Posts Tagged "Passport"
RFID Passport Damaged? No Travel for You.
Apparently, U.S. Customs considers damaging (whether intentional or accidental) the embedded chip in your passport to be grounds for denying you the ability to travel in at least one airport in the U.S.
The article talks about an instance where Customs chose to deny a young child access to the flight, effectively denying the entire family travel. Reportedly, the kid had accidentally sat on his passport, which creased the cover and broke the RFID chip.
According to the CBP agent, breaking the chip in the passport “shows that you disrespect the privilege of owning a passport,” and that the airport was deemed justified in denying the family passage. (In what world is it custom’s job to determine your emotional connection to your passport?)
Ridiculous. While intentional tampering is inappropriate (and unnecessary with the wide availability of RFID blocking passport wallets) accidental damage should never result in travel restriction. While it is impossible to accurately determine accidental vs. intentional damage, the passports can be verified without a functional RFID, and there is no reason to deny passage.
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