Did you know this about passports?

[Anonymous]

Not sure how common this knowledge is, but these rules have been in existence for a very long time. I assume international travelers new somehow. On the other hand, when travel agents died out, who's to tell people? Carriers, I believe. In my experience, carriers are the main gatekeepers, because they are responsible for bringing passengers without proper documents.

[Anonymous]

Yes, because a family friend was boarding for Paris and their teenage son could not board due to his passport expiring 4 months later. Grandma came and got him, took him bright and early to Passport office, paid some huge turnaround fee and put him on a plane, 2 days later to meet his family.

[Anonymous]

I knew this - in fact, I make sure our passports are at least a year from expiring before we go anywhere. A pain, but there it is.

In case you don't know, you can pay through the nose and get a super-expedited passport if you travel time is within the next two weeks and you can prove it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how common this knowledge is, but these rules have been in existence for a very long time. I assume international travelers new somehow. On the other hand, when travel agents died out, who's to tell people? Carriers, I believe. In my experience, carriers are the main gatekeepers, because they are responsible for bringing passengers without proper documents.

Guide books usually have that information. A google search would also turn this up.

[Anonymous]

The catch with kids is their passports have a shorter validity to start with. Adults get a 10-year passports, but with children it's 5 yearas -- so you are likely to run into this issue twice as often.