Passport 6 month rule

[waterbug123]

13 hours ago, acesneights99 said:

A "bit of delay" might prove fatal. The bureaucrat might not appreciate the severity of the situation, and then what will you do? Die for $5?

 

I will probably only renew my passport once more in this lifetime. I don't want my epitaph to read, "He died with an expired passport"

 

Melodramatic much?  If you are in a life or death situation, where an hour delay determines whether or not you live, you would be in a hospital ER, not in an airport arguing with an immigration official, LOL.

[sparks1093]

13 hours ago, acesneights99 said:

I'm sorry but my faith in our government doesn't extend to risking my life on some bureaucrat's whim. If I have to waste five bucks to renew my passport 6 months early, I consider it five dollars well spent.

 

If your travel needs are infrequent than by all means squeeze the last $5 out of your passport.

 

A "bit of delay" might prove fatal. The bureaucrat might not appreciate the severity of the situation, and then what will you do? Die for $5?

 

I will probably only renew my passport once more in this lifetime. I don't want my epitaph to read, "He died with an expired passport"

We all respond to fear our own way. The folks making the decisions are pros at it and know what they are doing. If I really thought that there was a possibility that I could die on a trip I wouldn't take the trip.

[acesneights99]

Just now, sparks1093 said:

We all respond to fear our own way. The folks making the decisions are pros at it and know what they are doing. If I really thought that there was a possibility that I could die on a trip I wouldn't take the trip.

 

Glad to hear you are immortal and invulnerable, but for those of us not born on Krypton, a simple trip or fall or the bite of a Zika or malaria carrying mosquito or severe food poisoning or a tender or shore excursion malfunction could leave you in need of an immediate return to the US. One of the last cruises we were on they were tendering in what became high winds and high seas and a female passenger broke her leg when a rogue wave hit the tender as she was trying to step on to the ship.

 

 

[acesneights99]

Just now, waterbug123 said:

 

Melodramatic much?  If you are in a life or death situation, where an hour delay determines whether or not you live, you would be in a hospital ER, not in an airport arguing with an immigration official, LOL.

 

Your answer presumes that someone knows it's a life or death situation and that it's only an hour's delay. What if that hour's delay causes you to miss a once a day or once a week flight?

 

And speaking of saving $5 on your passport, that hospital ER visit might end up costing thousands of dollars (tens? hundreds of thousands). So while you are lying in a third world hospital waiting for some bureaucrat to issue something that will allow you to fly home, I'll be on the first available flight home with my more than 6 months to expiration passport.

 

You can make up all the scenarios you want, but you will never convince me that saving $5 is worth a one in a thousand chance of death or disability.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

There's a whole lot of "overthinking" on this topic...just an observation.

 

- If anyone thinks they plan to travel beyond the passport date - renewal is a no-brainer. 

- Renewing early to assure avoiding the "6-month rule" is not a big deal.

- Carrying a passport when traveling is something we've done for more than 20 years...all around the world...people from other countries do it routinely.

- Its been proven time and again that having a copy of your passport with you (even a digital photo is good) expedites a passport replacement if it is ever needed.

[ShillyShally]

39 minutes ago, acesneights99 said:

 

Glad to hear you are immortal and invulnerable, but for those of us not born on Krypton, a simple trip or fall or the bite of a Zika or malaria carrying mosquito or severe food poisoning or a tender or shore excursion malfunction could leave you in need of an immediate return to the US. One of the last cruises we were on they were tendering in what became high winds and high seas and a female passenger broke her leg when a rogue wave hit the tender as she was trying to step on to the ship.

 

 

I'm not disagreeing, and I always sail with passport, but the same caution can be said for travelling in parts of the US where care is not the same as big cities.  I expect you may be in great hands in many ports of call and the care you get there would well set you up for your eventual return as in a true emergency transport can be riskier.  But like anywhere, you just may not be in a position to have the best access to care.  We can all be as prepared as we're comfortable and hope/pray/throw caution to the wind - whatever works for you - hope if we are ever dealt a bad hand physically through illness or injury we're also dealt it in a place it isn't the deal breaker of life!

[waterbug123]

1 hour ago, acesneights99 said:

 

Your answer presumes that someone knows it's a life or death situation and that it's only an hour's delay. What if that hour's delay causes you to miss a once a day or once a week flight?

 

 

You misunderstand me; I always travel with a passport and recommend others do but it's their choice.  That said, you ARE being melodramatic.  As for whether a delay is an hour or more, I thought YOU mentioned an hour delay; either I misread or you edited your post.  Either way, my point was that if your situation has you so close to death, you are in the hospital worrying about getting stabilized.  And if you are somewhere so remote that there is only 1 flight a day or 1 flight a week to leave, I can just about guarantee that you are somewhere that you would've needed a passport to get there in the first place, and thus this discussion becomes a moot point.

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, acesneights99 said:

 

Glad to hear you are immortal and invulnerable, but for those of us not born on Krypton, a simple trip or fall or the bite of a Zika or malaria carrying mosquito or severe food poisoning or a tender or shore excursion malfunction could leave you in need of an immediate return to the US. One of the last cruises we were on they were tendering in what became high winds and high seas and a female passenger broke her leg when a rogue wave hit the tender as she was trying to step on to the ship.

