Lost passport, license or crew ID on a layover

Losing your wallet on vacation is a bad day. Losing your passport, certificate or crew ID on a layover can also take you off the trip home, because you can't legally operate, and sometimes can't even leave the country, without them. The good news is that each document has a known path back, and most of them are faster than people expect. Below is that path, step by step, and what to do before you leave home so a loss costs hours instead of days.

Rules here are for US passports and FAA certificates, with notes for EASA and UK license holders. Your airline's own procedures come first; follow them.

First: stop, check, then call

Before you start canceling things, retrace the last few hours. The room safe, the pocket of the jacket you didn't wear, the crew van, the hotel front desk, the restaurant from last night, the flight deck side pocket. Call the van company and the hotel. A surprising number of "lost" passports are in the safe.

If it's really gone, call your company before anything else. Crew scheduling needs to know now, not at the report, because you may not be able to fly the next leg and they'll need to cover it. Your airline's security department also has to know about a missing crew ID, and the chief pilot's office or inflight office will tell you what the company needs from you and how they'll get you home.

The police report

If your documents were stolen, report it to the local police and get a copy or a report number. Insurers, banks and the airline usually ask for it. For a US passport, the State Department says a police report isn't mandatory but can help confirm what happened, and if you file one you include a copy with your application. If the language is a problem, the hotel's front desk can often help you call or find the right station.

A lost US passport

The State Department's steps are clear:

1. Report it lost or stolen right away, to protect yourself from identity theft. Once reported online, the passport is canceled within 1 business day and you get a confirmation email. After that it's no longer valid for international travel, even if it turns up, so be sure first.
2. Go in person to the nearest US embassy or consulate. Bring what you have: - one passport photo, 2 × 2 in (5 × 5 cm); - identification, such as a driver's license or an expired passport; - proof of US citizenship, such as a birth certificate or a photocopy of your missing passport; - your travel itinerary (a crew schedule or a positive-space ticket); - Form DS-11, with details of where and when it was lost or stolen, and a copy of the police report if you filed one. If the DS-11 doesn't have everything, they may ask for Form DS-64 too.
3. Pay the fee. A replacement generally costs the same as any passport. Financial help exists if you can't pay, and victims of serious crime or disaster may get a free emergency passport.
4. Get an emergency passport if you need to travel soon. It's a limited-validity passport, valid for up to 1 year, that you can exchange for a full one later.

Timing matters on a layover. Most embassies and consulates can't issue passports on weekends or holidays, and the after-hours duty officer is for life-or-death emergencies. In most cases, the State Department says, a replacement is issued the next business day. A Friday-night loss can therefore mean Monday. Tell crew scheduling that up front.

Consular staff will still do their best to get you a new passport quickly if you can't present every document. Even so, a photocopy of your passport, kept somewhere other than your wallet, is the single most useful thing you can carry.

Not a US citizen? Contact your own country's embassy or consulate. The UK, for example, issues an emergency travel document to British nationals abroad without a valid passport, and has guidance on canceling the lost one.

A lost FAA pilot certificate

You can't act as a required pilot crew member without it. Under 14 CFR 61.3(a), you need your pilot certificate in your physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft, or a document conveying temporary authority issued under 61.29(e). You also need photo identification: a US driver's license, a government ID card, a US Armed Forces ID, an official passport, or a credential that authorizes unescorted access to a security identification display area (an airport SIDA badge), among others the FAA accepts.

The fix is quick:

1. Request a replacement online through the FAA's Airmen Online Services. 14 CFR 61.29(a) allows the request by letter to the Airmen Certification Branch in Oklahoma City or online, and the FAA's site lists the replacement fee as $2.00 by credit card.
2. Get temporary authority by email. The FAA's temporary authority is valid for 60 days while you wait for the permanent replacement. Print it and carry it in place of your certificate.

If your certificate was issued on the basis of a foreign license, the process is different. The email option works only once the Airmen Certification Branch has a current verification of the foreign license on file, and a replacement may require a visit to a Flight Standards District Office.

A lost FAA medical certificate

The medical has its own path. Under 61.29(b), you write to the FAA's Aerospace Medical Certification Division. The FAA's instructions:

1. Send AC Form 8060-56 to the Aerospace Medical Certification Division (AAM-331), Attn: Duplicate Desk, PO Box 25082, Oklahoma City, OK 73125, with a $2.00 check or money order payable to the FAA. The request needs your full name and date of birth, the class of certificate, the place and date of the exam, your examiner's name and how it was lost.
2. Ask for a faxed record in the meantime. The division can fax you a record of your certificate valid for no more than 60 days. Call (405) 954-4821 and choose option 3 for the duplicate certificate desk.

