Denver family stranded after passport denied because of crease

“To have a passport is privilege, it’s not entitled to you by citizenship,” Priest said. He said the issue may be with a microchip embedded in the back of all new passports. “They have no reason in the world to let you travel if it’s been damaged,” Priest said. “It’s like cutting your photo out or something if that chip doesn’t work.”

Link to story.

If you watch the video, you can see the passport in question and it's not bad at all.

I travel on non-US passport that doesn't have a chip. My passport is definitely a bit worn though. It got wet a bunch of times and some stamps look washed out. I face quite a bit of extra scrutiny sometimes when I come back to US or fly through London. They've taken my passport in the back for extra examination several times.

Anyone have similar problems?

Wtf...I've seen passports in much, much worse shape get through without a second look.

Can't imagine this can be too common, but a good heads-up nonetheless.

Also...us passports don't expire on their expiration date. In some cases it can expire up to 6 monthes before the expiration date.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13342877...-really-valid/

Seems like a relatively minor inconvenience for something that is extremely unlikely to happen. I'm not even sure where the passport was deemed "mutilated". Unless they received some extra screening, the only person checking their passports in Dallas in that situation should be the person scanning their boarding passes right before letting them on the plane. The chances that that person spots a crease and makes a big deal of it is tiny.

If anyone should have a problem with the state of the passport it should be the immigration officer in Belize or Dallas on the way back.

It's not something I would worry about at all myself. There are countries that still have glued in photos and people are still allowed to fly on them ffs. I've got a pretty significant crease in mine and I've never had any trouble. It's a non-American passport with a chip fwiw.

The whole string of quotes from the Priest guy is pretty lol.

Pretty sure this has nothing to do with the passport being American

Well, if you live in one of those countries or traveling to those countries, then you don't need to think about it. When I was traveling a bunch of African countries last year they don't care and just stamp you in with their visas that looks like they were made by a toy stamp set.

But if you are traveling around US/EU, then you shouldn't dismiss this. It can bite you in the ass. The problem with the chip passports is that the chip is probably(?) much easier to damage and will not scan.

Anyway, I travel on EU passport with no chip and my passport is a bit more beat up that the one in the video. My pre-9/11 passport looked way worse. But back then, immigration used to be so much more relaxed. These days, I'm getting increasingly more holds and questions. I've had several instances where I was pulled aside for 15 minutes as they took my passport to the back for examination. This was at NY, DC, London (and I think at Miami or Madrid, don't remember which one anymore). And like I said, my passport doesn't look that bad at all.

I've also gotten extra examination because my India visa entry/exit dates were smudged just a little bit even though it was obvious I was still within visa date constraints. This was in Delhi. I can only imagine what would happen if one of the two dates was unrecognizably smudged.

None of my minor incidents got me stranded anywhere and they were just small delays. But they still cause stress, and are an indicator of things to come. During each incident, I couldn've just come across some guy having a bad day that decides to hold me a few more hours, making me miss my flight, or similar.

Anyway, I don't think you should be so dismissive. The downside is huge for many travelers. Maybe backpackers with no agenda and no time constraints don't care, but virtually everyone else would care.

Come on. Getting stranded somewhere for a couple days is a hassle but if you can't cope with the potential stress then you probably shouldn't be traveling unless you absolutely must anyway.

This is absurd. "National security" lol.

this is basically lol america.
my passports front emblem has totally worn off so you cant tell its an aussie passport anymore. my picture is of me with long hair and glasses, i am now shaved head no glasses. i have stamps filled to like page 23
anyway, no issues in europe but as soon as i hit america its a million questions.

Isnt this more of an issue of when your passport expires compared to your travel times to countries which allow you to have a travel visa for x amount of months? i.e. If you are a yank and want to go to Panama where you have 3 months(?) visa time but only have 2 months on the passport they wont let you travel? Or visa versa more likely as Panama would be less strict letting an American in than the other way around.