bad experience with RTD

K

KWOK008

Registered Users (C)
Guys, I scheduled a trip to Europe flying with US Airway. I arrived at the airport over 2 hrs earlier, but finally still missed the flight.

The counter initially didn't let me check in because she claimed that I didn't have valid passport and RTD is NOT a passport.

I called US Airway, the hotline is generally helpless since they cannot override the airport.

And back and forth, the counter and her supervisor have already been very impatient and told me they could lose their jobs if they let me in and they became very defensive, refused any request from my side.

I called USCIS, they confirmed RTD can be used in place of a passport, but they also pulled out info for me saying that airline company has right to refuse permanent resident w/o a valid passport, so they also have no solution. I felt desperate.

Later I tried the kiosk, and interestingly, I got the boarding pass printed, but the counter saw me and they asked me to hand in my boarding pass but I refused. They told me even if I flew in Philadelphia (their hub) I would still be sent back and they would be held responsible. I insisted, then they asked the supervisor's supervisor out and that guy told me he would try again to call another higher level manager and he was told RTD was good to go, but it was already late. I could only fly out the second day. What a terrible day I had!

How can we make those airline aware of this issue in the future? I don't want to spend N hours each time when I fly somewhere.

So guys, please be prepared if you travel first time with RTD at airport. Maybe need to get it cleared one day earlier, but to be honest, I don't know how to do it because few Americans could understand this.
 
i travel with document in the past and i didn't have a problem, i always travel out ewr and the agents there are pretty familiar with that kind of documents, I am really sorry to hear this! but can formally complain to USAirways and ask for some kind of compensation!
 
What an outrage!

You should definitely complain.

I don't know if you have grounds for a lawsuit, but I would definitely look into it.

Did you have a Schengen visa? Or were you traveling to one of the visa free with RTD European countries?

I also had some problems checking in with my RTD (1 hour and a supervisor called) at EWR.

In Europe when I gave my RTD to the flight attendant at the check-in line looked at me like I had done something wrong, then very rudely asked me for my PRC. She singled me out in front of everyone and I was pretty embarrassed.
 
Thanks Guys. My destination is Germany, so visa is exempted.

I don't think there's a ground to file a lawsuit, maybe a complaint would suffice, since even USCIS says airline company has the right. RTD is not a passport after all.

By the way, the counter found the words "This is NOT a United States Passport." on RTD. My interpretation is This is not a UNITED STATES passport, but she believes its saying "this is not a PASSPORT." She even asked me to read it out and asked me if I could understand it. How do you guys think we can explain it?

It looks like many airline companies don't know what it is. I have to say Americans' life is too easy, so that they don't have to learn much, but what I couldn't understand is they are stubborn and even didn't allow me to talk to their supervisor.

Also, I remembered I showed the lady the stamp on my RTD showing I used it to Canada and back to US, she said to me, "That's different. Canada is just like a state." :confused:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
KWOK008 said:
Thanks Guys. My destination is Germany, so visa is exempted.

I don't think there's a ground to file a lawsuit, maybe a complaint would suffice, since even USCIS says airline company has the right. RTD is not a passport after all.

By the way, the counter found the words "This is NOT a United States Passport." on RTD. My interpretation is This is not a UNITED STATES passport, but she believes its saying "this is not a PASSPORT." She even asked me to read it out and asked me if I could understand it. How do you guys think we can explain it?

It looks like many airline companies don't know what it is. I have to say Americans' life is too easy, so that they don't have to learn much, but what I couldn't understand is they are stubborn and even didn't allow me to talk to their supervisor.

Also, I remembered I showed the lady the stamp on my RTD showing I used it to Canada and back to US, she said to me, "That's different. Canada is just like a state." :confused:
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Wait a minute, USAirways refused to recognize and respect an official travel document that was issued by US goverment. As a result, you missed your flight and you had to wait one day.

Get a free consultation from a lawyer and see what he/she says about it. Also, I think the media should know about what USAirways did to you.
 
Thanks Guys. My destination is Germany, so visa is exempted.

I don't think there's a ground to file a lawsuit, maybe a complaint would suffice, since even USCIS says airline company has the right. RTD is not a passport after all.

By the way, the counter found the words "This is NOT a United States Passport." on RTD. My interpretation is This is not a UNITED STATES passport, but she believes its saying "this is not a PASSPORT." She even asked me to read it out and asked me if I could understand it. How do you guys think we can explain it?

It looks like many airline companies don't know what it is. I have to say Americans' life is too easy, so that they don't have to learn much, but what I couldn't understand is they are stubborn and even didn't allow me to talk to their supervisor.

