With the talk of Bahama's and Baja I thought I'd remind all of us of an important change coming up when flying internationally...
As of January 23rd all air travelers (including GA and including returning US citizens) will require a passport to enter (or re-enter) the US. People that used to not require passports (returning US citizens, Canadian & Mexican citizens, etc) will now require them.
Unlike commercial flights where the airlines do a good job of double checking your papers when flying yourself it will be quite possible to put yourself into a minor pickle by legally entering Mexico or Canada without a passport and then attempting to return to the US without one. Again, this applies to _all_ air travel including GA. DHS/DoS have been very unambiguous on this...
What is ambiguous is that the details of what happens if you don't have been sketchy, with vague references to "secondary screening" which could take "extended periods of time" to validate citizenship and cross-check databases.
So get your passport and realize that the normal processing times will probably take a substantial hit as people panic and realize they need a passport for their upcoming winter/spring break vacation. I've heard rumors that some projections show the non-rush processing backlog could slip to 2-3 months for a short period of time and the rush processing could take a hit of a week or two except in true emergency/hardship cases.
As of January 23rd all air travelers (including GA and including returning US citizens) will require a passport to enter (or re-enter) the US. People that used to not require passports (returning US citizens, Canadian & Mexican citizens, etc) will now require them.
Unlike commercial flights where the airlines do a good job of double checking your papers when flying yourself it will be quite possible to put yourself into a minor pickle by legally entering Mexico or Canada without a passport and then attempting to return to the US without one. Again, this applies to _all_ air travel including GA. DHS/DoS have been very unambiguous on this...
What is ambiguous is that the details of what happens if you don't have been sketchy, with vague references to "secondary screening" which could take "extended periods of time" to validate citizenship and cross-check databases.
So get your passport and realize that the normal processing times will probably take a substantial hit as people panic and realize they need a passport for their upcoming winter/spring break vacation. I've heard rumors that some projections show the non-rush processing backlog could slip to 2-3 months for a short period of time and the rush processing could take a hit of a week or two except in true emergency/hardship cases.