Man with the largest passport
 

A bit of an old article (4 years ago), but it was all over the major networks. In my personal circle (excluding FT), I know multiple people who have the same passport, and I am sure among FTers there will be more than a handful who could have the same claim. Interesting to see the press he received.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/jet-set...ry?id=11882482

Actual newsworthy points?

- Setting aside a quarter million to travel
- "Sixteen-year-old Akhil has already been to more than 80. And in case you were wondering, his passport has reached 72 pages." How many 16 year olds have 72 page pp's?

Just read this either here or another blog in the past week or two. I'd say there are a lot of Americans with more than that, a full size current generation US passport plus 2 times getting pages added ends up being far more than 72 pages.

The passport in post 38 of this thread appears to have at least 4 extra page insert booklets.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china...-stamps-3.html

Lots of people on FT get their US passports up to 96 pages (48 pages plus two 24 page inserts) within 2 or 3 years.

The $150k/year leisure travel budget is certainly out of my league, but fails to impress me (a single intercontinental business jet charter would wipe that out in a heartbeat).

There are lots of 16 year old kids here in Shenzhen that run out of pages quickly; going back and 4th to HK twice a week for an extended period of time results in a lot of PRC stamps.

electronic pp's
 

Many years ago, the concept of electronic pp's was discussed. Now that the world is essentially "computerized":D, electronic pp's AND visas should make extra pp pages a moot point.:p

Great that he travels so much with his family, but that lifestyle is clearly not attainable for the vast majority of people in the world. Our annual household income, which is well above the 90th percentile in the US, would be squarely in the middle of his annual travel budget range. According to 2011 US census data, his household income is probably >99.9th percentile.

EDIT: that's not to say that people can't work the system to gain points, miles, etc. to travel more cheaply or to attain more luxurious levels of travel than might otherwise be possible if paying out of pocket or travel more frequently (this is FT, after all!), but most people aren't making this kind of money and able to just drop a quarter million on vacations every year.

I've had 3 passports that had 4 inserts each. It's not uncommon at all. The US even has a rule that once they've added 4 new sets they won't add a 5th, you have to get a new passport. I've never had a passport survive the whole 10 years because of that.

I know at least a couple of dozen people (real life, not FT) who have similar experiences.

I wish that photo was still visible; it was well more than 4 inserts in a US passport.

See also http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-passport.html

I've got 3 sets of extra pages in my primary US passport and also had a second US passport (with double pages) for a while so I'd add to the "not so uncommon" comment...

My old one had either 6 or 7 inserts. I was able to convince the HK consulate thrice to get it done.

I added two inserts (two sets costs the same $82 as one set) in HK a few months ago, and I'm pretty sure the consular people told me that 3 is the max now. Their fee for a new passport (which can be 48 pages if you ask) was only $75.

I'm 35 years old and on my 3rd passport with 51 pages... It's not that uncommon for people with jobs that require an international business trip on a weekly basis.

always good to see some well-researched quality journalism ^

:D

True, but from the sound of it this kid is going from Caribbean country to Asia to Europe, and not really just crossing the same border.

I hope he's earning status on airlines/ hotels at the very least, even if he isn't using those points. Somehow I don't think he's buying economy saver fares for him and his family.

Probably not, but the $250k budget honestly doesn't support excessive extravagance if one spends even 1/4 of their time traveling.

Living in HK, I'm surprised that you're even slightly impressed by this story; excessive spending (e.g. US$20k nights at Dragon i) is extremely common in HK.

Oh, I was only surprised that a common feat (96 page passport) warranted such widespread media coverage.

But yes, living in Hong Kong is hard to be impressed with you are reminded at every corner about the abundance of money in this city. 20k at di? High school kids have been dropping 20k since they were 15/16... crazy. But that's a story for another thread.

So, 6 24-page inserts (assuming you got two sets each time)? +your initial 24 or 48 pages? That's a total of at least 168 pages! Can you post a picture of that beast?

Aren't the new passports with extra pages, 52 pages and not 48?

Please Delete

I assume there are still some American kids who get 3 or more stamps a week during the course of the school year.

72 pages isn't that much. There are at least three of us on FT who have had double that filled up in our US passports.

That's great! There might be many people who must be having passports with more than 96 pages.

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/jet-set...ry?id=11882482

Its great that he travels so often with his family, after all you get to live only once and you should be living life to the fullest.

My first UK passport was in 1972, then 1982, then 1992, 2002, 2012 so I am on my 5th. Each time I pay extra to get a 48 page passport. That has always been enough - just. I ran my last one close. A new stamp each time into the USA plus two visas and then heavy air travel between the US and Canada can add quite a lot in a short period of time. Using BOG as a base and flying between South American countries can add a lot too. 48 pages is my best and largest.

My previous US passport had over 200 pages, but I'm still sure there must be people who have more. When I would run into a consulate that refused to add more pages, I just said "no problem" and went to another consulate who would. As someone posted above, Hong Kong used to be good for this. Shanghai and Amsterdam too.

