<p>This thread began as a general warning. Several personal experiences make me appreciate what FB was trying to comunicate. My 18 yo nephew arrived with whole family at airport, and forgot his ID. It is easy for parents to expect a teen to be responsible, but they certainly can be absent-minded. He and a parent went home, losing $ and disappointed.</p>
<p>Well before 9/11, I called a taxi to take me to the airport. I was told that the driver had to drop by a house on the way to the airport. It turned out that someone going on a business trip had gotten to the airport and only then did she realize that she’d forgotten her passport at home. The cab stopped by her house, the woman’s husband was at the door with the passport. </p>
<p>We once spent a week in Campobello with my French niece. Practically every day, we found a reason to go back to the mainland and thus had to pass the border checkpoint on the bridge. This meant that my niece had to show her passport every time we crossed the bridge.</p>
<p>Not long after 9/11, I took the shuttle to NYC. I forgot about not taking nail clippers on board, so this triggered a search of my toilet kit. The screeners were very polite and perhaps overly cautious. They took my gum stimulator ( a rubber tip atop a rounded metal stick) and my interdental brush (a little brush at right angle to a plastic stick) and went in search of a supervisor to check that these were okay to bring on board. It caused quite a backup. Luckily, the shuttle runs every hour.</p>
<p>Bandit, just to clarify. I do NOT continue my travel (normally), once reaching Atlanta, as that is home. EVERYONE must go through this security line upon arriving to Atlanta Hartsfield, whether they continue on or not. </p>
<p>It is because customs is located at the International terminal – Atlanta is an official portal of entry – so everyone goes through customs, whether they are at their final destination or not. However, since we have all been in contact with our checked baggage (in case customs wants to search it), and are exiting the terminal via a secured area of the airport, we must then recheck our baggage through to baggage claim and go through security again. This is the only way to leave.</p>
<p>This happens to every incoming International passenger. The time from arrival to baggage claim is usually about 2-3 hours. It can be more, if you get held up in customs or if they lose your baggage between the re-check and the baggage claim. Both have happened to us. And no, please don’t read this wrong, I am not claiming this has anything to do with TSA. In fact, of all the lines, the security line is one of the faster moving. My only complaint is that they are so often rude – acting as if we all should be as familiar with the layout and routine as they are, and getting frustrated with us when we don’t realize that “there are other lines open”, or that “there are chairs over there” to put your shoes back on, or that the foreign visitor’s English isn’t good enough to understand rapidly barked instructions.</p>
<p>Back to the original topic – My oldest two kids are boys. It is much easier for them to always have their IDs with them. They keep them in their wallets, in their pants pockets. My D, who doesn’t drive yet, doesn’t carry her permit with her, because she can’t use it here, and it’s a lot easier to misplace a purse than a wallet. We don’t even let her carry her passport with her. My H made a photocopy that she is supposed to carry (but doesn’t.) We got most of the way to Switzerland once, before we realized we’d left her passport at home, and had to turn around.</p>
<p>It’s just a lot harder with girls, I think. Girls’ fashions don’t allow for bulky wallets in pockets (if the clothes even have pockets.)</p>
<p>We felt very stupid for forgetting the passport. Lost a day of our trip. In the course of things we had to do in preparation, that one just slipped our minds. When we got home, she changed her screensaver to “Do you have your passport?” A written reminder is nice.</p>
<p>And then, when we got to the border, they just waved us through! But we did need it when we toured the capitol building in Bern.</p>
<p>" My D, who doesn’t drive yet, doesn’t carry her permit with her, because she can’t use it here, and it’s a lot easier to misplace a purse than a wallet. We don’t even let her carry her passport with her. My H made a photocopy that she is supposed to carry (but doesn’t.) We got most of the way to Switzerland once, before we realized we’d left her passport at home, and had to turn around."</p>
<p>As a woman, I don’t buy the above. Virtually all women who drive keep their licenses in their purses without a problem. </p>
<p>Wallets can be lifted from or can drop out of a man’s pocket just as a purse can be stolen. For instance, on three occasions, I have found men’s wallets. Twice this happened on planes, where as I was deplaning, I spotted wallets that had fallen under seats. Another time, I found a man’s wallet on a seat at a fast food place.It had dropped out of the pocket of a man who had just vacated that seat.</p>
<p>When it comes to passports, women and men also can use passport holders that can attach around one’s waist or hang from one’s neck. I find these very handy while traveling .</p>
