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Lost Passport while abroad

dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Original poster
Jul 17, 2005
19,218
4,342
5045 feet above sea level
My classmate and I are out of the country, flying back home tomorrow actually. Anyways...he can't find his passport for the life of him.

What steps should we take? We are thinking of backtracking our steps to the conference location where we were all last week and contacting the US Embassy tomorrow.

Has anyone been in this situation before? I am also torn with leaving for my flight vs staying here with him while he gets it taken care of. Thoughts?

This sucks
 
Sorry for your trouble. I think the previous advice is spot on. You're friend will be fine whether you stay or not.

Also, in the future I have found it comforting to carry and/or have access to encrypted photos/scans of my passport. This information must be securely stored, but if I had it when I needed it, life would be smoother. Just a thought.
 
hayduke said:
Also, in the future I have found it comforting to carry and/or have access to encrypted photos/scans of my passport. This information must be securely stored, but if I had it when I needed it, life would be smoother. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

I'm not too familiar with passports and special documents like it, but what purpose would a digital scan provide? Would it let the OP's friend get on his flight with just a scanned copy? Or did you mean for something else? Thanks.
 
hayduke said:
Sorry for your trouble. I think the previous advice is spot on. You're friend will be fine whether you stay or not.

Also, in the future I have found it comforting to carry and/or have access to encrypted photos/scans of my passport. This information must be securely stored, but if I had it when I needed it, life would be smoother. Just a thought.
Click to expand...
He does have a photocopy. The hotel here made copies when we checked in.
ucfgrad93 said:
I would also contact the embassy right away. Good luck, and just out of curiosity, what country are you in?
Click to expand...

That's the plan. We are currently in Buenos Aires, Argentina
 
I agree with all advices everyone has said so far. However, out of curiosity, did you send some sort of "notice" to the US Embassy that you will be in that foreign country prior to arriving? That maybe help things along smoothly. Also, just checking since it can happen, is your friend a US Citizen with a US Passport? Also, since there's a photocopy of the passport, that may help the process go quicker.
 
SJism23 said:
I'm not too familiar with passports and special documents like it, but what purpose would a digital scan provide? Would it let the OP's friend get on his flight with just a scanned copy? Or did you mean for something else? Thanks.
Click to expand...

With some kind of copy you'll have your passport number, issue date/city, etc., which I don't have memorized. This will help you get a temporary passport issued quickly and probably helps Interpol etc. keep an eye out for yours if someone tries to use it.
 
hayduke said:
With some kind of copy you'll have your passport number, issue date/city, etc., which I don't have memorized. This will help you get a temporary passport issued quickly and probably helps Interpol etc. keep an eye out for yours if someone tries to use it.
Click to expand...

Correct. I've gone on several mission trips abroad and the leaders of the trips always asked for us to give him a photocopy of our passport for this exact reason.
 
Yes, as everyone said, US Embassy there can issue Temporary Emergency Passport that will allow your friend to get home with you. It's like a one-way/single-use ticket to get back to US.

Get the process started right away and you should be fine. Have to fill out forms and affidavits, etc., but it shouldn't take very long.
 
Lots of good advice above.

I will address the question about whether you should stay with your friend or not.

It is very likely you are on an "unchangeable" airline ticket... i.e. there may be huge penalties to change your flight, extra hotel bills, etc., and your travel insurance will not cover those fees as you are not the person having travel document issues.

Your friend will likely incur the same penalties if they are on the same type of ticket. However, it is likely that their travel insurance will cover the cost of the penalties to rebook the flight, hotel bills, etc. Make sure your friend files a police report as well as contacting he embassy. The police report may be required to file an insurance claim.

The upshot is, while it is tempting to stay with your friend, you may end up paying hundreds of dollars or more to do so.

Also know that should you decide to change your flights, the people who have the most power to put you on that plane are the people at the boarding gate. The closer you get to the plane, the more discretion the staff have. So if you call the airline you get the policy line as laid down in a script. Go to the airport, to the departure levels, and the airline staff at the airport have some more leeway. Show up at the gate and tell your story there - and if they are having a good day, and you ask nicely, and if they have empty seats on the plane... you may find you are on the way home without the nasty rebooking hassles.

Good Luck.
 
thatoneguy82 said:
I agree with all advices everyone has said so far. However, out of curiosity, did you send some sort of "notice" to the US Embassy that you will be in that foreign country prior to arriving? That maybe help things along smoothly. Also, just checking since it can happen, is your friend a US Citizen with a US Passport? Also, since there's a photocopy of the passport, that may help the process go quicker.
Click to expand...

Yes we did. We ended up getting an emergency passport in time (from the embassy....talk about being lucky being in the same city as where it was located...) and even though that presented a few hiccups (in regards to not having a entry stamp), we were able to get out on our scheduled flights

This experience has taught me, even moreso, never lose that passport lol

Thanks for all the help guys, as usual:)
 
dukebound85 said:
Yes we did. We ended up getting an emergency passport in time (from the embassy....talk about being lucky being in the same city as where it was located...) and even though that presented a few hiccups (in regards to not having a entry stamp), we were able to get out on our scheduled flights

This experience has taught me, even moreso, never lose that passport lol

Thanks for all the help guys, as usual:)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update...
 
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