A Costly Lesson

[Julie's Haircut]

"I wish I could blame myself but it's all your fault."

If this was "a nightmare, the worst you can imagine," they've led a really cushy life.

Maybe the passports are lost in his ridiculous hair-do.

 

[bcla]

could be---I still think it highly unlikely that someone with the connections to deal in stolen passports would see them and take them in those few minutes, but I might well be wrong.
My understanding is that the major value is in stolen blank passport books taken from processing centers before they are issued to anyone, and that a passport known to be stolen and reported as such is almost worthless (stolen from someone NOT travelling and not likely to miss it and report for months or years is far more valuable)--again why thieves routinely leave behind passports after stealing bags, as a PP reported and as DH and his coworkers had happen once-----bags were taken from 3 rental cars while they were all inside eating dinner. Next day, all of the passports, as well as the Chinese configured laptop and (luckily) DH's sunglasses which are a pricey but not well known in France (especially 6 years ago) brand, were found abandoned on the roadside along with similar contents from other groups. Thieves kept the "valuable" stuff---passports were not among the items kept.

The big problem in trying to use stolen or fake passports is that governments might give database access to other governments. Also - INTERPOL has a database of lost/stolen passports.

https://www.interpol.int/INTERPOL-expertise/Border-management/SLTD-Database

It's a lot harder to try and modify a passport these days. Modern computing and electronic records make it really hard too. I suppose it might be possible to try and use one if the recipient looks close enough, but often people get caught because the passport shows up as reported lost/stolen. Even with a blank one it might not work once the passport gets scanned and none of the info is correct when communicating with the passport database.

Passport fraud used to be a plot point in movies/TV. I remember a Vietnam War era TV show where there was an American deserter who was pleading for an American to sell a passport in order for the perp to return to the US. And he was trying to buy it from a woman. That was also something in the movie The Killing Fields, where they were trying to get Dith Pran out of Cambodia by modifying a British passport and attaching a new photo. But they don't directly use photos any more. I remember they used to be glued to the page and then got embossed together, but later the photo was laminated to the page.

 

[ronandannette]

see my post, right above the one you quoted. Airport security and boarding pocedures within europe are not the same as within the USA, or to/from the US/Canada/etc --- i think you and others are making assumptions based on experiences flying in other regions which do not actually apply here.

Quick question and maybe a little OT. We flew to Paris for a few days and then to Barcelona. We were really confused when we deplaned in Barcelona and walked right out of the airport without having to go through Customs. Is this a Schengen thing? Being admitted to one EU country is like being admitted to them all?

I think the problem with this story is that sympathy tends to go out the window when you find out that they're demanding compensation for a mistake they made themselves.

Granted, this probably isn't a story if they hadn't gone to media looking for compensation - this sort of thing probably happens every single day with travelers.

Of course it does. It was an interesting (albeit unwelcome) experience to find out just how many standard procedures are in place on a cruiseline for stuff like this. They didn't even bat an eyelash - just started "working the plan" as soon as we reported our problem.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Quick question and maybe a little OT. We flew to Paris for a few days and then to Barcelona. We were really confused when we deplaned in Barcelona and walked right out of the airport without having to go through Customs. Is this a Schengen thing? Being admitted to one EU country is like being admitted to them all?

Of course it does. It was an interesting (albeit unwelcome) experience to find out just how many standard procedures are in place on a cruiseline for stuff like this. They didn't even bat an eyelash - just started "working the plan" as soon as we reported our problem.

Yes, it is a Schengen visa thing . The Schengen zone is NOT the same as the EU. There are EU countries which are not part of it, and non EU countries which are (I point that out because it can be confusing and I'd hate for someone to get mixed up and overstay their visa---not to badger you for saying that. My 19 year old nephew almost overstayed his tourist visa because he thought the stamp he got when entering the UK when his flight landed, which gave him 6 months, was for all of the EU. He never noticed he got a new stsmp, and only 90 days, when he crossed into the Schengen zone by train)

 

[QueenIsabella]

Quick question and maybe a little OT. We flew to Paris for a few days and then to Barcelona. We were really confused when we deplaned in Barcelona and walked right out of the airport without having to go through Customs. Is this a Schengen thing? Being admitted to one EU country is like being admitted to them all?

Of course it does. It was an interesting (albeit unwelcome) experience to find out just how many standard procedures are in place on a cruiseline for stuff like this. They didn't even bat an eyelash - just started "working the plan" as soon as we reported our problem.

This happened to us as well, when we flew from Paris to Rome. We were all scratching our heads at the lack of customs, but the tour guide just said, "It's different when you fly from one EU country to another". We did still have to show our passports in Paris, but that was it.

 

[ronandannette]

This happened to us as well, when we flew from Paris to Rome. We were all scratching our heads at the lack of customs, but the tour guide just said, "It's different when you fly from one EU country to another". We did still have to show our passports in Paris, but that was it.

When we got to Barcelona (from Paris) we left the plane and just followed the flow of the crowd assuming we'd be funneled into a Customs checkpoint. We were literally followed all the way to the airport's exit doors and looked at one another going WTH?