Our seasoned Globe Aware volunteers are no strangers to unusual and rare travel situations. Here’s a recent situation that occurred on a flight from Puerto Rico to Miami, which makes us all wonder if it’s a good idea to carry our passports to any destination at all times. Let us know what you think!

Should You Keep Your Passport Handy No Matter Where You’re Traveling?

Some American Airlines travelers felt “kidnapped” after a recent flight gone wrong.

By Opheli Garcia Lawler
Aug 8, 2024
Thrillist

Every week, the internet delivers new travel content that makes me never want to leave my house again. This week, the video that has me worried about getting on an airplane comes from @ItalianKate on TikTok. In a video viewed 6.3 million times, a traveler (@griptape_ on TikTok) details how a flight from Puerto Rico to Miami became a quasi-hostage situation.

As explained in the video, passengers aboard the American Airlines flight took off from Puerto Rico only to spend two hours flying in circles. The plane then made a landing in the Bahamas, where the passengers had to disembark. But because it was a domestic flight, most passengers on the flight weren’t carrying their passports, which meant that they couldn’t leave the gate.

“Puerto Rico to the US is a different domestic flight,” the speaker in the video says. “The Bahamas is a different country…We landed at 8:30, it is now 5:40 in the morning.”

The person explained that he had to translate the information from gate agents into Spanish and that they had only been offered Biscoff Cookies in the six to seven hours they had been trapped at the airport. Some people had medication that was still on the airplane that they weren’t able to access.

For reference, the average time for a flight between San Juan, Puerto Rico and Miami, Florida is two hours and 34 minutes. By the time the TikTok was filmed, eight or nine hours had passed since the departure from Puerto Rico. Reportedly, by the time the plane departed, the passengers without passports had been trapped in the airport terminal, locked behind the walls of a single gate for 14 hours.

“We have one bathroom for 100 people, dogs, children,” the speaker continues. “Hopefully, we get a refund at the end of this.”

In the comment section, people described the passengers from the flights as “kidnapped” and encouraged passengers to speak with an attorney. While watching TikTok, I couldn’t help but wonder: should we always be packing our passports on domestic flights? Fortunately, no.

This is definitely an uncommon scenario that we don’t often hear about, so no wonder people were incredibly frustrated when they learned they could not leave the airport,” Going’s travel expert Katy Nastro told Thrillist. “One of the benefits of traveling between the US and Puerto Rico is the fact that you can travel passport-less. “

Nasto says it is uncommon for domestic flights to be rerouted to international destinations. “Even when taking hurricane season into account, when we see flight diversions happen more commonly due to weather, it’s still less common,” Nastro said.

According to American Airlines, weather is what caused this nightmare (and rare) situation.

“On August 3, American Airlines flight 2421 with service from Puerto Rico (SJU) to Miami (MIA) was impacted by severe weather and diverted to Nassau (NAS),” an American Airlines representative told Thrillist. “The flight continued on to MIA once the weather conditions allowed us to safely do so. Operating safely is always our priority—especially in dynamic weather events—and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience experienced as a result of the weather.”

The airline did not comment on whether or not the passengers on the flight were compensated for the time they were trapped at the Nassau, Bahamas airport. As severe weather does become more common, especially in regions of the world known to have hurricanes and other major storm systems, packing your passport—even on domestic flights—definitely can’t hurt. “There’s no saying you can’t use your passport as a form of ID, so if it gives you a bit more peace (of travel) mind, then go for it,” Nastro says.