Got your passport? You sure it's OK?

Got your passport? You sure it's OK?
By James Gilden
Copyright by The Chicago Tribune
Published July 1, 2007

If you are one of the record millions of Americans who has recently applied for a passport, you will want to double check it very carefully when you -- eventually -- receive it. If it contains errors -- a growing likelihood, some say -- expect at minimum delays at the airport. At worst? You could miss your trip altogether.

Travel documents, especially passports and airline tickets, have received increased scrutiny at the airport post-9/11. Accurately matching a traveler's identity to his or her ticket is an important step in the increased security we see today in our nation's airports.

This is part of the reason Congress passed the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). Beginning last January, air travelers entering the U.S. from Mexico, Canada and most of the Caribbean have been required to carry a valid passport. U.S. citizens accustomed to traveling to these regions without a passport have since inundated the U.S. Passport Agency with a record number of applications, causing delays in processing as staff and government contractors struggle to meet the demand.

In addition to delays in processing (now 12 weeks for normal processing), the number of errors being introduced into passports has also risen, says Colin Walle, a senior passport specialist and local president of the passport worker's union at the Seattle Passport Agency.

Though the government has added employees to help with the increased workload, it is fewer than they had planned. The State Department planned on adding 468 passport workers, most of whom were to be adjudicators, according to Walle. Only about 185 new adjudicators have been added. The result has been mandatory overtime for employees who are expected to determine an applicant's eligibility for a U.S. passport at the rate of 24 per hour.

So is this scenario leading to more errors in processing?

"I don't think I can quantify that, but the answer is yes," Walle said. "You just make more mistakes when you're tired."

Adjudicators were held to a 1 percent error rate prior to the implementation of WHTI, a rate that Walle says is no longer a standard. Even if just 1 percent of passports had an error, that would be 170,000 out of the estimated 17 million being applied for this year. Of course not all errors are to an applicant's name, but the potential is there.

Travelers can go online and fill out their own applications (travel.state.gov, click on "passports" then "applications and forms"), thus eliminating one potential source of input error, assuming you don't make any mistakes on your own information. Or so you'd think.

If printed out and taken directly to a passport agency, the bar code on the application can be scanned and the information is downloaded directly into the agency's database. But if it is mailed in, the contractor hired to input the data, Citigroup, cannot scan the bar code and must rekey all the data, opening the door for input errors.

"The quality of the data entry is so poor from the current provider," Walle said.

The government says it's on the case, but a State Department spokesman wouldn't comment on why the contractor was not required to be able to process the bar code data to begin with.

"We are working with our government partner and our private partner to process a record number of passports and to streamline the process," said Steve Royster, a spokesman for consular affairs at the State Department. "We've hired over 250 regular government and contract employees, and we're still extending offers of employment."

Showing up at the airport with a passport that doesn't exactly match your name is not necessarily the end of your trip, but it will likely lead to delays.

"If you have a passport that has a discrepancy, you can still travel," said Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez. "There has to be a level of common sense applied to security, and we try to do that."

Even people who have lost or had their identification stolen can travel, Melendez said. But expect a higher level of scrutiny at security.

Airline polices vary but not widely.

"When there are slight, obvious differences between the name on a ticket and a passport, we are happy to accommodate," said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. "If there is a significant difference, we will change the ticket complimentary if we made the error. If the passport is incorrect, we suggest bringing other documentation like a marriage certificate or birth certificate."

British Airways has a similar policy.

"The passport name must agree with the name on the international airline ticket," said British Airways spokesman John Lampl. "If you book through the Internet and give your own wrong name -- not what's on the passport -- you have to pay for [a] change fee. Believe me, people do it."

If BA makes the error, there is no change fee. Lufthansa has a similar policy.

"We're very careful to compare the passport name to the name on the ticket, both for security and for fraud reasons," said Lufthansa spokeswoman Jennifer Urbaniak.

"However, we will accept a name spelling discrepancy on a ticket if it is off by several characters -- or as long as the name and order in general matches."

"If a passenger's name has been misspelled or transposed, we can make the necessary change and waive the applicable change fee," Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American Airlines, said with regard to customers who book through American Airlines Reservations or AA.com. "It is permissible to change a first name that would correct a nickname to a given name, e.g. Bob to Robert, and any prefixes, e.g. Ms. to Dr.

"Customers who booked through a travel agent, or online travel agency (Expedia, Orbitz, et al.), should work through their travel agent to have changes made. The customer may be subject to pay any applicable change fee as a result of a ticket reissue," he said.

If in checking your new passport you find an error, get it fixed as quickly as possible.

"Bring it to our attention," said the State Department's Royster. "Call the national info line 877-487-2778 and let us know about the error."

If you have an emergency situation, they will work with you, he said.

At the local passport agency office in Chicago (Kluczynski Federal Building, 230 S. Dearborn St., 18th floor) you can try to make an appointment (at the number above), or just show up and take your chances.

"Calling and asking for an appointment can accomplish an expedited turnaround," Walle said.

If all else fails, call your member of Congress. They can pull strings and have access to phone lines unavailable to the general public.