LTGTR Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 (edited) "That's interesting. As you know there is no passport control departing the US from an airport, so maybe it was up to the airline clerk to confirm the passport and they didn't notice it. I would have thought this info was maybe online linked to the passport number and could be seen by the airline computers, but I guess not." This is an excerpt from a closed topic.I want to make clear that airline "clerks" which I'm sure the poster meant to call "customer service agents" DO NOT as a rule or requirement search the entire passport to see if it is indeed valid.Imagine how long check in would take if every page of every passport was checked.We simply enter or scan the info page.Airline computers do not have that info,but do have other info regarding possible terrorists or blacklisted passports. I hope this clears up any misconceptions regarding fellow "clerks"duties,retired or active. Edited November 9, 2008 by LTGTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhabal Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 I think you are in the wrong forum. Your story has no head and no tail. Bishop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamhc Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Yes, Check-in clerks DO check passports in some countries... In the UK, I was questioned by the Check-in desk staff if I was permitted to fly to Thailand, as my ticket was one way. I had to show them my Non-Imm B visa (as it was using at the time.) and they let me though. Once I drove a friend Maltese fianace to Heathrow, who was flying to Dallas. The Check-in clerks severely questioned her for 15 mins (she had 3 cases for a 14 day trip). I was called from behind the friends barrier to verify I that knew her and would vouch for her. Intresting that when shw got to DFW, she was taken to a interview room as they had NEVER HEARD OF MALTA and took her passport waway to see if a fake! Only when a guy called out that his father was there in The War that the 2 hour interview was ended. Luckily, her fianace was still waiting for her. BTW bjhabal, I read the post that MODS had closed as they thought it was going nowhere. It was an almost off toppic comment on http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Free-Pass-Ov...ay-t220827.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maestro Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 I searched the entire ThaiVisa site, including the trash can, for the topic mentioned by the OP but could not find it. If anybody can find it, please send me the link and I will reopen this topic, which I am now closing. -- Maestro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maestro Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 This is the closed topic (hunted down by lekatai) to which the OP refers: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Free-Pass-Ov...ay-t220827.html And this is the post from which he quoted: He had the same problem in Africa a couple years ago and went to the US embassy there and they, as you said above, gave him money to support himself for a couple days, gave him his airline ticket, etc. and stamped his passport on the back page (page 24) saying "cancelled" together with the date of cancellation (2 years ago!!). That's interesting. As you know there is no passport control departing the US from an airport, so maybe it was up to the airline clerk to confirm the passport and they didn't notice it. I would have thought this info was maybe online linked to the passport number and could be seen by the airline computers, but I guess not. The OP has made his point that the currently correct term to refer to an airline’s employee who works at the check-in counter is “customer service agent” The hearsay story about a US embassy in Africa having merely stamped, two years ago, a US “passport on the back page (page 24) saying "cancelled" together with the date of cancellation” seems highly improbable and warrants no further discussion. More likely, in that scenario the passport was endorsed with an annotation that it was valid only for a return journey to the USA. The OP has also clarified the limited need for an airline’s customer service agents to examine a passport prior to issuing a boarding pass. This explanation is absolutely logical and also does not require further discussion. Jingthing’s post quoted above was off topic because he talked about a departure from the US with the allegedly cancelled passport while the post he quotes indicates that the passport holder was in an African country and therefore obviously used it to depart from that country. As all this is with reference to a topic that was closed for a good reason it seems expedient to leave also this present topic closed while at the same time acknowledging gratefully the clarifications given by the OP. -- Maestro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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