Wife denied boarding by United Airlines in Puerto Vallarta after 2 week vacation

[ChequePues 0]

My wife and I were in situation a couple months ago that I wanted to bring up because it brings up the topic of the ambiguity of the letter of extension expiration date.

 

The story is that United Airlines denied my wife boarding after a 2 week vacation in Puerto Vallarta in August of this year due to "an expired green card". My wife is a Permanent Resident, however her Green card expired in November of 2015. We filed for a letter of extension which was approved. Under this letter of extension (I-751), my wife had previously traveled twice to Honduras (fyi, both were after November, 2016). It was both of our understanding per what U.S. customs told my wife that the one year extension is valid for one year from the receipt date that appears on the notice of action (09/02/2016), meaning valid through 09/02/2017. In fact, her passport was stamped with a one year extension by US Customs and Immigration upon from her trip to Honduras one month previous to this. We presented the letter of extension and showed them her passport stamps, but they were not accepted. They supposedly called U.S. immigration three times and were told to not accept my wife's letter of extension. They argued that the letter of extension was valid for 1 year from the date of the green card expiration date.

 

So we were told that the nearest U.S. embassy was in Guadalajara, Mexico and that we would need to make an appointment with them in order for my wife to leave the country. I was told that I could fly home with the children, but of course, that option was not a practical one.

 

After discussing with the supervisor and manager for over 2 hours, we gave up. Right before we were about to get on a bus to Guadalajara, I decided to just try purchasing 1 way tickets for all of us via Alaska for a flight 1 hour later. We were allowed to board without hassle and we had absolutely not problems reentering the United States.

 

After getting home, I contacted United Airlines and asked for a refund for both the United tickets as well as compensation for the Alaska tickets (which actually ended up being more expensive than the United round trip tickets). I was denied my request but offered reimbursement  for the unused portion of the tickets from Puerto Vallarta back home "as a gesture in sympathy of your experience"

 

So what's the deal? Does anyone really know if the letter of extension is valid for 1 year since the date of receipt date on the letter of from the expiration date of the green card? If it really is 1 year from the expiration date of the green card, it seems strange that my wife flew to Honduras and back to the U.S. without any problems after 1 year from her green card expiration date. Also, can I do anything with United Airlines at this point?

 

Thank you everyone!

Edited October 15, 2017 by ChequePues

[Lemonslice 4,710]

Page 38 - https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Carrier Information Guide- English.pdf

 

Airlines training is sometimes deficient. 

[ChequePues 0]

Are you saying that the training for Airline agents in Honduras was deficient? The document you provided, while helpful still doesn't seem to clarify the letter of extension expiration date.

[Lemonslice 4,710]

I have no idea if training was deficient or not, they should at least have escalated the issue to find an answer.

 

"Notice of Action A Conditional Resident with an expired Resident card (with a two-year expiration date) may be boarded if also in possession of a Notice of Action (Form I-797). The Notice of Action extends the validity of the card for a specified length of time, generally one year. The “Receipt Date” of the form has no effect on the validity of the card. A passport is not required." 

- not sure what else can be said to clarify further.

[ChequePues 0]

Thank you.

Edited October 15, 2017 by ChequePues

[Redheadguy03 505]

United Airlines causing issues again. Go figure, I had issues when I flew last time with them and so did my wife. You could try contacting your local news outlet, that would force their hand. 

[Lemonslice 4,710]

6 minutes ago, Redheadguy03 said:

United Airlines causing issues again. Go figure, I had issues when I flew last time with them and so did my wife. You could try contacting your local news outlet, that would force their hand. 

My understanding is that the extension letter was valid for 1 year and was no longer valid by then.  However, the passport stamp (OP - can you tell us the code stamped?) would have been valid. Confusion might have come from presenting the letter and green card - none of which were required with a valid stamp - just a guess from what was described.

[mindthegap 2,578]

3 hours ago, ChequePues said:

 

So what's the deal? Does anyone really know if the letter of extension is valid for 1 year since the date of receipt date on the letter of from the expiration date of the green card? If it really is 1 year from the expiration date of the green card, it seems strange that my wife flew to Honduras and back to the U.S. without any problems after 1 year from her green card expiration date.

1 year from date of expiry of the card. This is explained in the carrier information guide, and newer extension letters issued from the last few months now have updated wording to reflect this (see mine here, which was received yesterday ).

 

If you have a stamp, you do not need to present a card and letter.

 

3 hours ago, ChequePues said:

Also, can I do anything with United Airlines at this point?

Yes - boycott them.

Awful airline, and the sooner they go under or get bought out, the better.

 

 

[ChequePues 0]

Thanks everyone. It's clear that the extension letter is valid for 1 year after the date of expiration of the green card and I'm glad they clarified that on the newer letters. Regardless, United left me with a foul taste in my mouth and I will definitely be avoiding them in the future.

[Mollie09 1,543]

Did she have a stamp on her passport already?

[WandY 430]

16 hours ago, mindthegap said:

Yes - boycott them.

Awful airline, and the sooner they go under or get bought out, the better.

 

 

Yeah, the 2013 American merger really helped, didn't it? Boycotts never work. Not much hope for U.S. passengers flying domestic brands. Fly international, if possible.

 

[shell20 746]

Wow, wow, wow.  I am just speechless.  They made the mistake your wife is a legal permanent resident and to not pay for everything and their big blunder,  just boggles my mind. I will not be booking with United Airlines any time soon. Not until they apologise  to you and give you compensation.  I would most certainly bring this to light.  Perhaps twitter on their page and let everyone know, not to trust them?    Perhaps copy and paste the link to this discussion,, if it's allowed?

 

This is another reason why it is important to any permanent resident who travels, works, drives etc,  to have their GC sooner rather than later. I travel quite often and it's not a good feeling wondering if you will be allowed to board the plane or not.   

 

What also boggles my mind is who they were talking too on the phone to refuse you, some one with little/no training it seems!  

 

Sorry you and your wife went through this, but I would most certainly no let it lie if it was me. I would fight on until I got a HUGE apology you most certainly deserve!

Edited October 16, 2017 by shell20

[Pmem 2]

I had a similar experience. Airlines take 1 year from date of the letter, when it must be from the green card (according to my attorney). I traveled to Mexico too and i had to explain that dates in US are month/day/year. (they asked me "whats this date"). Ridiculous !!!! I traveled through American Airlines  

 

 

Edited October 16, 2017 by Pmem

[CEE53147 559]

I do not see a problem with the airline. She allowed her green card to expire 2 years ago.  This falls into the category of allowing a drivers license to expire and complaining about a ticket for not having a valid license even if you have a copy of the check you sent for a renewal.

 

You decided to take entire family on another airline at a greater cost. That was your choice. You should have taken the children as planned and let her sort out the problem she created; after all, she is an adult and poor planning has consequences. I bet she would renew all of her time sensitive documents at the earliest opportunity in the future if she rather than you had to untangle the mess.

[Lemonslice 4,710]

1 hour ago, CEE53147 said:

I do not see a problem with the airline. She allowed her green card to expire 2 years ago.  This falls into the category of allowing a drivers license to expire and complaining about a ticket for not having a valid license even if you have a copy of the check you sent for a renewal.

 

You decided to take entire family on another airline at a greater cost. That was your choice. You should have taken the children as planned and let her sort out the problem she created; after all, she is an adult and poor planning has consequences. I bet she would renew all of her time sensitive documents at the earliest opportunity in the future if she rather than you had to untangle the mess.

A point you seem to be missing is that there's no way to have an unexpired green card during the removal of conditions process... All permanent residents in that situation have to present alternate documents.