I'd like to just comment that I've generally felt one should be able to pass unfettered between Wisconsin and the Chicago metropolitan area, but with passports required for those living outside that zone.

As for Missourians entering Kansas with passports. Their driving is your only complaint?!? :D (duck!) Anyway, that damned State Line is such a pourous border. We'll need some big fences and checkpoints. :cool:

^

Just make sure to have passports for everyone in the family! And use small words/simple phrases when passing into Missouri :D

You didn't have a nice holiday, but...
 

I believe however the OP would have had better response if he had not taken the "I'm right, you're wrong" attitude to start with. I have to echo all the posts saying- "your mistake, face up to it" . This is not the place for sympathy- particularly with such an intransigent attitude.

IMHO it is a lack of personal accountability that suggests that AA should pay $2000 for your new hotel nights. Consider yourself grateful that they put you up for the night in a hotel .

A few brief responses-

American Airlines fly you there, they don't buy your suncream and neatly pack your suitcase. Your documentation is your problem.

They did. You didn't pay attention.

http://www.aa.com/content/travelInfo...vel/main.jhtml

where it says you should get info for yourself.

Well, you know what they say — “Missouri Loves Company” — which brings us back to the original topic of this thread...

Many countries. Actually, I can drive for days, accross many borders, without bringing anything. Shouldn't perhaps, but it's certainly possible. And it happens so frequently that, during the summer months, newspapers remind their readers that driver's licences aren't acceptable ID to cross borders.

The EU is a good example, though that's a relatively recent change. Doesn't apply to the UK, however. Not sure about driving, but you do have to go through passport control to get on Eurostar in either direction.

That point you made about newspapers reminding people to bring ID kind of cuts away at lewinr's argument that Europeans don't take for granted that they can travel without a passport ;)

It would never occur to me to pay attention to what an agent or airline tells me, but then again, I wouldn't even ask. I check what the embassy/consulate thinks, because that's what matters at the boder, and then I check what Timatic says, because that's what matters when checking in. (Do note that I come from one of those small countries that many people have serious problems placing on a map, and have had to field more than my fair share of, um, odd questions from agents.)

Anyway, having once been a whisker away from denied boarding due to my own ignorance regarding visas, I feel sympathy for the OP's original predicament, but I feel less sympathy for his reaction to it. If the situation is even slightly dodgy -- and the OP did bother to check once, instead of assuming it was a given -- it's your own responsibility to make sure, and instead of grousing about AA not sucking up to you enough, please realize that they would probably be within their legal rights to charge you full fare for the tickets back.

You're right. I've witnessed several instances when travellers were being refused boarding for not carrying the right documentation. Many people believe they can travel anywhere with their national ID cards, which, of course are sufficient for travel in Europe, and, in some counties, need to be carried at all times, even when just going for a quick beer at the local pub. Additional complexity and confusion is added by the availability of a host of temporary last minute passports and passport extensions, and children travel documents, which may be ok for travel to some countries, but are refused by others. zresnik's original problem is the equivalent of a European traveller's attempt to bring a child to the US on a travel document, rather than a passport.

On a side note, I suspect that, given both recent increases in passport prices and the decreased need for a passport as a result of the progression of EU unification, Europeans will soon be as unlikely to own passports as Americans are now.

You do so at your own risk- the Schegen area allows people to travel without border controls, but it is assumed that you should be able to prove your nationality. Which is a passport or ID card in case the country has a national ID card (a few such as UK, Ireland, Scandinavian countries do not have national ID cards).
There are random inspections when one gets off the plane. Occasionally, the Norwegian passport control check IDs (even though both Norway and Netherlands are part of Schengen area) on planes coming from AMS and I have seen passengers being pulled aside as they do not have IDs. You will be fined if caught and can land up in unpleasant situations (deportation to point of origin as happened to OP, being held up as illegal alien until you can prove that you are EU national etc.) if you do not have an ID and try to cross european borders.
Nope- DL is not a valid ID as anybody who is a legal resident in any EU state can get a DL, and hence DL does not prove nationality.

There is a passport control in either direction of Eurostar because UK and Ireland do not belong to the Schengen common travel area (of which all other original EU 15, Norway, Iceland, Liechstenstein and Swiss are part of). There is a passport control once you enter Schengen area (in the case of Europstar, from UK to France) and once you exit Schengen. Once you are in schengen area, there are no border controls, but you can be asked to show your passport/ national ID randomly. Usually nobody asks, so you can technically get away with not carrying an ID document.

Not necessarily true in all cases- there are countries like the UK and Scandinavian countries which do not have national ID cards. And due to longstanding traditions, people in these countries are hostile to the whole idea of ID cards which they consider a way of government interference in their lives.

I might have missed it (as I am a little late to this party as well), but if American Airlines takes the stance that travellers should be responsible for their own documentation, why are they giving advice to travellers on what documentation is needed? Shouldn't American Airlines just say, "you need to be responsible for that yourself. Check with the Costa Rican embassy or check the US gov't website?"

If AA is going to give advice on documentation required, then shouldn't they be prepared to take some of the responsibility if they get it wrong?

Greg

I also don't get another point: Why did the OP and his wife have passports if they hadn't travel out of the country before? (He did post that his older sons had gone to London)

That's not what he said. He said this (emphasis mine):

Anyone else pick up on this?