What if you lose your passport in a foreign airport?

Losing a passport once you are on a plane sounds difficult. There is only a small range of places it could be, seat pocket or overhead luggage rack. I understand the security reasons for not letting people back on planes.

Loosing a passport in an airport, or on the way to one is a bummer. Since you have to keep showing it, no alternative but to keep it (and the tickets) somewhere accessable.

I usually carry such things in my hand luggage, and check I have them all whenever I leave anywhere (transport, hotel etc.): passport/ID, tickets, money (all currencies), cards. Money belts could cause problems when you need to access them, at immigration or in the plane if you need to fill in a landing card or buy something on the plane.

Recent story about a family who misplaced their passports after
boarding a plane and therefore were not allowed to enter France
(returned back home on the following flight without getting out of the
airport.) Family is blaming the airline (United) for not letting the
father go inside the plane and look for his passport pouch. Airline
says French law forbids passengers to re-enter plane.

Do you have a link to this story? Blaming United?? I'm curious as to the details.

On rare occasions, I've left things on aircraft. Most recently was about 4 years ago. Not a passport but on a Eurowings flight, as I left the jetway at Düsseldorf and entered the terminal, I realized that I left my iPad in the seat pocket in front me. I found a Eurowings agent immediately. She asked me for my seat location and told me to wait. A few minutes later, one of the FAs brought it out to me.

Each time I've left something, it's been an airline employee who has gone to retrieve it. I haven't been allowed to reboard. Sometimes the forgotten item is no longer there. With my iPad, it was and I was relieved!

I think this is one of those extremely rare occurrences that it's not even worth worrying about, notwithstanding this random hyperbole-filled "news story" which is more like clickbait (https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/07/24/family-deported-united-lost-passports-paris/). Most people somehow managed not to lose their passports before neck wallets or money belts were ever invented (I don't wear either). If someone leaves an important item on a plane, they could ask their airline staff to retrieve it instead (although I don't know if they faithfully would do that or not, or what their work rules say). If you lose your passport, you're not getting entry into a foreign country. Given those high stakes, most people are really careful. There is no evidence of a trend here. If you didn't see this story (masking as news, but much more like infotainment), would this question even come up as a serious concern? I'm guessing not.

To answer your question directly, if I lost my passport, I'd be prepared to deal with the consequences and be denied entry. Trying to divert attention to the airline is blame-shifting - they have their own rules and you have to deal with them. It's probably best to try to make your plea with an airline employee/staff as nicely as you can and hope for the best, that's all you can do. There is one instance during the flight when many totally jet lagged/ half-asleep people have to get their passport out to fill out the customs form, which asks for a passport number. The best thing to do is either take good care to secure your passport immediately afterward (I've stuffed it in the seat pocket many times, which is risky), or take heed of the announcement to be sure to remove all your personal items off the plane before disembarking. Anyone who's worried should do a quick passport check at that point.

I left my tablet entering AMS and went to retrieve it they would not let me on I waited about half hour and the cleaning crew found it and gave to the security who then gave it to me

Or they could've moved into the airport until it gets sorted, like Tom Hanks did

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminal

This is just the normal policy...happened to one of our group many many years ago. He left his passport in the seatback pocket even after being told MANY times to not do that. After exiting the aircraft he couldn't find his passport, and he wasn't allowed back into the aircraft. It took about an hour for the FAs and/or cleaning crew to locate it and bring it back out, but during that time he was held in a detention area with other unsavory characters.

It's not anybody's fault but the passenger. It's the passenger's job to keep up with their own stuff.

Not quite as dire as losing a passport, but I had a travel companion gate-check a bag (for a domestic flight) and only later realize that that bag contained both his boarding pass for his connecting flight and his drivers license. It all turned out fine - he got a new boarding pass printed using the confirmation number he had stored on his phone, and we were already through security so we didn't have to show our IDs anymore - but I was really worried for a while.

The worst thing I can remember losing on a plane was 55 cents in Swiss currency I was hoping to save for a souvenir. But I've seen other people lose all sorts of things. One guy somehow lost his shoes - I'm not sure how that happened.

Any thoughts ?

Does article address why airline staff did not search plane for the missing item?

Joe32F, according to the article:

a United employee spent about ten minutes looking for it before coming out to say that it wasn’t there.

Possibly they (the article says a family of 3, so it must have been 3 passports) fell on the floor and ended up some distance away, then later found by cleaning crew.
I don't have much sympathy for a compaint against the airline. You are responsible for looking after your own passport and tickets.

It would be odd if the staff didn't put more significant effort to try to find the passports on the plane since an airline faces significant fines if they fly a passenger to a foreign country where they are denied entry for not having proper documentation. Be nice to know the full story of how this played out

It would be odd if the staff didn't put more significant effort to try
to find the passports on the plane

But who knows where the passengers were by that point? They may already have transited through and were about to enter passport control, and there's no going back once you pass a certain secure zone in the airport. Should the entire airport infrastructure be set up to successfully reunite a passenger with his/her lost passport, no matter where he/she is physically when he/she discovers something is missing? It would be nice, but things like that cost money and airlines probably would never make that kind of guarantee. I like the KISS principle - an adult/ dependents should be 100% responsible for removing all personal items from the plane (or not misplacing them anywhere else on the airport property) with no guarantee of quickly getting them back. At the very least, each person should make an effort to remember their seat number (or not to throw out their boarding pass) as it increases the potential of getting something retrieved, if someone can easily retrieve it.

