Passport Question

[laurachr]

i'm scheduled to fly into Vancouver on June 26 to board the Spirit on the 27th and then fly home from Anchorage. I have not yet received my passport and am not sure it will come it time. I am thinking about changing my flight to Seattle and then getting to Vancouver. My understanding is that i would not then need a passport. Am I correct?

[laurachr]

Also, do you need a passport to drive or train into Canada?

[Yukon]

Also, do you need a passport to drive or train into Canada?

 

US citizens don't yet need a passport to come to Canada by any means - air, land or sea - so flying into Seattle would work for you.

[laurachr]

I don't believe you can fly from US to Canada without a passport.

[laurengrn]

I'm in the same boat, so to speak.We conclude in Vancouver on our southbound cruise which begins June 26.

 

My understanding is that land travel is not a problem, but flying is. I have also considered a similar plan B.

 

The Passport website only says my status is "in process". They say to call a phone no. if traveling in 14 days, but won't speak to you before. (I called). I also discovered last night that dealing with the 14 day crunch could entail appearing at a regional passport office, wherever that is. They claim they don't want us to have our travel plans interrupted, but there was a local couple on the news last week who lost their entire honeymoon thanks to a passport that arrived several days late. He had applied early April and also requested expedited service.

 

So, believe me, I'll be on the phone as soon as I can!

 

Lauren

[Northender]

Lauren, enlist the help of your local state rep, congressperson, etc.

 

Yukon, you need a passport to get back to the US from Canada if you are flying. So, if you go to a US airport, they won't let you leave without passport to Canada, Mexico or the Carib because you will not get back in:eek:

 

At this point I would advise all US Citizens to expedite, expedite, expedite.

On the form it asks when your next trip is and to where. We received our passports in two weeks and one day:)

 

More Expensive - Yes:eek:

Peace of Mind - Priceless:) :)

[Emeraldtx]

Our passports came today. We did the full expedite with overnight delivery both ways, and it still took just shy of six weeks. Just a heads-up for the procrastinators! ;)

[Xiabelle]

I do second calling your congressmen, etc. Also, take a look at where you regional passport office is. If you're in a big city, hopefully you'll have one nearby, although I know the waits here in Houston are outrageous right now.

 

Allow me to say that I am so glad that my husband and I went for our passports the last week of December last year... we got our passports within a month without expediting!

[fti]

Yukon, you need a passport to get back to the US from Canada if you are flying. So, if you go to a US airport, they won't let you leave without passport to Canada, Mexico or the Carib because you will not get back in:eek:

 

This is actually a fallacy of the US airlines. If you are taking a one-way cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage (Seward/Whittier), you really don't need a passport to fly INTO Canada. The airlines assume (wrongly) that you need the passport to get back in, but you don't.

 

I just read about American Airlines denying boarding to someone flying to a country in Central America, thinking that the passport needed to be valid for 6 months after return. Actually for that country, the passport only needed to be valid for 3 months. The passenger received a full cash refund from American (thanks to a travel ombudsman).

 

Unfortunately the US airlines are clueless about most of this stuff and the traveler must bear the brunt.