A replacement is issued only for a certificate that hasn't expired. If yours is close to expiring, it may be faster to see an AME for a new exam.

EASA and UK license holders

Under EASA's FCL.045, "a valid licence and a valid medical certificate shall always be carried by the pilot" when exercising the license's privileges, together with a personal identification document with a photo. A lost license is replaced by the authority that issued it, not by EASA, so contact your national authority's licensing office.

The UK CAA, for example, takes requests online with form SRG1117 for a license that is lost, damaged or stolen. It asks for an original or certified copy of your passport (preferred) or a full UK photocard driving license, evidence of your ratings, and, for a CPL, MPL or ATPL, your employer's name and AOC number. Your medical and language proficiency must be current. The CAA's licensing team is at fclweb@caa.co.uk.

A lost crew ID or airport badge

Your crew ID is a security credential, so report it to your company's security department at once, whatever time it is. The same goes for an airport-issued badge, such as a SIDA badge: in the US, airport operators must have procedures for reporting lost or stolen identification media, and under 49 CFR 1542.211 a replacement can be issued only after the holder declares in writing that the original was lost, stolen or destroyed. Expect paperwork when you get back to base.

Until then, your airline will tell you how you can travel and whether you can operate. Remember that the crew ID may also be your photo ID under 61.3(a)(2); if it's gone, your passport or driver's license has to do that job.

Phone, cards and driver's license

• Cards: freeze or cancel them from the bank's app or by phone; keep the lost-card numbers somewhere other than your wallet.
• Phone: use the find-my-device service to lock or erase it, and call your carrier to suspend the line. Your crew app and authenticator apps may need resetting from another device.
• Driver's license: replace it through the state that issued it when you're home. Until then, your passport covers the FAA's photo ID requirement.

How to prepare

Ten minutes before your next international trip saves hours later.

• Copies. Take a photo and a photocopy of your passport's data page, your pilot certificate, medical and crew ID (both sides). Keep the paper copy in a different bag from the originals, and the photos somewhere you can reach from any device, such as an encrypted cloud folder or an email to yourself. The photocopy of your passport is accepted as proof of citizenship.
• A spare photo. One 2 × 2 in passport photo in your flight bag saves a hunt for a photo shop in a strange city.
• Phone numbers. Your company's crew scheduling, security and chief pilot's office; your bank's lost-card line; the nearest embassy or consulate for countries you fly to often. For US citizens abroad who can't reach their embassy in an emergency: +1-202-501-4444.
• Where you keep things. Use the room safe, keep the passport and certificates together in one known pocket of your flight bag, and check that pocket before you leave the hotel, the van and the aircraft.
• Expiration dates. Some countries won't let you in on a passport that's close to expiring (each country's entry requirements say how close), and a lapsed crew ID or medical grounds you as surely as a lost one. Keep the dates where you'll see them.

Tracking expirations in LogAloft

LogAloft can watch these dates for you, two ways:

• In Reports → Currency, open Add a check or training item and pick Passport or Crew ID badge from the list. Enter the date it was issued as Last done and how often it's renewed in Every (months): 120 for a 10-year adult passport. Untick the grace month, since a passport expires on the day. The item turns amber 30 days before it's due.
• Or, in Reports → Certificates, tap + Add, choose Other, and give it a title and its Expires date. Anything with an expiry date shows in Currency under "Certificates and endorsements," which suits a passport, a visa or a foreign medical whose date you'd rather copy than calculate.

Your FAA medical is tracked in Currency already. The Currency tile on Today counts what's current and, on a computer, shows a green, amber or red dot for each item, so a passport running out shows up next to your landings. The currency guide walks through both.

LogAloft keeps the dates, not copies of the documents. Keep the copies themselves somewhere encrypted and under your control.

Sources

1. Lost or stolen passport abroad, U.S. Department of State
2. Passports and emergency travel documents, GOV.UK
3. 14 CFR 61.3, Requirement for certificates, ratings, and authorizations, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
4. 14 CFR 61.29, Replacement of a lost or destroyed airman or medical certificate or knowledge test report, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
5. Temporary authority and replacement certificates, FAA Airmen Online Services
6. I lost my medical certificate. How can I obtain a copy?, Federal Aviation Administration
7. Replacement of medical certificates, Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners, Federal Aviation Administration
8. PEL Notice 47, Obligation to carry and present documents (FCL.045), Transport Malta
9. Request a replacement pilot's licence, UK Civil Aviation Authority
10. 49 CFR 1542.211, Identification systems, Legal Information Institute
11. Crisis response: emergency contacts, U.S. Department of State