I’m SO on it, GMT! You tell me next time you come to the States. I will meet you at ORD terminal 5 with my fully packed rollaboard and we’ll have a Rollaboard Throwdown.
Wait - why do I need copies of passports to buy tickets?? Is that for real? Is the ticket buying process going to ask me something from our passports? Numbers or something??
I always pack and roll. I’m someone who takes my favorite things to wear on vacation and nothing else. Yes, we should be able to do laundry where we are staying. Already figured athletic shoes for the traveling portion, a pair of Keen sandals for walking and MAYBE something simple like a pair of TOMS or other non-bulky sandal. I’m not fancy. 
I emailed myself a copy of scans of our family passports, so I can access a copy anywhere.
“Wait - why do I need copies of passports to buy tickets?? Is that for real? Is the ticket buying process going to ask me something from our passports? Numbers or something??”
For an international flight, you might be asked your passport number, expiration date, where issued, etc.
Mine’s all pre-entered on the sites I buy from, but yes, definitely have those handy. And like GMT, I have a scan of our family passports so can access a copy anywhere. I am paranoid about my passport though - I wear it in a travel wallet slung across me when I travel internationally, and I don’t take it off even when I’m sleeping on the plane.
And this may sound silly, but some elderly women do lie about date of birth so just make sure you have exactly what matches drivers license and passport.
No, u don’t need the passport to BUY the ticket. But some airline websites/ travel agents will enter your passport information in the airlines system up front, just to speed up the process when u check in. They PREFER to see the passport to ensure the airline tx has the identical name as the passport.
It used to be that the US Passport Office would demand to see a paid airline ticket if u were requesting one-day rush service for acquiring a new passport.
So do some countries when they issue visas - they want to see your ticket (of course, you can just pretend to buy a ticket, print it out, and use that - they never seem to figure that out).
GMT - your post upthread re where you hit immigration is very helpful.
What this means most to you, abasket, is …
Let’s say you come back from wherever in Europe to, oh let’s say Newark as your first point of entry into the US and then onto your final destination.
What this means is that you have to retrieve your bag fully at Newark, as if you were ready to walk out the door, and then go and check it in again to your final destination as if you were just arriving at the airport. It’s really time-wasting. So just be aware of that for your final leg.
Ok, so confirming that I DON"T need passport info to BUY the tickets - whew! I mean we all have them, but two of us going are not in town with me!
We will surely have them on our person (not in our suitcase) when we are in the midst of the airport/flight. And the scanning is a great idea.
I haven’t read ten pages but I will say that the most important piece of advice I can give is to be sure that you have med-evac coverage on your insurance. I know three people who have had to use it in the past year, which is crazy, I know, but you never know what may happen!
As for having or not having the passports when you book your flights, one thing you want to be sure you do is to make sure the name on the passport matches the name on the ticket exactly. One of my Ds had an issue with this when checking in at an airport in Europe.
All the international flights that I have booked over the past 5 years or so have requested/required the passport #. That way when you check in, they scan your passport and all the information is right there, plus obviously helpful for security making sure that the ticket holders are not on security clearance and cannot fly.
Maybe I’ll just ask my D1 to take a pic of her passport and then I’ll take a pic of my mom’s this weekend when I see her…
“As for having or not having the passports when you book your flights, one thing you want to be sure you do is to make sure the name on the passport matches the name on the ticket exactly. One of my Ds had an issue with this when checking in at an airport in Europe.”
Yes - for example, my passport was issued with my full Firstname Middlename Lastname and so any international tickets I buy, I buy that way as well even though for most purposes I just use Firstname Lastname.
What you need from the passport is the full name exactly as it appears, the passport number, the date the passport was issued, the date it expires (typically 10 years later), date of birth, the STATE of birth (I’m assuming a US citizen born in the US), and who issued (which would typically be the US State Department).
“As for having or not having the passports when you book your flights, one thing you want to be sure you do is to make sure the name on the passport matches the name on the ticket exactly. One of my Ds had an issue with this when checking in at an airport in Europe.”
Yes - for example, my passport was issued with my full Firstname Middlename Lastname and so any international tickets I buy, I buy that way as well even though for most purposes I just use Firstname Lastname.
Could one of you just book my tickets and hold my hand till we land in Marseille?? 
Our last name has a second capital initial in it- I feel like one of our passports has it as a lower case “g” instead of an uppercase “G” - I’ll have to really check that out. And I"ll check my mom’s for place of birth - as it was not in this country!
It would be SOOO much easier to just fly to California!!!
You mean like McSomething? That won’t matter. Passport names are all caps, I believe.
Yeah, all caps. No worries.
I am pretty sure my mother is more excited about having an excuse to buy travel cr*p than the actual trip We have a new little body purse, new luggage tags, a new mask & earplugs & a lovely list of other things to get right way in preparation for her summer trip.
Here is some FREE and incredibly USEFUL travel crp to acquire: Get the free **Google Translate app **for your smartphone. You can download the language packs so u can still use it offline if u don’t have wifi or expensive int’l data roaming.
You don’t even have to type in the input. You can just speak, or u can take photos of the text. It works great. I’ve downloaded about a dozen different language packs to my phone. It’s like having a Star Trek tricorder.
Oh, and did i mention it’s free and works great?
“Ok, so confirming that I DON"T need passport info to BUY the tickets - whew! I mean we all have them, but two of us going are not in town with me!”
You just will want the numbers / info I referenced above. You don’t need the actual passports in hand.
Where are you planning on getting euros? You might want to put someone on that job of researching. Personally, I’d rather take all out the euros I need from my bank here in the US versus try to use a bank abroad. Changing at the airport is not a good strategy - poor exchange rate.
Also, check with your CC company - most of Europe has the more advanced chip system, but you should be able to get a chipped card if you ask. And let them know you’ll be abroad on those dates, so they don’t suspect fraud.
Years ago I remember Amex travelers checks - GMT, does anyone use those anymore?