I expect to be jet lagged when I get to Europe so I spend time keeping my stuff organized so it will be easy to gather things, while in a sleep deprived stupor, when I get off the plane. This seems to be an ounce of prevention issue and probably why airlines always make a point to remind you to look around and make sure you haven't left anything.

I'd bet the guy who left his shoes was still groggy from a sleep aid.

If it happens, it seems like your only option is to ask the gate agent or airline employee to have someone look for, and hopefully find, it.

Family is blaming the airline...

Of course they are.

When they got home, a message was waiting for his family, saying the items had indeed been found, but demanding $20 to ship them to the family’s home.

To bad the reporter didn't dig up and report 'where' it was found. On the plane? Concourse? Bathroom?

Its an unfortunate situation, but with the lack of details it is hard to blame a 3rd party.

I once lost my boarding pass at Brussels airport. Agent at the gate told me to go and look for it or they wouldn’t let me board. So off I went retracing my steps through the duty free shops and toilets. Couldn’t find it of course.

Returned to the gate just as it was closing and they eventually let me board without the pass. Maybe they were having fun with me but it didn’t seem like it at the time!

This is also a good reason to have each person be responsible for their own passport...obviously not the 3 year old. His wife could have at least entered France. I'd be willing to bet that had she been carrying the passports, there would have been no issue because, IMO, women have more training in keeping an eye on their belongings, having had to train for this due to limited pockets in clothing thru their lifetimes. This is not the airline's fault. This is an entitled person unwilling to accept any responsibility for his mistake. IMO. YMMV. And, no matter where you are or who you are, when you leave a spot, always look back to make sure there is nothing left behind.

Thanks for the link, Agnes.

From the story:

The family landed at Charles De Gaulle Airport and left the plane, but
once in the concourse, they realized they didn’t have their passports.
The pouch may have slipped out. So, Guieb went back to the plane to
find it. He was refused entry, but said a United employee spent about
ten minutes looking for it before coming out to say that it wasn’t
there.

“And I told them, ‘Just let me in the plane and I’ll find it, because
I know where we sat down. I know where to look. I know what to look
for,'” said Guieb.
....
Guieb said what did not happen was any real effort to immediately find
the passports

That passenger was out of line; an employee went back on the plane for him to look for 10 minutes and THAT was his response? His response is egregious. Why was this even given the time of day in the news?

If I lose my passport, then my light summer jacket is also gone, ie someone took it. The passport I pull out to show at check-in, then it goes back before I step away from the check-in counter into my jacket inside pocket and zipped. At security I need to show it along with the boarding pass, after that while waiting in line, it goes back into the jacket which then is put into the bin or I hold on to it along with the boarding pass. Usually, I hold on to both items.

Once I clear security, am gathering my "stuff," putting my shoes on, ie, reorganising etc., the passport is back in the designated inside pocket and zipped. I wear the jacket during the flight. Almost always the plane is cool enough to still keep the jacket on. basically, the passport never leaves my person, it's on me.

Sounds like most posters have the same response to this story that I did -- grownups are responsible for their own documents! Glad to know that I'm not alone in that belief.

This word choice from the story was interesting

When they got home, a message was waiting for his family, saying the items had indeed been found, but demanding $20 to ship them to the family’s home.

Why shouldn't the company request that the family pay the cost to mail them their passports? They are, after all, still good. I would think the family would be relieved to pay the postage and have them back!!

I wear a very light small bag 24/7 when flying - in it I keep my passport and a few other essential items so that they are ALWAYS on my body (other things are like chapstick and earplugs so they're handy for the flight). I guess I should always make sure to have a credit card in there too. (i.e. what is the bare minimum you would need if you landed in a foreign country and didn't want to be completely stranded)

Happened to you?. No, and it probably never will. I always know where my Passport is!

Any thoughts?. Yes..

• To begin with, this is a good reason not to keep all Passports together. Losing one Passport is less of a problem than losing them for a group.
• "Consulting an Attorney". Absurd!. The problem occurred due to the travellers inability to keep track of their own critical documents. How is that the airlines fault? Good luck with that litigation!
• it's unfortunate that they had to spend several hours in a cold, windowless room, but that's the reality. Those facilities are only intended to hold people for short periods of time so they're not always comfortable. In some cases, authorities contract out the guard function for airport holding facilities to private security firms so they may not have the same level of training as CBSA / CBP personnel. Here's an example of that - http://www.vancouversun.com/private+security+firm+gets+contract+monitor+Vancouver+airport+holding+cells/11205566/story.html (I don't know if the private firm is still providing that service?).
• I'm a bit surprised that the airline didn't spend more than 10 minutes searching for the documents. When passengers are denied entry to a country, I believe the airlines have to return them to "point of origin" at their expense.
• A charge of $20 for shipping to return the documents is quite reasonable. I couldn't tell from the article if they were complaining about that?

Based on my take on the article linked above, this situation occurred because the person holding the Passports wasn't paying attention.

"I always know where my Passport is" How true. No one else carries my Passport, I do that. Likewise with boarding passes and train tickets. The Mrs carries her own, I certainly don't carry hers, and neither does she carry my Passport or other "stuff," if and when we travel together.