 

 

Not immortal at all, but you make a stronger case for having insurance than for a passport.

[acesneights99]

I admit that I was using rhetorical hyperbole. however, the counter-argument for saving $5 by squeezing every last day from your passport is so weak as to invite ridicule.

 

Let me add another less hyperbolic situation. You are on a cruise and your father has a massive heart attack or some other equally grave situation. You want to fly home as soon as possible to be there before he dies. If you have your passport, you go to the nearest airport that flies to the US, you pay what you have to and fly home.

 

If you don't have a passport, you are dependent on convincing some government official to let you board a plane back to the US. What kind of proof might they require? How long will it take to get it?

 

What kind of delay will you have going through customs and immigration without a valid passport? Is it worse in the age of terrorism? 

Edited March 27, 2019 by acesneights99
word missing

[acesneights99]

Just now, sparks1093 said:

Not immortal at all, but you make a stronger case for having insurance than for a passport.

I have that as well. An annual policy with $1,000,000 for medical evac and $100,000 primary medical insurance. And $20,000 for lost pre-paid expenses. PER TRIP

[acesneights99]

Just now, ShillyShally said:

I'm not disagreeing, and I always sail with passport, but the same caution can be said for travelling in parts of the US where care is not the same as big cities.  I expect you may be in great hands in many ports of call and the care you get there would well set you up for your eventual return as in a true emergency transport can be riskier.  But like anywhere, you just may not be in a position to have the best access to care.  We can all be as prepared as we're comfortable and hope/pray/throw caution to the wind - whatever works for you - hope if we are ever dealt a bad hand physically through illness or injury we're also dealt it in a place it isn't the deal breaker of life!

 

 

Actually, our travel insurance provides $ 1 million for medical evac if we are over 150 miles from home.

[sparks1093]

3 minutes ago, acesneights99 said:

I admit that I was using rhetorical hyperbole. however, the counter-argument for saving $5 by squeezing every last day from your passport is so weak as to invite ridicule.

 

Let me add another less hyperbolic situation. You are on a cruise and your father has a massive heart attack or some other equally grave situation. You want to fly home as soon as possible to be there before he dies. If you have your passport, you go to the nearest airport that flies to the US, you pay what you have to and fly home.

 

If you don't have a passport, you are dependent on convincing some government official to let you board a plane back to the US. What kind of proof might they require? How long will it take to get it?

 

What kind of delay will have going through customs and immigration without a valid passport? Is it worse in the age of terrorism? 

Here's another scenario- you just left port and you have two sea days before you get home. Delay is part of travel. Yes, having a passport can help minimize delay and it all comes down to what each traveler is comfortable doing. As I said before I will let my travel plans dictate when I renew my passport and if that means I renew 6 months early than that's what it means.

[sparks1093]

3 minutes ago, acesneights99 said:

I have that as well. An annual policy with $1,000,000 for medical evac and $100,000 primary medical insurance. And $20,000 for lost pre-paid expenses. PER TRIP

I carry similar coverage.

[ShillyShally]

Just now, acesneights99 said:

 

 

Actually, our travel insurance provides $ 1 million for medical evac if we are over 150 miles from home.

Nice - do you have an annual policy? Or is that per trip?  I know we can't always share companies but any direction you can point me in would be appreciated as we are always getting older 🙂

[acesneights99]

Just now, ShillyShally said:

Nice - do you have an annual policy? Or is that per trip?  I know we can't always share companies but any direction you can point me in would be appreciated as we are always getting older 🙂

 

We have an annual policy. The limits are usually per trip per person. Besides medical, there is trip cancellation, trip delay, lost baggage, canceled flights, etc. Essentially most any travel expense, that is not voluntary. You don't get any reason trip cancelation coverage.

 

Due to our age, there was only one company that sold annual policies. I believe it was Allianz, which AFAICR is a Berkshire Hathaway company.

 

The break-even is about three trips a year. The US coverage is the cherry on top. We use Mayo Jacksonville for our healthcare and it is the Number One hospital in Florida. So we would be medevaced to a Top Hospital half an hour from home.

[ShillyShally]

1 minute ago, acesneights99 said:

 

We have an annual policy. The limits are usually per trip per person. Besides medical, there is trip cancellation, trip delay, lost baggage, canceled flights, etc. Essentially most any travel expense, that is not voluntary. You don't get any reason trip cancelation coverage.

 

Due to our age, there was only one company that sold annual policies. I believe it was Allianz, which AFAICR is a Berkshire Hathaway company.

 

The break-even is about three trips a year. The US coverage is the cherry on top. We use Mayo Jacksonville for our healthcare and it is the Number One hospital in Florida. So we would be medevaced to a Top Hospital half an hour from home.

Thanks so much!!  Great info and the US Coverage info is great too!  Also good to know about Mayo Jacksonville should future moves south take us that way!