Security Fail: JFK Let Me Fly With an Invalid Passport
A passport can be your ticket into a country — or the document that gets you kicked out. (Photo: Sean Locke/Stocksy)
Yet another security breach has occurred at JFK International Airport — and this time it happened to one of Yahoo Travel’s own writers. Jessica Festa, who runs the blog Jessie on a Journey, is one of our Yahoo Travel Explorers. This past weekend, she was scheduled to fly a JetBlue flight from JFK to Curaçao. Festa got all the way onto the plane (through TSA security, her gate check, etc.) but was then denied entry into Curaçao because, it turned out, her passport was invalid. None of the U.S.-based agents had caught the mistake, and Festa didn’t realize it herself. How? There seems to be some confusion about what constitutes an invalid passport.
As Festa explains on her blog, she had recently renewed her passport and received both the new and the old one back in the mail. “That old one wasn’t expired,” she writes, “and there was nothing in plain English in the document that said it was invalid, so I assumed I could still use it. I also wanted to save room in the new one for future stamps since I travel so much. Multiple airport officials looked at the document, saw the two hole punches that meant it was invalid, and let me board my flight abroad anyway.”
Related: Airport Insecurity: the 10 Most Terrifying Airport Security Fails
When she landed in Curaçao, immigration officials put her right back on a plane to the U.S. “I’d happened to take a photo of the new passport with my phone and showed them trying to plead. I offered to pay some kind of fine for the mistake. But no. In my head I went back and forth from kicking myself (why didn’t I grab the other passport just in case??) to frustration with the passport renewal (why did they use a hole punch instead of a stamp or a note that says ‘invalid’ on it?!?) to disturbance (how was it so easy for me to get through JFK with an invalid document?!!).”
When she arrived back at JFK, she encountered officials who also did not know that the hole punches meant that her passport was invalid. As Festa recounts:
“I had some trouble at the kiosks where you get your Customs form and take your entry photo — my passport would not scan. Then, something very alarming happened: A Customs official came over to help me with my passport, handled it, opened it to the cover page, saw the hole punches, browsed the pages, and then told me she couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t scanning. So basically nobody in JFK knows the rules that hole punches mean the passport is no longer valid … but I’m supposed to?”
Related: Passengers Arriving at JFK Accidentally Allowed to Skip Customs
Hole punches indicate that a passport is invalid, even if its date has not expired yet. (Photo: iStock/natalieozog)
She was sent to another Customs official, who finally recognized the punches, but could not understand the breach, asking how she could have gotten through security and board the airline without a valid passport. An interview with a Homeland Security agent came next, who suggested the oversight was the fault of the TSA and JetBlue.
In response to the incident, JetBlue spokesperson Doug McGraw emailed Yahoo Travel this statement: “Customers should make sure they have valid travel documents before arriving to the airport. In cases where a customer does not have valid documents, our crew members will deny boarding and help rebook their travel without penalty. We regret that did not happen in this case and are happy we were able to resolve the issue with the customer.” He also shared JetBlue’s international travel policies.
Yahoo Travel has also reached out to the TSA, and the agency is researching the incident. [Editor’s note: We will add more information once we receive it from the TSA.]
Festa contacted the TSA as well, writing, “I called their headquarters and, after being transferred four times and on the phone for 40 minutes, was told that they were sorry this happened, but it’s really the airline’s fault … and the issue is really with fliers being given back their invalid passports and being in possession of them from the start. Also, and I quote the man I spoke with on the phone: ‘Hole punches? I’m not familiar with the hole punches.’”
Related: Security Breach! Passenger Boards Plane with Wrong Boarding Pass
In the end, JetBlue offered Festa a free flight to anywhere the airline flies, and the writer is making an effort to let other travelers learn from her mistake. As she explains, “When ordering a new passport, the old one becomes invalid immediately upon receiving the new one (i.e. you cannot continue to use it through to its expiration date). Just because you make it through JFK’s security and your airline staff allows you to board still does mean you’re in the clear, apparently, to enter another country. Remember this. A faux pas like this ends up being stressful, costly, and awkward, to say the least.”
WATCH: Know Before You Go — Passport Tips for Every Traveler
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