My current passport is at 96 pages and while it's probably harder to add pages these days, I'm sure I could find some consular officer somewhere to pop some more in if I end up needing it.

I recall you, hfly and I have all mentioned having a current or previous US passport with well over 100 pages full of stamps. All three of us have probably done this additional page insert done outside of the US when getting new inserts was free at US consulates/embassies.

Compared to several years ago, I'm less likely now to get to another US passport with over 100 pages, as the cost to add additional pages has become high enough that I would consider going for a renewal US passport instead.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3908/...8ace8a33f2.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3888/...364470b97b.jpg

Though this FT thread did inspire me to write about it too...

mmmmmm- thats a big one.

What's "Dragon I"? A casino?

Yes, they are 52 pages, as per http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/212241.pdf

Are there any other countries, other than the USA, that will add extra visa pages to existing passports?

@BuildingMyBento -- brilliant! Makes me jealous.

No casinos in Hong Kong, but plenty of clubs... dragon-i is pretty much agreed on as the highest end club in HK.

Not sure.

140 countries have signed onto the push to cap passport validity to five years. Most of those that have reduced their validity period down to no more the five years don't allow for adding pages and those that did have all stopped it in so far as I've not seen them allow it anymore. The US has maintained a ten year general validity period for ordinary adult passports and doesn't seem as likely to kill that off than it is to kill of the additional page inserts -- but neither is scheduled for elimination even as the U.S. is an advocate against other countries allowing for page inserts or allowing for passport validity periods to be greater than 5 years. It's rather amusing when what's good for the goose is not considered good for the gander.

It used to be more common to see multiple passport books bound together than to see additional passport page inserts in non-US passports. It probably still is, for the latter seems to have largely dropped off the radar.

OK, so I'll fill up the 52 page passport in about 3.5 years from issue (Despite living in SG, so not getting stamped there, OZ, US, or a couple of others through Global Entry and it's reciprocity). Why not just get a new 52 page one? There is something kind of cool about having the fattest, but I don't want to deal with it, and frankly mine looks like it's been through the washing machine about 20 times (though it hasn't) in only 2.7 years.

I assume that most people in this boat travel for work, so getting the new passport should be expensable, and especially since page per page it's cheaper, why not?!?

The picture shown looks like 2 US passports put together. That's not uncommon. When I've had to replace my passport because they wouldn't add more pages but I still had valid visas in my previous passport they would attach them together.

Long term visas and HK eChannel were my reasons for adding pages (I'd rather carry one fat passport than two slender passports). My passport looks old and ugly; it's not something I'm the slightest bit proud of.

Yes I'm a business traveler and yes I can expense the fees. But the process of adding pages is a lot easier than getting a new passport. I just make an appointment, preferably late morning, drop off my passport with the simple application, go get lunch, swing back after lunch and pick up my passport with 48 pages added.

Why would I want to go through the hassle of getting a new passport?

To echo a previous poster, the multi entry, multi year visas in the existing one are reason enough. A bit more atypical but I've also had to hunt through the passport to find entry stamps when exiting to prove length of stay (or lack of overstay) when the entry point didn't actually run me through the computer. Either of those could require me to carry 2 (or 3 or more) passports so I'd rather just keep the fat and ugly one I have...though is does start to look odd as the inserts stick out farther and farther with each new one as they are added in the center.

Getting this done via ACS at US consulates/embassies was a breeze; but now with the electronic appointment system and the fee for the supplemental pages, I am more agnostic between using a US passport agency office to do the page insert or using ACS to do this outside of the U.S.

The U.S. would permanently bind/staple your expired US passort to a renewal US passport? When and where did that take place?

That is definitely not standard common practice nowadays for personnel employed by the State Department and it hasn't been for decades.

I think officially you're only allowed 1 insert and they seem to be stricter these days. (And after about 100 pages, it's gets to be pretty bulky for a shirt pocket and you get tired of waiting while immigration officials spend 2 or 3 minutes trying to find visas and entry stamps.)

My old 96 page passport was filled (>500 stamps,visas,etc). So I got a new one earlier this year.

Easiest way (expense aside) to do this is at a U.S. Passport Agency, of which there are about 25 located in large cities. You're supposed to get an appointment, but it's easy to walk in. They'll issue same day if you have a copy of an international airline ticket departing within a few days. Turn around time is a couple of hours.

As soon as they handed me the new 52 page book, I took it back to the reception window and requested a 48 page insert, which I got in about 15 minutes. I figured it was easier than going back and making a separate trip in a couple of years.

P.S. - The main problem with a new passport is remembering the new number. Now I always have to pull out the new passport in order to fill out customs and immigration forms.

Regarding thumbing through pages, paper clips are quite useful for organizational purposes.

'tis definitely one passport, albeit one with many issues.

Some of the consulates glued new pages in, other had them stitched in. I'm waiting for the day someone stamps my photo page...

Have any airline staff or immigration officials commented on the state of your passport before?

I certainly believe you because my old passport looks about the same as yours.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/membe...-passport.jpeg