<p>Yes, I carry my license in m purse, too. And my passport. I take my purse with me wherever I go. My point was that when my boys and H get up in the morning, they load their pockets and are good to go. My D, who is 16, sometimes takes her purse, sometimes she doesn’t. She isn’t used to carrying a purse, and, since she doesn’t drive (driving age is 18 here), doesn’t always carry the license, and isn’t in the habit of asking herself, “Do I have my license with me?” Or, “Will I need my passport today?”</p>
<p>I also agree with the pickpocket statement. All three men in my family carry their wallets in their front pockets for this reason. Probably more secure than my purse is.</p>
<p>My D went into town, took her wallet out of her bookbag to buy some lunch, and apparently left it on the park bench. Never found it. We were very glad there was nothing but a few Euros and her school ID in there. </p>
<p>We all have the wallets that hang around the neck, but don’t use them. Personal preference – don’t like things around our necks. And we certainly don’t put them on every morning when we get up.</p>
<p>As Bookworm indicates above, even boys/men forget their ID sometimes. My comment was just that, at least in our family, having ID with you is just a bit more automatic for the boys.</p>
<p>I’ll never forget seeing a tourist in Europe walking around with her passport waist bag around her waist - OUTSIDE her clothes… On another note, I took my son to get a state ID (the non-driving kind) as soon as he turned 16. It seems that these days we all need good ID. I would never let him walk around with a passport (to bulky, and difficult to replace), but a state ID card is perfect.</p>
<p>We were traveling with my then 9 yr old who was preselected for additional screening. The person searched her backpack removing most items. Once we arrived in our destination we kept smelling something. We first accused son that it was him or his shoes, then thought the rent a car carpet had been wet. Then we realized the smell was my youngest Daughters backpack. Seems the odor was a 2 week old lunch was rotting in the backpack. We couldn’t believe the guy who searched her bag hadn’t seen it or didn’t bother to tell us she had rotting food in her bag.
We normally have 2 choices of places to fly out of. If at all possible we leave out of our smaller local airport where the TSA people are much nicer.
On another trip the walk through detector was broken and they hand wanded everyone and my D had the embarassment of her bra beeping. Also took my D a few trips to realize that all the rings and jewelry she loved to wear for a few yrs would set off the detector. We have since really tried to think out what we are wearing before we leave and what we have in our carryon bags.
A question- on one return trip from Belize they would not let anyone take batteries on the plane in your carryon. I have never seen this happen before.</p>
<p>mom60 – That’s interesting about the batteries. How picky were they? Just loose or extra batteries? I’ve never heard of that before. I carry my digital camera with me - it has a battery. My kids often have some sort of electronics with batteries. Our laptop has a battery. Seems extremely complicated to deny all batteries – especially because they have asked us in the past to turn something on to prove it is what it looks like.</p>
<p>Binx-They had them turn on the CD players and let them keep those batteries but didn’t let them take the extras. We have traveled quite a bit and this is the only place we ever had this happen. While we were waiting to board several people wondered what the price of AA batteries were in Belize and whether the screeners were just in need of some free batteries. We had a friend of one of my kids with us who had some Crest teeth whitening stripes and they were very interested in them as well and actually asked if they could have a few.</p>
<p>Binx, I’ve cleared customs in San Juan, Miami, DFW, o’Hare, LAX, and JFK. I’ve never seen that. You’re in a pickle with that in Atlanta. Most places you leave Customs and your out in the main terminal. </p>
<p>Batteries – everywhere you go it’s different. I’m an underwater photographer and have tons of batteries for UW lights, flash, camera, harddrive storage, etc, etc. One place it’s take them all out and put in check bag. Next place it’s take them out and put in carryon. Next place you need the batteries to show the device operates. Heavin help if the battery is built in. In the islands, extra batteries are likely to go home with the local customs agent.</p>
<p>Binx - responsibility for carrying ID & keeping track of wallets an their contents really is a learned skill. My daughter needs no reminding and never has misplaced important items - though she has managed to lock herself out of her car a couple of times. My kids are each responsible for their own passports; when I went off to college at age 16 I took my passport with me, and though that passport is long expired, I still have it- so I figure its quite possible for a young kid to keep track of important documents. My kids have ATM cards & credit cards they need to keep track of, too. I do think its a good practice to make copies of all the documents in case they are lost & stolen, and I know that in some parts of the world its safer to carry around the photocopy than the original. </p>
