Here’s a crazy story that could happen to any of us. A dog chewed a woman’s passport while she was packing for an international trip. She was set to leave in 12 hours.
We were packing for our family trip to Jamaica and I hear my wife scream upstairs. She just tells me “I’m not going to Jamaica” and shows me her passport.
…She dropped it on the bed for a second and the dog got to it. And she is normally not destructive like that, but despite how pissed we were, we couldn’t blame her.
The main page of the passport with the woman’s identity was torn. She tried to tape it back together. That’s not going to be acceptable at check-in, because it might not be accepted at the international destination (and the airline doesn’t want to be on the hook for transporting the passenger back, and doesn’t want to be fined).
Our dog chewed my wife’s passport 12 hours before our international flight from r/mildlyinfuriating
They called the State Department about how to get an emergency passport. They have appointments for people with travel in the next three days. Those can be tough to get, and the advice given over the phone isn’t always correct either.
They were told that ’emergency passports are only given “if there is a death in the family etc.” That’s not true.
- An “emergency” or “limited-validity” passport is usually issued same-day at a U.S. passport agency, valid for 1 year or less, depending on circumstances.
- It’s available for documented emergencies (death, serious illness, urgent travel) but also when your passport is mutilated, stolen, or otherwise unusable and you have imminent travel.
They searched for nearby appointments nearby and came up with only one available on the East Coast – in Buffalo at 8 a.m. the next day.
- Husband goes to Jamaica
- Wife goes to Buffalo
They book her on a 10:45 a.m. flight out of Buffalo, two hours and 45 minutes after her appointment, with a connection in Orlando, to meet up in Jamaica, “They don’t guarantee that you will get it same day, but the reviews for the location were surprisingly positive so we were hopeful” the husband said.
She’s first up for the appointment, having shown up at 8 a.m. They say they’ll get it to her same day “but won’t start printing passports till 10 a.m.” They told her to change her flight because they wouldn’t guarantee she’d get the passsport in time.
Come 10:15 a.m. they told her the passport was printing. They hand it to her five minutes later, and she’s off in an Uber to the airport 15 minutes away. Buffalo is a small airport, and the flight was delayed briefly, so she made it – and made it to Jamaica.
Reminders and lessons:
- Don’t leave passports lying around on a bed, kitchen counter, or anywhere pets or toddlers can grab them (or at least put them in a protective sleeve). Minor damage to a passport can render it unusable.
- Make sure your passport has sufficient validity beyond your travel date. Sometimes people assume they can travel on it until the expiration date but many countries require your passport to be valid for 3- or 6- months beyond date of entry.
- Don’t forget to apply for visas or electronic registraton (ESTA, ETA, soon ETIAS) if required. Know the requirements as far in advance as possible. Some countries also require notarized letters of consent if only one parent is traveling with a child. And did you know that Turkmenistan still requires Covid tests for entry?
- Almost anything can be fixed – at some cost and dedication.
- Don’t bring just a single credit card or bank card, that might get flagged for fraud and rendered unusable.
Had seen this on Reddit, and have had it happen, personally, though not so close to an international trip. Good advice at the end, Gary. Yup, things do happen; and any noticeable damage to your passport, basically renders it unusable, if the airlines follow the rules of most immigration or customs officials worldwide. Wish we had a better system. Glad it worked out (sorta) for them. Those emergency appointments and other ‘quick fixes’ are expensive! Sheesh!
Don’t allow your passport to get sweaty. Personal experience. Just saying.
No it could NOT happen to any of us.
People usually do not keep passport in the reach of house animal.
in other international news, WN has asked its unions to reopen their contracts to discuss a limited amount of flying on the 737 MAX outside of the Americas which is generally allowed by WN’s current labor contracts.
@Tim Dunn — Speaking of, do you (or anyone else) remember the ole SW ‘lounge’ seating with the rows facing each other? Wild stuff. Bring back those honey-roasted peanuts, too!
Nice to see a government agency able and willing to do the right thing quickly. Despite the claims of–“certain” people out there, a lot of hard working folks are still doing their best for the American people. As for Turkmenistan, that country has had weird dictators, the first one required citizens to memorize his writings as part of a driver’s license test and he renamed the months after members of his family. His successor seems only marginally better. The virus exam is likely just another way to make it harder for outsiders to go there.
@drrichard — For real.
And also, the stans, in general, are a challenge to visit, these days especially. I think the only one with nonstop flights may be Uzbekistan from JFK-TAS on their 787; never taken it, but have seen their plane a few times. Has a nice teal, white, green, and yellow livery.
yes, I remember the honey roasted peanuts and the club seating.
doctors are now realizing that withholding exposure to peanut products is creating all of these peanut allergies.
I have no allergies -but I played in the dirt as a kid and ate insects on dares.
maybe in the 2040s, peanuts will be back on US airplanes again.
Now we’re talking!
Except the part about eating bugs. That feels a bit too much like those ‘protein bars’ in Snowpiercer (2013).