Also, I remembered I showed the lady the stamp on my RTD showing I used it to Canada and back to US, she said to me, "That's different. Canada is just like a state."


Yes, occasionally, you will get people who don't know anything about RTD. I've been pulled out twice, once in Germany and the other time in France, had to wait for a supervisor on both cases, in Germany, it was very funny, because the lady at the county called back up immigration officers on me first(I must say it was in Berlin not Frankfurt where they don’t see lots of these RTD). Even here in the US, at one time, the immigration inspection officer actually let me in without making me go for a secondary inspection. Learn to deal with it, as clearly stated on it; it’s not a US passport
 
I am sorry that this happened. The airline was at fault. The RTD is a legitimate document issued by the United States Government. I would firmly but politely ask airline management for compensation. They should give you a voucher for your next trip. You deserve it.
 
I flew US Airways last summer to Europe (Greece) and there were no problems. Write a detailed letter to their customer service department.

I understand that they might (not sure about this, but let's assume it) be able to deny boarding to anyone if the ID does not meet their conditions (i.e. passport).

However, they can't apply this rule at random. Btw, if you're middle eastern I would suspect they were just being a pain on purpose.

You deserve at least a refund and an apology!!
 
These things happen. Its your responsiblity to print out things that says you can travel with a RTD. For example, I used to take a letter from German Embassy saying RTD doesn't need a visa...or a printout from USCIS website that RTD can be used as a passport.

Only way you can educate people is by educating them yourself. I would write a strong worded letter to US Airways and you should expect to be compensated(like a free ticket).
 
wow, this is too much, if i were u, i would take an action against the airline for refusing to let u in even with a valid US travel document. there are many travel documents. it odesn't always have to be called a PASSPORT.

4 YRS AGO, I helped my sister get to american airlines counter at the airport as she had a flight to India with her RTD. SHE HAD VALID RTD WITH INDINA VISA. The airlines agents was surprised at the document and showed each other and asks each other. I acted smart and told them this is a valid US travel documents that is issued for refugees, THEY TOLD ME TO SHUT and let them look, after a while they let her in.

stupid airline agents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
jonny1 said:
I acted smart and told them this is a valid US travel documents that is issued for refugees, THEY TOLD ME TO SHUT and let them look, after a while they let her in.

stupid airline agents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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That is so rude from them, I would just give them the RTD, let them wander around, make phone calls... etc..
 
wantmygcnow said:
These things happen. Its your responsiblity to print out things that says you can travel with a RTD. For example, I used to take a letter from German Embassy saying RTD doesn't need a visa...or a printout from USCIS website that RTD can be used as a passport.

Only way you can educate people is by educating them yourself. I would write a strong worded letter to US Airways and you should expect to be compensated(like a free ticket).
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I beg to differ. It is our responsibility to make sure we have proper travel documentation. It is not our responsibility to inform the airline's staff of the rules concerning air travel.
 
youngboy said:
I beg to differ. It is our responsibility to make sure we have proper travel documentation. It is not our responsibility to inform the airline's staff of the rules concerning air travel.
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Maybe but when you are travelling as a refugee with RTD facing newly employed airlines staff and immigration officers, then it won't hurt to be extra careful. You will need to educate them in order to have a pleasant trip.
 
1. No need to spend your energy to educate the arline...
2. The airline was at fault. It harassed you.
3. The RTD is a legitimate document issued by the United States Government and Airline refused to accept this document. So they they must have violated some national/international law.
4. See an attorney and send them a strong worded letter on that attorney's letter head.... if attorney charges too much then...keep looking for free attornies/legal help
5. Write this letter by yourself.... wait for their reply .... If they reply back with apology and/or some free voucher... hold it
6. Use this voucher + apology as proofs of airline's acceptance of their mistake... consult an attorney again....drag the culprits into the court.... airline will have to compensate with few $s or more... but it will definitely educate its whole staff ...
 
you should had gone to the immigration office in the airport, they might helped you

few years ago my wife was travelling to japan her home country when she got almost bad experience at the airline counter at SFO, she showed the counter employee a japanese passport and RTD , the employee
told her that if you leave you cant come back again because RTD is not a USA PASSPORT and you dont have GC, she realized that the officer is ignorant about RTD, she went downstairs to the immigration office, she explained to them whats happened, one of the officers who was a white gentelman called the counter supervisor and told him or her that my wife had no problems
 
Guys, thanks all for your responses. Let me complete my story here. I just came back from Germany.

