I just returned from Mexico having used my beautiful, new passport just once. I washed my clothes and forgot to take my passport out of my pants. Stupid!

Now it is warped and the back page is partially de-laminated from the back cover. I am pressing it with heavy books right now but am skeptical about returning it to a decent state.

The questions I have are:

Anyone else with this experience?

Also, even if it flattens out, will the water have done something to the embedded electronic thing?

And what is the process for replacing a damaged passport? (The US State Dept. web site seems unclear to me on this issue).

You will need a new passport, and will have to pay for it in all probability. If the laminate is AT ALL damaged then the passport is technically invalid. Mine (UK) had over time peeled back about 1/4 of an inch on 2 corners and I was advised to get it replaced. The passport office told me that laundered passports were a common problem and people were frequently not allowed to travel on them. You could find that you aqre ok leaving the US (or wherever) but not ok getting into your destination.

I would say you'd definitely need to get a new passport. If immigration - anywhere in the world - think the passport may have been tampered with because of the laminating peeling up, they may not let you travel.
Kay

I'd apply for a new passport asap.

...and be glad that it happened while you are at home!!! think if you were out-of-the-country and washed it somewhere along the way on a trip. now THAT would be bad. pony up the money and send in for a new one.

I posted my story here a few months ago. Seems I put both our passports through the wash, fished them out about half way through the cycle, dried them off and also pressed them with books.

Several of the stamps are pretty blurred or smeared, and the passports themselves are a little warped looking, but we didn't get any de-lamination of the cover. So your situation may be a little different from ours.

People here insisted we should get new ones, but I felt we didn't have enough time to safely do so with the delays being experienced then, so we went to Europe with them.

Not one person at any of the immigration points (we went through several) even batted at eye at our passports.

Thanks, everyone. I guess I'll buy a new new - an expensive mistake!

The good news is that I'm not traveling out of the country again until May.

The other good news is the one with all the stamps (and fond memories) was replaced in November by the one I just washed.

A tad expensive but there's a whole lot worse things that can happen to a passport. You got off easy

Neopatrick, the laminate is the key. It doesn't seem to matter about much else as long as the laminate isn't peeled back.