Often1

Would you mind posting the document (make sure you redact all personally identifying information). Is it possible that this was booked through a TA or some third-party vendor which is simply incorrect?

UA's own website has no such requirement (nor is a passport required).

Steve M

No, that doesn't make sense. In addition to a passport, would they make sure you also had entry documents for all countries where you might possibly divert, possibly requiring visas? Nonsense.

More than just a possible divert, I've overflown Mexico on an IAH-HNL flight, and Canada on BOS-ORD. No passport required.

geometry

many years ago, I was on a NW flight from MSP to ANC. The flight diverted to YEG(Edmonton) due to problems with a lavatory being backed up. The plane(757?) was on the ground for almost 9 hours. Some passengers(myself included) who were carrying their US passports were able to exti the airport and had a great time in town.... well, it was Edmonton, so we did the best we could. On they way from YEG to ANC, my seatmate told me that those who had no passports were just hanging around the airport all day(and part of the night).

These days, I always carry at least my passport card, just in case.

kenn0223

AlreadyThere

This couldn't have been many years ago (in geologic time at least) because I believe no passport was necessary to or from Canada until June 2009, while NW ceased operating under that name in Jan. 2010 How times have changed, passport-wise...

EmailKid

The one and only time I flew ELP-LAX (most likely, possibly another CA city) we took off and in less than a minute (IIRC) we were over Ciudad Juarez ..... turned right and in fairly short time were over New Mexico. Would I need a passport for NM?

joe_miami

The odds of needing to divert and then deplane when heading to any of the small islands in the Caribbean are a lot higher than the odds of needing an emergency landing mid-route on a flight from IAH to HNL.

I don't know if United gets to set its own documentation requirements or not, but it certainly makes sense that an airline would strongly encourage bringing one's passport along on a flight to P.R.

Kacee

It makes absolutely no sense at all. Should flights that skirt the coast of China (i.e., virtually all North American TPACs) also require that all pax have China visas? How about flights that overfly Russia (a high percentage of Europe-Asia flights) - should they also require Russia visas?

The fact is, airlines simply do not take diversions into account in the context of documentation requirements. Typically when an aircraft diverts to an unscheduled country, all pax are maintained in a secure area and do not enter the country, regardless whether they have their passports with them.

joe_miami

This is dumb. "We recommend you bring your passport, if you have one" is a lot different than "visit a consulate and obtain a visa for all countries we might fly over or fly near." Let's be serious here.

Why the hell would anyone who has a passport want to wait around at an airport for many hours when they could go do something? Makes no sense.

If a flight to P.R. diverts to D.R. and then the crew times out, that could be a long wait.

canadiancow

I flew a UA mileage run to BQN a few years ago. As a Canadian citizen, I happened to have my passport with me.

The only person who paid it much attention was the TSA agent in BQN. He flipped through every damn visa page. As if anything other than the photo page is relevant for a domestic departure (and certainly not relevant to TSA, even for international).

Hammer0425

Just not going to waive the white flag here, are you? Half kidding - but again, you're totally wrong. Your logic is like saying a flight from Houston to Santiago, you need a visa for Argentina just in case the flight diverts there and the crew times out. There are contingencies for those sort of things happening - and none of them involve a plane load of passengers needing a visa or passport "just in case." There was a domestic flight recently from JFK to Fort Lauderdale that diverted to Nassau due to weather - should those passengers have all had passports in case the crew timed out there?

Your first post said "diverting would mean a non-US landing" ... why would they need to go to the Dominican Republic? San Juan is right behind them.

WineCountryUA

With knowing more about what the OP saw and where it was seen. And info on the full trip and the individual traveling, we are all shooting in the dark.

It is clear UA does not require a passport to travel to Puerto Rico (per personal experience and per the main website), so there is something missing.

sbm12

Or emergency visas are arranged to allow pax to go to a hotel. It is something the airlines and immigration authorities are equipped to deal with.

joe_miami

No, I'm not going to wave the white flag, and the Argentina example is silly. As I already said above, there's a huge difference between bringing one's passport and going to get visas just in case of a diverted flight. I can't believe people are making that argument with a straight face.

My first post also immediately conceded that a passport isn't a United requirement for P.R. travel. A lot of things that aren't required are still a good idea.

Which do you believe is faster? Pulling out one's passport and breezing through immigration, or waiting with potentially hundreds of other passport-less travelers while emergency entry is arranged?

EmailKid

In fact shortly after the new rules kicked in, Puerto Rico started a whole campaign based on "No passport required."

Sadly search has failed me, but US Virgin Islands fall under the same category, and it seems they still want you to come: