Fly back to Germany on expired passport
 

This is my first time here by the way. So I'm trying to fly back to Germany with my 2 year expired passport. I have a US green card that is now expired for about 2 years now and is also missing. I have a valid drivers license as well. My question is will the airline check in desk and TSA allow me through with just using my drivers license as identity or will they need to see a valid passport as well as it will be an international flight? Also what will the German border patrol officer say when I show him my expired German passport? Will they let me through?

So no resident permit and no passport!? That's going to bode well with CBP...

Let's just say that you'll probably won't be able to return to the US in the foreseeable time.

BTW: Without any form of ID allowing travel to Germany it's also highly likely that you won't make it as far as the TSA. Airlines departing the US will have to collect data on behalf of the CBP (data you're not able to provide if you don't a valid travel document) and airlines will check your travel documents against their database to check if you can enter Germany. In doubt, they'll just cancel your check-in.

PS: Your best course of action is probably to contact the German embassy in the US and apply for a new passport. That still might not resolve your potential trouble with CBP.

Welcome to Flyertalk, Kilianerz. Although I seriously doubt that you will be able to board a plane with an expired passport, I am sending this thread over to the Travel Safety and Security Forum where you will get very informed answers

If you're not checking luggage in, check-in online and have a valid driver's license to make it past TSA.
Though you'll most likely get caught at the gate, 2 years past expiry is too much to be unnoticeable IMO. Just renew your passport to avoid the hassle.

As everyone is saying, you need to make an appointment to visit your nearest German Consulate/Embassy and get a new German Passport. Once you have that, get a ticket to Germany. The USA does not (yet) have any exit controls so you will not have a problems leaving the country. Getting back in may be different issue.

That's what I would suggest. Also look at getting a valid LPR card before leaving.

We do have some exit checks; but absent a criminal issue, a US LPR with German citizenship can use a new, valid passport/passport-replacing document to leave the US.

No valid passport, no deal. You can't even check into your flights.

Although this is moot (as you can't make it back), German will let you in even with an expired passport, given the fact that in most countries, citizens have unrestricted rights to enter/exit the country.

The question is in what consequence if that happens.

Do you have a valid German ID card?

If so, you will have no problems at all.

If not, renew your passport.

One would think by now you have gone to the German embassy to get a last-minute temporary passport because if not, you won't make it past the TSA unless the German embassy is open on Saturdays. The airline won't refund you unless you spent the money to buy a 100% refundable ticket.

<deleted>.

You will not have any issues with German immigration - they will let you in with an expired passport, no problem at all.
TSA will be happy with your drivers license, there's no CBP check for departing passengers, and there's a 99.99% probability the staff at the gate will not even look at the expiration date when the check our BP against your ID.

Your only problem will be the airline at the airport if for whatever reason you cannot do online check-in and/or have to check bags at a counter and deal with an agent.
You can get a "vorläufiger Reisepass" from any German consulate. With an expired passport to prove your identity, this can be done on the spot. However, you will not be able to travel back to the USA with one of these but need to get a new regular passport once in Germany - which isn't all that easy if you do not have a residence there.

I would risk using your expired passport if you can do online check-in with mobile or electronic boarding passes and can get by without checking bags. Try doing this as soon as it opens (usually 24 hours prior to departure). If the system will not let you check in online, go to any consulate and get an emergency passport. German consulates are not open on weekends and German as well as US public holidays.
http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/u...e__Finder.html

BTW, personal experience speaking here. My passport got damaged, and AA didn't accept it for travel anymore during a day-long-layover in MIA en route from South America to Europe. The <deleted> agent at MIA even made a note in my PNR....
Went to the consulate downtown, got an emergency passport within half an hour and went back to the airport, only to miss the check-in deadline by a few minutes. AA rebooked me on next days' flight free of charge.

If the German authorities or some other authority issues the OP a passport substitute of sorts, it's possible to check in and fly without a valid passport on a direct US-Germany flight on a German flag carrier at least. But that still means the OP has to deal with the German or substitute representative authorities to travel by common carrier means.

Put it this way, even if you have a valid passport but expiring within six months, there is a likely chance you will be turned back, and will not be allowed to board a plane bound for Deutschland.

You also have a lapsed green card? I would strongly recommend getting your documents in order prior to any international travel.

In as much as he would be flying to his home country I don’t think the six month issue would apply if he had a valid passport. However, a passport that expired two years ago is an issue and as mentioned above the airline most likely wouldn’t let him check in. He could get through TSA with his valid driver’s license but my fear is he’ll never get that far because the airline most probably wouldn’t issue a boarding pass.

Agreed. I was saying one could be denied boarding for a near-expiring passport; 2 years past the expiration date? Fuhgeddaboudit.

It is moot when German Federal Government issues any document in lieu of a passport for travel.

Not if you have any EU passports, including German Passport.

As soon as it is still valid for the duration of the flight, the airlines really don't care.