1. US Airway: You’ve already known what happened. I am in a small city, so there’s no immigration officer and the airline staff is always trying to serve as immigration officers and in fact our RTD holders’ trips are always screwed up by these ignorant people.
2. At Frankfurt POE: I met a young officer at passport control and the guy seems also confused with RTD. Fortunately I brought the letter copy saying that US RTD holders don’t need visa. Thanks to the buddy who uploaded to this BBS. And I showed it to him, he started to look up in his system and finally he stamped on RTD. I was cleared.
3. Berlin(TXL)-Athens with Aegean Airline: I checked in in Berlin TXL and no problem at all, although the agent looked confused.
4. Athens-Berlin (SXF) with Easyjet (a UK based cheap airline): problems came. I checked in online and went to the counter to drop off my luggage and the agent never met this kind of document before so she said she needed to check with someone else and then she left for quite a while. When she showed up again, she said I needed a passport to go onboard. I told her this served as a passport, she disappeared again and when she was back, she told me she called German Immigration Desk and she was told I needed a schengen visa to enter Germany. I started to feel something happened. Still, it doesn’t matter what I said, she didn’t check me in and even didn’t give my check-in paper back, at last I missed the flight.

I also called the German Immigration Desk, the guy sounds also not sure about RTD or visa issue, but he told me that had nothing to do with Germany. I was already in Schengen Country and there was even no borders, so it was the airline’s call I could check in or not.

I went to the ticketing counter for a flight transfer. A lady called the check-in agent and my request was refused. I felt very bad. I had to fly back to Berlin or I will miss all my connecting flight.

Then I thought I really couldn’t buy the ticket at the counter again since they worked together. Once they knew I had the ticket again, they would try their best to stop me. However, for Aegean airline or Lufthansa, the ticket on the departure day is up to 400+ EUR, so I had no choice but to book their airline again. Thanks to the 45 free internet access at ATH airport and their self check-in printing system. This time I checked it online and printed the boarding pass. I decided not to check in my luggage.

I put all my stuffs into my case and took it directly to the boarding gate. The agent at the gate just checked my ID quickly then I was good back to Germany.

5. At Berlin (SXF) airport: to my surprise, there are some officers checking passport. I felt confused because there was not supposed to be any passport control within Schengen countries. I showed them my RTD, no problem at all.
6. Berlin (TXL)-US: I needed to check in with Lufthansa. I remembered I ever read of something on this BBS regarding some bad check-in experience with LH in TXL, so I checked in when I was at ATH airport and decided to bypass the check-in agents again.
On the departure day, I was early at the airport and I suddenly thought I might miss the connecting flight in FRA (I don’t like that airport, not well organized), so I went to the counter to ask if I could change to an earlier flight, and the lady was nice. Initially she didn’t ask me for my RTD since it was a domestic flight. After looking up my agenda, she found I was already checked in and she needed to checked me out first to change the flight. She then turned her screen to me and showed me the flight. Then she tried to check me in again, this time she asked me for my passport. I showed her RTD. She swiped my RTD, but no info retrieved on her computer, so she had to do it manually.

Here’s the best part: I can speak and read some German and I could see her screen. When she started to input my personal info, she felt confused about my RTD. I noticed there were 5 options for travel documents, I told her to choose that UN Conventions Document and showed her immediately the last page of RTD saying it is issued pursuant to UN Conventions blablabla… She then chose that option and all was set. I was ready to fly.

7. At POE Philadelphia: no problem at all. I checked with the immigration officer two questions: if the RTD is machine readable and he said yes, but I feel confused since the airline check-in counter always couldn’t read the info automatically. The second thing is I told him our US airlines don’t recognize this document, he sounded very surprised and emphasized that RTD was a passport.


Well, that is all my story. To save some energy for your travel with RTD, either try to bypass those ignorant agent or told them to choose UN Conventions Travel Document in the system. (I assume other airlines probably also have that option, just those agents are too ignorant.) Hopefully my story can be helpful for your future trips. I just feel exhausted about this trip. The vacation part went really fantastic, but the experience with airline companies had so many pains. Thanks again guys for all your support!
 
welcome back, i understand your feeling,dealing with airline counter employees is a nightmare from hell,

few years ago i was travelling in kuwait, i was leaving in my way to USA when the airline employee at the counter refuse to check me in , he told me that RTD is not an american passport as if i dont know it,
i explained to him its a travel document or a permission that allow me to return to USA, i was frighten that i will never be able to retun to USA, i was pleading with him to speak with his supervisor, at the end his supervisor came and allowed me to check in, it was a nightmare experience

my advice to you to reduce your foreign trips, wait till you become a citizen
 
Terrible experience. I've had people question my RTD/RP before, but after some explanation, especially in their native language(s), things turned out ok. Crossing the land border between Slovenia and Croatia and then in to Hungary was the scariest.
 
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