Passport Pages

They don't even look at your passport at customs, you just walk through the green door.
OH, you mean immigration! Not true. My last passport had only 2 empty pages left when it expired. I'm not counting the last three pages marked "Amendments and Endorsements", which are not for visa stamps.
My sister today was complaining "You just don't get passport stamps anymore. Used to be it was full from every time you crossed a European border, sometimes 3 in one day. What is the world coming to?"
I notice it no longer gets stamped returning to the US.

The blank page requirements are country specific so you'll need to do your homework and look them up. Here is the link:
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country.html

Some places require one whole blank page, to give enough space for the entry and exit stamps. 6 pages does not sound correct.
For Schengen countries (most but not all of mainland Europe), they just stamp when you enter and exit the Schengen area, not for each individual country; and they don't stamp Schengen or EU passports as these have unlimited right to enter.

And, as I keep pointing out and as Sam said, it is not customs who stamp you passport, it is immigration (passport control).
Customs = checks on goods, and whether you have to pay customs duties for your goods to enter a country.
Immigration = checks on whether you are allowed to enter a country.
At airports these are two separate processes.

Hi,

The Border Control/Immigration will stamp where they want when you enter the Schengen zone. No such thing as extra pages. The main thing is that you'll get a stamp, the same with the UK if the flight is from the states to London. Now if you go a country in Europe not part of the Schengen zone ie, Croatia, you'll get a stamp upon entering and at departure. When you return to the states, you may not get that "Admitted" unless you ask for it. If I sense that stamp is not forthcoming, I ask for it. They have always been obliging.

No such thing as extra pages.

Fred, I don't believe this statement is accurate the way I read the State Department's page, see link below.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/services/pages.html

There was a time when I was racking up so many passport stamps that I seriously looked into getting extra pages because I loved having all of my stamps and my passport had a couple of years of validity.

As previously noted, customs doesn't stamp your passport.

Some countries, China in particular required two blank pages when applying for a visa. Check State Department web for country requirements:
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country.html

Yes, that is because a Chinese visa takes up a whole page and they need another page for entry and exit stamps.

I had to have pages added to my current passport. It's a routine thing, the process is painless.

Back in the day, my student visa took a whole page. I just requested a new passport and you can request one with more pages from the get go, or as someone else mentioned you can get more pages. I suspect that the main time to be concerned about this would be if you are going to a lot of places that require visas. Check out the list that someone linked to on the Dept. of State page. But if you're just going to Europe, then it's probably not going to be a big issue for most people.

@ Mona...I had always thought that one had to have all the stamps in the given passport. Since you're telling me otherwise, I stand corrected...thanks. I did get a visa in 1973 in Paris for the CSSR (as it was officially called then) when I went to Prague, it took a page.

It all depends on which countries you are traveling to. Lots and lots of countries require 2 blank pages as stated before - one for the Visa and one for the office to stamp the entry and exit. If you are just going to Western Europe you don't need to worry. For other countries you need to make sure you have the blank pages. I have lots of passport pages just taken up by the visa (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan) and I'm getting ready to apply for my India and Myanmar visas which I'm assuming will also take at least 2 pages.

From Jan 1, the US gov't will no longer be adding pages to passports - you will need to apply for a brand new passport if you run out of pages. I did read somewhere that from that date the State dept will automatically be issuing the larger 52 page booklets for all new passports - will cross my fingers that this is the case.

Seems that the US State Department is recommending two blank pages for even Schengern treaty destinations:

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/germany.html

PASSPORT VALIDITY: Must be valid for at least three months beyond your
planned date of departure from the Schengen area and contain at least
two blank pages

As Sam and Edgar point out above , Russia has a two page requirement as well , one page for the visa and one for the entry and departure stamps .

You can have extra pages added to your passport. About 15 years ago, i had pages added. The current procedure is described on the State Department's website.

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/services/pages.html

However, whether or not you need blank pages depends on the country you visit. Generally the requirement will be stated with other entry requirements.