BajaNomad

Passport card problem

thebajarunner - 4-29-2009 at 03:51 PM

Well, I have encouraged everyone to be sure and obtain the card, along with the regular passport, due to the great convenience of having proof right in your wallet.

Saturday, going through security at JFK (headed home to SFO) the TSA dork absolutely refused to even look at Teresa's passport card.

"Not acceptable here" the little twit declared.

And that was that....

(sure hope the Border Gate guard at Tecate does not read this)

Our Federal government in action....
Scary, ain't it???

Reading from the back of my card:

Dave - 4-29-2009 at 04:00 PM

Valid only for international land and sea travel between United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

Not valid for air travel, anywhere.

It is a "Government issued photo I.D."

thebajarunner - 4-29-2009 at 04:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Valid only for international land and sea travel between United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

Not valid for air travel, anywhere.


Last time I looked a California Drivers License was not an air travel document either!

They need to get it together, and soon!!!

Bajahowodd - 4-29-2009 at 04:26 PM

No good deed goes unpunished. The card , whether correctly envisioned or not was to deal with frequent border crossers between Mexico, Canada, and the US. I can only assume the addition of the Caribbean was for the huge cruise ship volume, especially out of Miami. Certainly less bulky than a passport book, you can carry it in your wallet. Not sure why they excluded air travel, but I'm supposing the frequency factor for commuters on the border was what they had in mind, versus the casual traveler on an airline. Maybe just one of those "special interest' items done for the cruise lines.

DENNIS - 4-29-2009 at 06:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by thebajarunner

They need to get it together, and soon!!!



Really?.......Why? Maybe you should get it together and read the document as it states its limits. It's not an all-purpose passport.

Yes "really"- perhaps you should read my post

thebajarunner - 4-29-2009 at 07:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DENNIS
Quote:
Originally posted by thebajarunner

They need to get it together, and soon!!!



Really?.......Why? Maybe you should get it together and read the document as it states its limits. It's not an all-purpose passport.


We were not using it as a "passport" although I will admit that going to New York feels like you should have a visa.
We were using it as "government issued photo I.D." as we have done for the past year since we acquired the card.

You think an Arnold issued driver's license is better I.D. than a passport card?

Methinks not, my friend!

DENNIS - 4-29-2009 at 07:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by thebajarunner
You think an Arnold issued driver's license is better I.D. than a passport card?

Methinks not, my friend!


I don't know what "better" means in your context but it's more clearly understood and accepted on a universal scale.
I have valid, current military ID that is next to useless. I've presented it at ports of entry and it was viewed as a toy. Backed up with a CDL, my ID was valid.
You tell me.

But Wait!!

Dave - 4-29-2009 at 08:09 PM

Got this of the TSA website.

According to new TSA rules: Effective June 31 Military and Passport cards will be official forms of ID used at any airport security checkpoint. However, Passport cards can't be used to clear customs.

Udo - 4-29-2009 at 08:19 PM

I have had the same problem with '"a government issued ID", my valid NAVY issue ID was also rejected, even though issued by our U.S. government. :?:
It appears that the only valid government issued ID is a valid (non-expired) US issued passport.
My wife works for an airline and her "government issued ID" is the pass issued by TSA for her entry to all secured areas of an airport. That pass has worked at all airports in the US so far.
I guess it all depends on which government issues the ID.
Kinda sounds like another government we know south of the US!:lol:

bajaguy - 4-29-2009 at 08:48 PM

I have used my Civil Air Patrol photo ID card at airport TSA screening checkpoints with no problems.........I have found that airport TSA screening checkpoints are like being in Baja....no consistancy

McNulty - 4-29-2009 at 11:04 PM

One would thing that a document that can get you across the border would be able to get you on an airplane to let you travel within the country that it let you into in the first place... but that would be logical and efficient, our government dosn't appear to work that way sometimes. ;)

I'm surprised they didn't decide to make these cards a valid "government issued ID" from the beginning instead of reforming it at a later date.

Bajahowodd - 4-29-2009 at 11:14 PM

If you were not traveling internationally, it is assumed that a standard photo ID would be your state-issued DL. You were obviously trying to catch a domestic flight and dealing with the wunderkinds employed by TSA. Your CDL would have worked. You threw them a curve. But it leads me to wonder why you would try to use a passport card to prove your identity entering security for a domestic flight. Showing off? Since 99.9%+ of everyone going through the same gate was using a drivers license.

thebajarunner's wife would never show off

BajaVida - 4-30-2009 at 05:38 PM

her husband set her up
notice that he did not try to use his passport card? (not sure if he has one or he would have used it when we crossed the border earlier this month)

mtgoat666 - 4-30-2009 at 06:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by thebajarunner
Well, I have encouraged everyone to be sure and obtain the card, along with the regular passport, due to the great convenience of having proof right in your wallet.

Saturday, going through security at JFK (headed home to SFO) the TSA dork absolutely refused to even look at Teresa's passport card.

"Not acceptable here" the little twit declared.

And that was that....

(sure hope the Border Gate guard at Tecate does not read this)

Our Federal government in action....
Scary, ain't it???


wait another 10 years and the law/order types will force us us all to have tatoos//microchips, and then you won't need an ID card anymore, you'll be able to board your plane naked as the day you were born :lol:

Pompano - 5-1-2009 at 05:28 AM

For my first trip from the USA to Mexico and back, all I had in the form of an ID was an expired North Dakota junior hunting license. It seemed to work just fine for both countries. Both immagrations duly wrote down the hunting license numbers as if they really meant something 'official.'

I was 15 and this process impressed me to no end..made me feel like I was a real adult...and soon after I bought my own rubber stamp. ;D

I have been a nostalgia buff ever since.

CaboRon - 5-4-2009 at 06:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaVida
her husband set her up
notice that he did not try to use his passport card? (not sure if he has one or he would have used it when we crossed the border earlier this month)


You only hurt the one you love :lol::lol::lol: