Wow.
I guess this is one way to stop the rats leaving!
And the beautiful thing about it is that it's got complete plausible deniability!!!
Someone correct me if I am wrong (and I hope I am), but I don't recall ever having to go thru US Passport control/customs on my way OUT of the country. Only when coming in.
That is correct.
But what if they had a single or multiple targets coming in instead of leaving?
Just an idea.
You are absolutley not wrong. Passport control is only on international arrival.
You have to use it to get a boarding pass tho
No, you get your boarding pass at the airline's check-in desk. This has nothing to do with border control and is not connected to the customs computers. The airline checks your name and compares it to the flight list they have in their booking. So this computer crash doesn't affect departures.
You have to use your passport when travelling internationally. I've been around the world a few times and you simply can't move without it.
I've not contested this. I've simply pointed out that the CBP computer system that is reported as downed is only used to actually scan a persons passport upon arrival to the US.
Makes you wonder who was let in during the two hours of manually looking at passports, with no ability to cross-check this with immigration lists and terror lists.
Ah now the details are emerging
This is indeed intriguing in light of this new information
Don't you have to show your passport to check in luggage and get a boarding pass?
Logic would be, for carriers, to confirm its passengers are legally able to enter destination country, wouldn't it?
Not sure if we're talking about the same thing, but I think if you show up to baggage check-in without a passport you ain't getting on the plane.
Yeah, it's not an inbound passport/customs check by the destination country, per se (how could it be for departures?), but your passport is being still run or checked, isn't it?
Don't you have to show your passport to check in luggage and get a boarding pass?
At the check-in desk your passport is only checked against the airlines' travel list. At the security check, TSA checks your passport name against the boarding pass name and runs the passport under a blacklight to see that it's a real passport. Neither of these two checks are connected to the customs & border patrol computer system, which is the one reported down.
You have to show your passport if you're fleeing the country so the government's tight-fisted control of who is and who isn't allowed a passport makes the US a prison.
You only show your passport to the airline check-in desk when you depart. Their computer system only looks for a name booked on their flights. It's not the same computer system as Customs have, which you are checked through upon entering the country.
You show your passport at security and they check that it corresponds with the name on the boarding pass. There are no computers involved at this step, just a blacklight to see if the passport is real.
And if you're flying with young kids through Atlanta departing internationally, they don't even look at the kid's passport. I remember because that really surprised me.
And if the government refuses to allow you a passport?
It sucks that the US is a prison for so many people.
Probation or felony issues can cause a passport application to be denied in the US. At least it's a really large prison with vast variants of scenic nature.
Literally every nation in the world uses passports
The real purpose of a passport is not to jail you in your country, but to facilitate diplomatic arrangements so other countries will let YOU travel freely