Have a Passport Problem? Fix It at the Airport

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/travel/27COMpassport.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Have a Passport Problem? Fix It at the Airport


By HILARY HOWARD
Published: January 27, 2008

Let’s say you’ve flown from Des Moines to Kennedy International Airport in New York to make a connecting flight to Paris, and then you discover that you’ve forgotten your passport. Or you’ve lost it. Or you have it, but you’ve run out of blank pages.

Starting this month, there will be no need to return to Des Moines — or to make a last-minute trip to New York City to take care of the matter; an emergency passport help service is now available at Kennedy. Located at the hotel desk on the ground floor of Terminal 4, the service is an annex of www.ItsEasy.com, a New York-based passport and foreign visa expeditor that’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company provides same-day service for morning customers and next-day service for afternoon customers. Last-minute passports for first-timers cost $457, and renewals cost $427.

[KatyaR]

1. Huh. I didn't know this:

From the company's website:

In order to travel outside of the United States your passport must be valid for at LEAST 6 MONTHS beyond the dates of your travel.

Of course, I haven't traveled anywhere where I've needed a passport since 1975, so what do I know? :shrug:

[WolverineDG]

6. Most countries won't let you in

if your passport expires within this timeframe.

dg

[XboxWarrior]

2. Still can't get me into.......wait

for it......

CANADA!

Fuck the Canucks and their Policies!

A DUI in 1981?

Ridiculous......

[Jackpine Radical]

5. There are ways around that.

I think you have to prostrate yourself and beg forgiveness while beating your head on the ground and swearing that you have been rehabilitated or something.

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. What does their government do to canadians who get DUIs? Send them here?

:evilgrin:

[Earth_First]

3. Wow, almost four times the standard fee! What a deal! n/t

[dkf]

4. When you realize you are screwed, it probably doesn't matter how much you pay.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. How does it work? Do they bribe the government, or something?

Or could you get this fast service if you turned up in person at the relevant government office?

[mnhtnbb]

8. Here's a good one. I was at the airport in Raleigh, NC this week

at the American Airlines counter using vouchers to buy tickets. At the next counter, a man was traveling
to Sudan, going through Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He had more than 8 hours between flights in Bahrain.
The airlines will NOT check bags through with more than 8 hours between flights (I didn't know that), which
meant he had to pick up his bags in Bahrain. He would have to go outside the secured area, which meant he needed a visa for Bahrain. He didn't have one. He had friends with him.

This guy was ready to start his trip. The airline would not forward his bags. He didn't have a visa for Bahrain. What does he do?

I don't know outcome, because I finished getting my tickets before I could hear his decision.

My guess is he would have to repack only carry-on and ask his friends to ship his bags to Sudan.
Or else he was going to have to buy replacements for whatever was in his bags once he got to Sudan.

[sarcasmo]

10. Fed Ex his bags, it's way easier and much less of a headache.

[Laughing Mirror]

11. Due to the current US trade embargo, we currently offer no services to or from Sudan.

http://www.fedex.com/sd/