HighLife

Does anyone know why the AA ticket lady today at DFW [on a BA / IB / AA itinerary involving two entries and two exits from the US] refused to allow me to travel on my UK passport and insisted I have some sort of 'French residency permit' as my final destination is France.



I always use my British passport for the US as this contains my ESTA. I also know the US frown upon people using different passports to enter, and as I don't care for secondary CBP screenings I like to keep things as simple as possible.

Now I have used my UK passport on this whole trip out of Europe into the US, then into Mexico, coming back to the US... but today, on leaving the US back to France via MAD tonight AA wasn't having any of it!

I very politely and with no personal animosity displayed to her [as she had been perfectly helpful and polite herself] said to the AA rep that insisting that I have some sort of French proof of residency [does this even exist for someone in my case?] was totally against my human rights as a European citizen who is supposed to be able to live and travel freely between those countries.

She looked at me as if I was a total idiot and asked me 'do you know anything about passports? Do you know, for instance, that you can't return to the France with this UK passport if it has less than three months validity?'
[mine expires in 2022 but this is irrelevant]

I said that I knew that many countries insisted on six months validity but had never heard about three...

'there you go you see, you're wrong!' she said.



I didn't even want to become exasperated, let alone show it, so I told her that she was in luck as quite by chance I did have my French passport in my bag (sans ESTA) and that she could have it if she wanted and it would make things easier.

She looked at me triumphantly and said 'this will make things much easier for your trip to France, you see'



Does anyone know what on earth this woman was thinking?

Am I now not going to be declared as having left the US today because
AA have insisted on changing my passport to one I never use and they had ZERO prior knowledge of?

I don't want to get into trouble with CBP on my next entry to the US on my British passport, after all.

Any views would be welcome!

Thanks
HL

father_ted

Out of an abundance of caution, I would ask for something in writing from AA saying that you wished to travel on UK passport number 12345678 to aid US immigration but instead were required to use French passport 87654321 at their request. I would also allow extra time when next entering the US.

A more practical solution (only useful before check-in is completed) is to show a fully refundable ticket to the UK, making France only a 'connection' and satisfying their process.

Silver Fox

Change it back again in your profile. Wouldn't worry about it. Can't see why there would be any issue with CBP over this.

HighLife

Good advice, thanks.

On my email I do have plenty of TLS-LHR tickets - in fact one for 24th Feb, but I didn't think of offering to show her this - she didn't ask for it either.

But why would AA want a European to possess the passport of their destination country. It's nuts isn't it? Or am I missing something here?

Doc Savage

Why didn't you just ask for a supervisor?

I never understand why people will delay an obvious solution to a problem until it is too late.

windowontheAside

I wonder how this would have been resolved if you had been travelling to France for business/pleasure or any other non-resident reason?

It seems most peculiar. (Not suggesting for a moment that it didn't happen as described, by the way, for the avoidance of doubt).

FlyingScientist

And you did not reply that a UK passport is "some sort of" 'French residency permit'?


Just plainly wrong!

BlackBerryAddict

I'm afraid the lady in question did not know what she was talking about. In fact I think you don't even need three months validity for France. It only needs to be valid for the duration of your stay. There was a case where easyjet prevented someone travelling to a European country and prevented them from boarding because of a similar issue.

Regarding leaving, I think on the US CBP site you can check if you have left "properly". Check there if you are still thought to be in the USA, and if so, take action.

Just found the link: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/request.html

HighLife

I guess I could have, but she was already one of those very senior AA types who are not in uniform - the ones who staff the premium desks.

Anyway, I have asked the lady on the front desk in the Flagship lounge here at ORD to sort it out and she is making some calls for me.

She can't make head nor tail of it and doesn't understand what on earth the DFW woman was on about.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Airlines typically rely on an on-line database, Timatic, to determine whether an international passenger is eligible for admission to a particular country based on the travel documents presented. (This is to protect the airlines from potential fines for transporting a passenger not eligible for admission into that country.)

One should be able to access the Timatic database at no cost by Googling "Timatic". (I think Delta offers free access to Timatic.) If Timatic shows that the OP is eligible for admission to France on a short-expiration U.K. passport with no proof of onward journey, then the AA agent could simply have been asked to consult the Timatic database. If, on the other hand, Timatic -- even erroneously -- says something different, then it will likely be very difficult to convince an AA agent otherwise.

NeverFirst

Hahaha, madness!

Traveloguy

Entering the US on multiple passports as long as the ESTA conditions are met is not a problem. I am curious as to why the OP thinks there is a problem here.

LondonElite

HL, you encountered someone who is just not quite up-to-speed with the whole EEC/EU/Common Market 'thingy' that's been going on for about, oh, at least 25 years in practical terms. A dim bulb. I would have probably either asked for the supervisor, or found a way to go with another agent.

bruceba

If he exited on his non ESTA passport it may show an overstay on his UK passport. I think he may be screwed on his next return to the US. Be prepared for secondary inspections for quite a while.
OP should never have let the GA get away with this.

Traveloguy

As long as you enter and exit on the same passport, there is no problem. I never suggested otherwise, however the OP suggested that the US was demanding all entry & exits were to be done with only one passport. This is not my experienced and I've even had discussions with agents about this.