Passports needed
 

We are going to Montreal from the US in August. Will a passport be needed? Have any of you been asked for passports when entering Canada or returning to the US? Thanks

Sue, for complete details on the upcoming requirements go to the State Department web site at:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html

At this time you do not need a passport for travel to/from Canada as long as you have other forms of valid ID as required by US and Canada. You must check with the two countries to see exactly what that valid ID consists of, such as birth certificate, etc. Typically, a driver license is NOT considered valid ID for border crossings.

Now, having said that, it is my firm opinion that everyone should have a valid Passport if they plan to travel outside of the US and return. It makes your entry into other countries (those like Canada and Mexico that do not at this time require US passports) MUCH faster and easier, and the same is true for return to the US. You really ought to have one. They are valid for 10 years you know, so the annualized cost is very low.

I don't know about required. But trying to enter get by US TSA troops at the airport is a heck of a lot easier if you have a passport rather than some other documents.

I don't think the Canadian officials will be the problem!!!!

They never have been for me.

We always carry passports. Only time we ever had a problem was leaving Canada at the Vancouver airport. First, there was a HUGE backup at 6 am on Sunday morning as the Vancouver airport authorities were collecting a recently enacted but unexpected (at least to many visitors) exit tax that was payable in cash and was not a minimal amount. This held up all the departures while people tried to scrounge up the money to leave Canada. Our airline officials tried to get this process hurried along since they had a 747 waiting for 30 minutes past departure for most of their passengers waiting to pass this dogleg.

However, once that was done, the absolute worst experience I've ever had in my travel career happened on the jetway boarding a Northwest Airlines flight. I am a nondescript middle age housewife from Wisconsin. The middle eastern descent female security guard decided that my husband did not pose a "security" threat and could get on the plane. However, she needed to rescreen everything on my person, right down to the hairbrush. This was after we'd been fully screened by airport security, after paying our exit ransom. I was patted down and made to unpack my entire carry on. This despite the fact that this person was in the employ of Northwest Airlines and they were now 45 minutes late for departure. I have no idea what her deal was, but she apparently felt like exercising her "power." I swore I'd never go back to that city again.

After 9/11, the security protocols at airports in particular are incredibly stupid, with a wide variation in procedures, from making women with an underwire bra to remove them (Chicago), to making an elderly wheelchair bound male be lifted from his wheelchair to see if he could walk across a taped line on the carpet (Milwaukee.) It makes the whole ordeal much easier if you have a passport. Don't wear jewelry, take coins, keys or other metal on your person--put it all in your carryon that will go through the xray. Don't take any unnecessary electronic devices, be prepared to remove any coat or jacket, even a suit jacket and have that scanned. Be prepared to remove your shoes. Do not take any metallic objects such as canes or walkers that you cannot put through the x ray machine. Don't take pen knives, swiss army devices, manicure sets, nothing metal and pointed. Be prepared to wait at busy times.
Airline travel is an ordeal now, but the only way to get around for most folks. I can see why private jet service is becoming so popular.

Shorebau, you acknoledged that inspection procedures have become draconian everywhere and that the woman who gave you a tough time boarding the plane was an employee of Northwest Airlines so I have trouble understanding why you were angry at Vancouver to the point of saying that you would 'never go back to that city again'.

As a point of information the exit fee at Vancovuer International Airport is now part of your ticket and no longer collected at the airport so that is no longer an issue.

supersue, I agree with those who have said that while it may not be absolutely REQUIRED just yet, a passport is really the very best way to go. This is doubly true if you are flying.

another fyi the USA (along with every other country I've visited) also charges an exit tax to non residents when they leave that country by air, not only Canada.

The charge at Vancouver is not an exit tax, but an Airport Improvement Fee, which many Canadian Airports now charge. However, at most if not all exept for Vancouver, it is included in the price of the ticket. why Vancouver continues to charge it separately is a mystery to me. Perhaps some Vancouverite can explain.

As I said in the above post, YVR stopped charging passengers on site about a year ago and the Airport Improvement Fee is now included in the ticket price.

Sorry, I should have paid better attention. It's been more than a year since I last used YVR.