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When purchasing a flight ticket online, one sometimes has to indicate the passport expiry date. I don't travel often and I don't know it by heart. I just know that the passport expiry date is far enough in the future that it will please any immigration officer. Is it ok if I just write down some approximate date that is far away in the future or does writing down the exact date matter?

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    So .. lying on an immigration form. Acceptable or not?
    – Peter M
    Commented Jan 15 at 18:36
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    If you know only the year, write that. If you know the year and month, write that. But don't invent a date to satisfy a computer-required field. Go look it up.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Jan 15 at 19:24
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    @FranckDernoncourt What part of "don't lie" isn't clear? The information exists and you have it in your possession. Unless you get clarification from an airline employee anything we say here is pure speculation.
    – Peter M
    Commented Jan 15 at 19:34
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    Where exactly do you keep your passport? Or conversely, where are you when you make a flight booking? The no-brain answer is to write the passport expiry date in the same place that you wrote its number.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Jan 15 at 19:37
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    @FranckDernoncourt Choosing not to lie removes the need to know if it it matters or not.
    – Peter M
    Commented Jan 15 at 19:38

2 Answers 2

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Never invent information on an offical form that you don't think is relevant.

There are several choices for you:

  • look up the exact information asked for

  • enter less data than asked for that you know to be true, and take the risk that the form will be rejected

  • don't complete the form

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  • There could be a knock-on problem. You enter different dates on various forms, and the organisation that is hoarding them finds a discrepancy later, nearer to when the passport expires.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Jan 15 at 20:49
  • Thanks, which organization is hoarding them?
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Jan 15 at 21:01
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    All of them do, subject to data regulations.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Jan 15 at 21:03
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does writing down the exact date matter?

Probably not, but you can't know for sure, so why risk it ?

It's not entirely clear why some airlines do collect passport info at booking and most do not. Most common seems to be that you can enter passport info optionally and change it anytime between booking and check-in.

The main reason is probably identification and making sure that the booking name matches at least one travel document that you have.

There is absolutely no requirement that the passport used for booking (if required) is the same as the one used for travelling.

Since we don't know exactly why some airlines collect this info and what exactly they do with it, it's certainly the safest option to provide correct information or book with airline that doesn't care.

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  • " why risk it ?" I value human time.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Jan 15 at 23:20
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    That seems disingenuous: Writing and managing this question here takes you more time than looking up your passport data 20+ times. I have all my info in a secure online document than I can access on any of my devices anywhere in and pull up any relevant data in a matter seconds. Added benefit: I can copy and past the relevant info, which reduces the risk of typing errors. I suggest spending a few minutes setting that up and than you are all set for any future online forms (whatever they may be)
    – Hilmar
    Commented Jan 16 at 13:27

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