Ever have a problem with the condition of your passport?

Mine is pretty ratty but fortunately, I think, it is scheduled for replacement this year. But that story has hit hard in our local press and so far it only "appears" to be a wrinkled back page. There has to be more to the story.

my husband's got washed (he claimed it was my fault for doing the laundry - the rule I grew up with is if you didn't check your pockets before putting something in the hamper, it's your loss!) and is in pretty bad shape. in the U.S., they were not pleased with the condition, but let us on the plane. in germany nobody seemed to care, and despite all our intra-european travel that was the last time anyone's even wanted to see the passport while traveling. he's gotta go back to the states in a couple weeks, though, so that should be interesting...we should've gotten him a new one. it is definitely better to get a replacement if your passport is really beat up, mostly because the department of homeland security people in the u.s. are really serious about it.

On mine the page with my photo and all the scanning information became creased and mutilated and I couldn't use the self-service checkin at the airport - I finally just renewed the passport early and now I'm making sure I take better care of the new one

Paul, The same thing has occurred with a number of people from Canada who were travelling to Mexico on holidays. They were denied boarding by the airlines, due to Passports being slightly "tarnished". In one case this involved only a few water marks (the owner spilled a drink on it or something?). The airline justified their actions as they've received strict instructions from the Government of Mexico on this issue. Anyone arriving with less-than-pristine Passports will be denied entry, and will be returned home at the airline's expense whether on their own aircraft or with a competing carrier! The airline is "on the hook" for the costs of returning rejected passengers to their point of origin! I don't expect this situation to change, so my Passport is always in a Zip-Lok bag when it's in my Money Belt (avoids perspiration damage). Cheers!

When I got my new passport last year I promptly signed it and filled in the other info, but like an idiot used ink that bled through. It's quite a mess. The next day I took it to the passport office and tried to pay for a new one but they wouldn't let me! They said it wasn't damaged enough. I panicked over it's admissibility, but have successfully come and gone from the USA (By air for a cruise), and then again by car for Black Friday shopping, and then France. I know I'll worry every time I go to the airport until it's expired. I considered claiming it was lost but that involves a lot of red tape so figure I'll just wait. I figure if I can get into the States without a problem I'm good for elsewhere.

Sarah's right, if I leave something in my pocket, and it gets washed, it's my fault. I had one of the older style passports, before the digital photo, that I thought I would have trouble with. I carried it in an unlined moneybelt and it got damp from sweat. The plastic seperated and it looked like I could have put a different picture in. Still, I never had a problem, maybe because I don't look like a threat. I was glad when it was time to replace it.