What is an "Alien Resident" card? I don't have one of those. I have a "US Permanent Resident" card (which is different to a Canadian Permanent Resident card!), but that's not on the list. I am not an "Alien Resident", at least not of the US (I don't believe the US has such a term - it's "Resident Alien").

All of which points to, as I said, a UI failing.

State department uses them interchangeably, so there is "such a term".

Even if there wasn't, it's hard to believe the word ordering is the problem here.

They most certainly do. I�ve had my passport stamped with ARC at immigration coming back many many times.

It seems instead to be a basic inability to use/understand Timatic. Probably a combination of training and basic workforce competence issues.

An alien registration card is what is issued by the US to alien residents/resident aliens of the US. That includes the US permanent resident cards for aliens/foreign nationals.

Airline agents and airline contractors mess up the use of Timatic and the like from time to time. More experienced agents in a good mood are one way to reduce the chance of being subject to the kind of mess up the OP experienced with the ORD-YVR flight.

Non-US foreign nationals enter Canada with their normal passport - not with a U.S. Green Card. The possession of a U.S. Green Card simply removes the requirement for an eTA (or visa). The idea that someone is entering Canada solely with a residency document issued by another country clearly doesn't make any sense.

You're missing the point here. The UI clearly needs to be enhanced or, at the very least, UA needs to ensure employee instructions are clear on what documents accepted by Canada in conjunction with a passenger's normal passport

It doesn�t make sense, but I also don�t think that mduell was saying that you could do that. �based on� != �solely with�

I had the same experience with an UA agent at an outstation. I'm a Canadian permanent resident who flew UA to M�xico. MX waives the visa requirements for Vietnamese citizen with Canadian PR but the agent insisted that I need a visa.

I thought the agent was just illiterate, but now that I checked UA timatic, turns out it will not show the visa exemption unless you select Alien Resident. AC and WJ system is a lot better as they have always issued my boarding passes without a fight.

Actually I had problems with Copa too where they took 30 minutes + to check my visa exemption for Panama, Colombia, and Chile. That even led to me missing a flight, though they did rebook me 7 hours later. I believe Copa uses UA legacy system so no surprises there.

My solution was to simply avoid UA and CM unless there's a screaming deal.

I'd beg to differ. Presenting a passport where the resident state is different than the issuing state is not a normal passport, ergo the timatic distinction.

The notion that UA will provide (and constantly update) training on specific country entry requirements is not realistic. And I'm not sure the interface is the real problem - there's an inherent challenge in reducing a relatively complex notion (entering country A using a passport from country B and residency document issued by country C) into a one or two word drop-down menu choice is always going to present a challenge. Ultimately, the check-in agents need to be properly trained and have a basic level of competence with UA's Timatic interface. They should know which menu selection is correct in the A-B-C scenario, rather than defaulting to an incorrect option due to a lack of knowledge/training.

Right, this seems like a training issue. MatthewLAX -- not sure how many readers you have on green cards, but this might make a good PSA. Also, if you cared to reach out to UA and ask if the Timatic interface has changed, and whether or not check-in agents are getting updated training, that would be an interesting data point. I don't see a launch date for TimaticWeb2, but that's definitely not the same Timatic interface UA put out to users in the past -- so I wonder if maybe they updated Aero at the same time they updated the web.

Just a thought.

I'd like to add perspective as a former airline station manager. I last managed an airport location for my airline with almost 50 mainline flights a day and non-stop international flights to 3 non-US countries, plus of course connections to many more. We linked directly to the Timatic website rather than via an interface. Most system interfaces or copies of a database update on a cycle and not continuously. During COVID, some countries were changing requirements by the day or sometimes a couple times in a day (during part of the pandemic I oversaw another airport where we were next to Qatar Airlines and I could hear their shift briefings.... "What does an Uruguayan passport holder with a US green card need to transit Doha and end up in Iran with no proof of onward travel?"). Our kiosks and check in system were programmed with most transactions, especially the 75% ones... like a US passport going to Mexico or Jamaica, and even if the customer put this information in when booking, it would run that DOCS OK check behind the scenes and the agent just had to verify they actually had their passport. It's where visas, items inserted in passports, etc., are involved that it gets confusing sometimes.

Having 20 years of experience, and a master's degree to boot, I sometimes look at Timatic and have to shake my head and re-read it a few times. There is a song by the band Vampire Weekend called "Oxford Comma" where the first line is "Who gives a f** about an Oxford comma?" Well Timatic sure does.

US CBP has a sort of help desk, but to be honest they aren't overly helpful if they think you could have figured it out on your own. I was fortunate at my airport to have an outstanding CBP Port Director and her deputies were great and took the approach that if we asked for help or to interpret something, they'd help us because: 1.) if we sent an inadmissible, it was coming back to them, and 2.) at least half those inadmissibles didn't possess proper documents to re-enter the US (like a Visa not allowing reentry) so they saw it as heading off their own problem.

Training is done but it is hard to cover every eventuality. It's basically learning from experience with Timatic. And keep in mind you my face an agent, like most of mine, who didn't have a passport themselves and many of them had never heard of a visa before outside of the credit card. One day I was asked "Jordan? Like the ramp supervisor Jordan?" The high school state geography bee 1st place winner in me died a little that day. But, it is what it is, and as mentioned in this thread, getting a supervisor involved is key. And yes, sending an inadmissible is a career limiting move and in some cases did result in immediate termination when fines between both the US and the other nation could total easily $10,000 plus we had to buy a last minute plane ticket from like Lima to Beijing to send the inadmissible to their home nation since they couldn't come back to the US for visa reasons.

Having a print-off of the rules for your situation I think is helpful. It is not going to convince an agent on its own, but may help guide them where to look to verify, so I thank the person who mentioned that they come prepared with that.

This is awesome. Thanks.

I had this issue on AC once. I found it much quicker to apply for an eTA at the check-in counter. Took five minutes, cost was minimal, approval was instant and saved me half hour of arguing with check in staff and possibility of missing my flight.

THANK YOU for writing the above! I'll echo your final suggestion -- that having a printout of something that proves your point is key. I've had instances where a rule had changed (ex: no visa required for US passport holders to enter Brazil started shortly before the lympics) and they didn't believe me. But AC was willing to look it up and communicate with HQ because I showed them evidence supporting my point. After a 30min wait we were allowed to check in.