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 Travel & Outdoors | June 2007 
Passport Waiver Mix-Up Strands Air Travelers
 Peter Pae & Jane Engle - LATimes
| Requesting a refund
Travelers who paid $60 for expedited service and "did not receive their passport on an expedited basis" should request a refund by writing to the following address:
Department of State
Passport Services/PPS/Refunds
2100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20037-3202
The request should include passport number (if available), name, date and place of birth, approximate date of application, mailing address and phone number.
Source: Los Angeles Times |
Just when it seemed the passport logjam was starting to ease, passengers faced another obstacle this week: Some airlines refused to let them board planes because they didn't have birth certificates with them.
In yet another embarrassment for the State Department, temporary measures enacted last Friday to reduce a huge backlog of passports is leading to more unexpected aggravation.
"It's a real bummer," said Alex Alvarado, a 10-year-old Needles, Calif., resident who was blocked from boarding a plane to Mexico City for a summer soccer camp because he didn't have a birth certificate - something Mexico requires if you don't have a passport.
In a move to ease passport backlogs nationwide last week, the U.S. government told travelers they would be allowed to visit Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and the Caribbean this summer if they presented a government-issued photo ID and a receipt showing that they had applied for a passport.
But when Alvarado and his parents got to the ticket counter, they were turned away, because Mexico requires proof of U.S. citizenship with a passport, a birth certificate or naturalization papers.
Alvarado was one of about a dozen passengers trying to board a Mexicana flight Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport thinking that what the State Department had announced last Friday was sufficient to fly.
The State Department had waived passport requirements in hopes of speeding up the passport application process for all other international travel.
For Alvarado there was one hitch: The State Department has his birth certificate along with the passport application his family sent in for him three months ago.
"I just don't know what to say or what to do," said his father, Luis.
Mexicana officials said that Mexico's entry requirement was clearly noted in the ticket information but that some passengers might have been confused by last Friday's announcement of the U.S. passport waiver, which applies only to the U.S. end of international travel. Mexicana spokeswoman Theresa Bravo said the airline had not heard any complaints from U.S. travelers being turned away at LAX because of the mix-up.
Some airlines that fly out of Detroit Metro said Wednesday that they have turned away passengers to Mexico because of their failure to arrive with birth certificates.
But the airlines, including American and Frontier, declined to say whether any of those passengers were leaving from Detroit.
Joe Hodas, a spokesman for Frontier, said the issue is confusing for passengers and airlines.
The delays largely are the result of a new rule that requires U.S. citizens to have passports when flying to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Last week, the government announced it was suspending that rule until September, as long as travelers to those countries carried a receipt showing they had applied for a passport.
But in its haste to announce the waiver, the passport agency neglected to advise travelers that each country has its own requirements for entry. The waiver applied only to departures from and arrivals into the United States.
Travelers are urged to contact the embassy or consulate of the country they plan to visit for specific entry requirements.
Detroit News staff contributed to this report. |
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