my experience on UA on many occasions. Of course, I needed passport info to complete OLCI, but actually don’t recall ever having to present it at the gate of an originating domestic flight on UA.

I have been asked when flying AA however.

pfreet

I really don't understand why airlines require this. In my experience, they always check the passport again before the international leg. Having to wait in line twice for this process is absurd IMO.

s0ssos

Probably cause the people doing the check are so faulty in the first place. Somewhat like how they miss a passenger, or have a stowaway on board. And somehow airlines never catch it.
Even with their double-check they probably make some mistakes as well (I know NZ flew people to transit through Taipei when they couldn't actually do that, and the passengers got stuck there).

PHLGovFlyer

There is no US law requiring airlines to check passports for the domestic leg of a trip that connects to an international flight. It's purely airline policy that they prefer to check passport/visa validity at the initial check in.

A few years ago I flew UA PHL-IAD-KWI-GOI on a work trip (single ticket, not two separate tickets). My passport was still getting the India Visa in DC when I departed PHL. It took a bit of convincing the agent at PHL, but they ultimately allowed me to board PHL-IAD. I rented a car at IAD, picked up my passport (with visa), drove back to IAD, and boarded the flight to KWI. Of course, this was UA, not AA.

All that said, I think the surest and least stressful option by far is to just have the OP's passport overnight shipped.

LPDAL

Company policy will not allow this.

GUWonder

Whether they should do it or not according to company policy, it's a YMMV situation as it can and has been done. I've done it a lot.

I've had AA reps, DL reps and UA reps "short-check" me so I'm checked in only for the domestic segments on ticketed itineraries for international travel so that I can pick up the passports/passports with visas, or other international travel-enabling docs at the transit cities that are my gateways out of the country. Other times, they don't even short-check me, and just check me in all the way but without the Docs-OK stuff. Either way, there's often that "travel docs" check beep that airlines get when scanning the boarding pass for the domestic flights feeding the international flight on the PNR.

The airlines should be doing the travel doc check at the gateway for the international flight out of the US since people really do lose/misplace passports after checking-in for and/or boarding the domestic flight en route to the same-day international flight on a ticketed PNR. The passport checks for the domestic flights feeding an onward international flight are a courtesy for the good of most travelers, but I can watch out for myself without needing the airline doing it for me.

Because they don't want passengers who may have forgotten/lose/misplace their passports before getting to the gateway airport for their international flight out of the US to end up in limbo at at an airport being transited.

Blumie

Wow, I go offline for a day and a question with a very simple answer turns into a four page thread, including incredibly arrogant and offensive responses like this one. In response to UKtravelbear, I know many parents who would prefer not to send their 18-year-old off to university for the first time with his passport. My brother would much prefer to spend whatever it's going to cost him to FedEx it rather than risk having to deal with the hassle of trying to replace a passport at the last minute when the kid loses it.

My brother had enough sense to ask me this question with plenty of time to get the passport into his kid's hands (the flight is not until next week), I had told him that it was required before I even started this thread, which I did just to see if other's had had a different experience. The question clearly was easily answered and certainly wasn't worth all of the stupidity that has been posted over the past 24 hours.

TomMM

So what happens to the passport while the kid is in school ? Mommy/daddy staying with the kid?

Blumie

So it turns out, much to my surprise, that one can travel from Boston to Columbus, Ohio without a passport. Given that, and the fact that this kid is not a regular international traveler, mommy and daddy made what seems to me to be a reasonable decision to keep the kid's passport in a safe place with the other family passports. Now, it turns out, the family is taking an international trip. Fortunately mommy and daddy know exactly where all of the family passports are and easily can arrange to get the kid's passport in his hands. Seems to be working perfectly to me.

JDiver

Too much ad hominem and over personalization here, so some posts have been deleted. If in doubt of how we should post and refrain from attacking others, please look over the Rules. Apologies for gaps or discontinuity.

Moderator

GUWonder

The chances of things going missing at school dormitories is almost undoubtedly higher than it is at the parent's house. And for a variety of reasons, college/university dorms are like a goldmine for identity theft and the like. "Familiar fraud" is way more likely to hit students than it hits the average consumer.

"Less is more" when it comes to what to keep at short-term living arrangements. And taking the passports, birth certificates and social security cards for storage at a transitory living place that has lots of traffic and who knows how many real fire alarms? I would rather take my chances on FedEx or personal delivery than take my chances with whatever goes on at school dorms. [That said, mail rooms/front desks at dorms do mishandle deliveries at times too.]