Traveloguy

Out of interest, does anyone here know if the Australian Government issues two passports if required like the UK government?

spotwelder

Hi, I can confirm the rules in relation to SA requiring a single complete blank page on the passport prior to entry. I have no idea how long they require the passport to be valid for prior to entry, mine never last that long.

I had a long stand off with the gate agents in relation to this matter last year. They denied me boarding in F as I did not have a blank page. It got to the stage where Special Services were running round like headless chickens as the last "special group" of passengers were about to board. A Mr NM and his party, not FT's NM but South Africa's own NM.

I then said that they had better either let me on the flight or offload my bags and delay the flight. I told them that I had no idea what the problem was and why they were making such a fuss. They repeated the SA entry mantra. I repeated my position.

They explained again. I asked for Special Services to come over and explain again. Eventually, as they were radioing for my bags to be taken off, I explained to them, that JNB is a oneworld mini-hub with the Comair flights, and all I was doing was changing aircraft. You do not need a clean single page to enter Namibia. Perhaps if they were to ask me if I was actually going to South Africa, that might help.

Traveloguy, I have had Australia collegues with two or more passports, usually with the excuse of too much travel and too long waiting for visas, or alternatively, visiting countries where entry rules are not allowed with existing visas. Therefore, if you intend to visit, say, Israel for work, this may clash with your "historical interest" tours.

If you were to have a letter from work, this usually helps.

aristoph

I always find it very strange that there are these reports of Nelson Mandela flying BA, especially on the LHR-JNB route. Since 2003 SAA has offered him and his wife free first class travel around the world. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_A...389479,00.html Surely he can't like BA so much he would pony up �xx grand AND snub his own country's airline as well?

Traveloguy

Surprised as well as by all reports SAA is a very good airline.

G-BOAC

I think India requires 2 blank pages - when I was applying for my recent Visa I read this and double checked I had some (though I don't know why they require 2, the visa only occupied one). Luckily, I had several at the front...

Yes! This is exactly the state of my passport too. Always infuriating when they use a new page for one stamp when there's loads of space on other pages. I dare not ask or question a US Immigration official for fear of finding myself in an orange jumpsuit though!

SchmeckFlyer

My guess is he does not pay for it. He gets about 3,000 requests a year to speak, and I imagine they all pay. I bet BA would be willing to fly Madiba free just for the press. They seem to love making it known that the SA rugby team fly BA sometimes!

On topic... my father once had this problem. Very unpleasant situation, although he was not denied entry. I find SA immigration to be the most thorough out of any country I have visited.

On US immigration stamping... I have asked them before to use a particular page. The agent was only too happy to oblige. Doesn't hurt to ask.

GUWonder

If you have the visa in your passport already, India doesn't enforce any blank page requirement upon arrival. (Some countries do enforce a blank page requirement upon entry.) And I've not yet personally known anyone to get turned away by an immigration official in India for having no blank pages left upon arrival there. A few other places? Most definitely.

Well, sometimes it does hurt to ask them to NOT stamp somewhere. That is, I've asked at least two US immigration employees not to stamp on my Brazilian visa .... and yet they go ahead and have done so three times.

AJLondon

Yup. This is a huge pet peeve of mine too.

Swanhunter

I staple a few blank pages together in my passport. This then preserves them for when essential, rather than being defaced with a lone stamp.

And I do wish that the UK had 100 page passports. I am going through 48 page passports every 2-3 years - and I have 2 on the go concurrently.

G-BOAC

Very clever! Thanks for the tip ^

aristoph

I can't imagine the Department for Homeland Paranoia liking that very much! They would surely want to check the pages to make sure you hadn't visited Libya, Iran, North Korea or wherever else is currently in the axis.

knifeandfork

One other proviso that South Africa (and others) insist on is the "there must be six months validity left on your passport" thing. This annoys me; it reduces a ten year passport to effectively a nine-and-a-half year passport.

Cue me flying into a blind panic four years ago on being told that I might be going off to CPT in 36 hours, with my passport having only 6 weeks left on it. Managed (at great cost) to wangle a passport that day, only, of course, to see the trip be cancelled.

Another thing to bear in mind is the confirmation/proof of onward travel. Even the Americans are fairly chilled about this nowadays given that most people have only e-tickets, despite the fact that it is a condition of entry under the I-94 visa waiver.

I got a lot of earache from a supperannuated Immigration official here in AKL last week. The woman at the desk had stamped me in on my work visa but he was adamant he had to see my tickets. He was hugely unimpressed when I told him I didn't have any tickets, nor did I have anything official from an airline.

I very nearly added "and that's not all, I've got 8lbs of Granny Smith's in my bag as well" but thought it was hardly a moment for levity.

NM

You need to have a justified reason for multiple passports. The most common reasons include the need to send you passport to various embasseys for Visa processing while maintaining your travel schedule, and the need to visit countries where entry may be difficult or impossible if your passport shows evidence of travel to another country as can happen with some middle eastern countries.

But in general, when you obtain a new passport your existing passport is cancelled.

ACfly

SAA no longer offers first class from JNB-LHR - as they are now using the 340-600 (which is a great aircraft with lie flat bed) so there might be a bit of security concern. 346 carries about 42J seats whereas BA f is 14 seats... SAA is phasing out the 747-400 which is the only aircraft type for SA that offers First class - this aircraft is used now for JNB-IAD flights..

Cheetah_SA

Not quite true... they still fly the 747's on the JNB-LHR route. It's the CPT-LHR that has the A346's. And the new daily flights to IAD - from July - are going to have the A346's too.

Edited to add:
Hopefully we will get the 747's back on the CPT-LHR route then.