<p>Actually, since your daughter is the one who thought up the idea of the screensaver reminder, I think she probably is more responsible than you give her credit for. I’m sorry your daughter lost her wallet on the park bench – but that’s the kind of mistake that young people make sometimes. Usually they learn from the mistake and do not repeat it. So you might find that your future travels go more smoothly if you let your daughter take responsibility for keeping track of her own stuff, and you simply take on the job of being the “reminder”. I don’t mean this as a criticism – I’m just suggesting that part of the reason your daughter forgets things may be that she is assuming she can rely on you to remember.</p>
<p>We have been asked to put batteries into our checked baggage; I assumed that it’s because you can rig explosive devices with batteries, is that possible?</p>
<p>Had an interesting incident last night when picking son up at LAX, coming home from a summer program. While waiting for the baggage to come down the shute, son’s name is called with about four other passengers. We go to the United counter to be told that son’s second bag would be on the flight from Dulles arriving in an hour. Apparently the connecting flight was so late that the luggage compartment was full by the time they loaded his .( ?) We had a choice of them delivering the bag sometime today, or waiting for it. Since son had some valuable work he had produced at the workshop he attended, he wanted to wait. We took the one bag we had to the car and then went down to a different terminal, where they said the bag would be delivered.
After about 10 minutes at the other terminal, son’s name is heard over the loud speaker again. Now they inform us that the bag will be coming in on the original terminal where the first bag was. Back we go.
A full hour later, the bag comes down the shute. Son was pleased that the airline seemed to keep good track of his bag. I had other feelings…
Summer airline travel is just hard, and we have to be ready for anything.
We racked up $11 in parking fees.</p>
<p>Many years ago, we went on a long trip via JFK. The NYC-Boston leg was on a small plane. When we got to Boston, we were told that, because we had checked in early, our luggage was all the way in the back of the plane; to get at it, other luggage would have to be unloaded and it would make the plane late for its next leg, going to Ottawa. We would be getting our luggage later that evening, after the plane returned from Ottawa. Which is what happened. We were thankful that this situation did not arise on the Boston-NYC leg of the trip which would have rendered us luggageless for a three-weeks cruise!</p>
<p>This morning, I flew home on a two-leg journey. I came near to missing my flight both times, both because of circumstances beyond my control. The scary part, though, was check-in.
My legal name is not the one I go by, and often people assume that my legal name is the extended version of my “nickname”. I did not book my own flight; the person who did belonged in the category just mentioned. Hence, when I received my ticket information, the name on my ticket did not match the name on my I.D. I was not stopped for this in my departure city, nor in the city from which I left this morning.
Is this not scary?</p>
<p>I guess everyone that saw your ticket made the same assumption that your ticket purchaser did. Maybe they figured that someone with bad intentions would have been more careful. :)</p>
<p>Marite - that is a good story. I wonder what they would have done to compensate you had you been leaving for the cruise on that leg.</p>
<p>Are you talking first name, or last name? I mean, it is one thing when the ticket that says “Bud Johnson” doesn’t match up with “Hiram P. Johnson” – it’s another thing if the ticket says “Mary Smith” and the ID is for “Jane Roe”.</p>
<p>When we travelled to Europe pre-9/11 (1998), my son (age 12) and my husband had identical backpacks. My husband had a lot of electronic devices and gear in his, and my son had some paperback books and his favorite stuffed animal dog in his. The bags went through the x-ray screening next to each other, and they picked my son’s bag to go through and just let my H go on his way. They made a big deal of paging through all of the pages of the paperback books. I don’t know what they thought they would find in there. We were pretty sure at the time that the stuff in my H’s bag caught their attention, but they chose the wrong bag to investigate. It was kind of scary to think that someone who actually had dangerous devices in his bag could have gotten through without checking like that by confusing the screeners.</p>
<p>The confusion was over my first name; it’s not a big mistake in and of itself, but the fact that I was not questioned about it, anytime in the journey, makes me think the I.D.-checking is a mere formality.
Or, perhaps, the TSA/baggage check people are way ahead of me in intelligence and instantly correctly analyzed the situation. :)</p>