Travel document checklist: what to carry and where

For an international trip, a U.S. traveler needs a passport that meets the destination's validity rule, any visa or entry authorization, booking references, and insurance details. For a domestic flight, an adult needs a REAL ID-compliant license or a passport. Check every traveler, children included, before you book anything nonrefundable.

This is written for U.S. citizens flying out of the United States. It can't tell you what a particular country demands, because those rules differ and change. The destination's official entry page, and the State Department's country information for it, are the only place to confirm them.

Example: four people, one folder

An illustration, not a real family. One row per document, so a question at a desk has a three second answer. Notice the row that a plain checklist would miss: Sam's passport expires in November.

The column that does the work

A checklist that says "passport: yes" would pass Sam. The table catches him, because it has a date beside each name. If the trip is in December and the destination wants three or six months left after you go home, Sam has a problem, and it's a much cheaper problem to have in the spring than at check-in.

Check these before you buy anything

1. Open each passport to the photo page and write down the expiry date beside the person's name. Do this for every traveler, including children.
2. Look up the destination's entry page and note two things: how long the passport must stay valid after you arrive or leave, and how many blank pages it wants. Some destinations want three or six months beyond your trip, and some ask for one or two empty pages. Others only need it valid for your stay. Write the rule down in one line so you're not re-reading a website next month.
3. Check whether you need a visa or an electronic authorization. Some are quick online, but quick is not instant, so start early.
4. For children traveling with one parent or with other adults, decide about a consent letter. Guidance on the usa.gov page for children's travel documents is that a child traveling with one parent should have a letter from the other parent, and one traveling with someone else should have one signed by both parents, in English and notarized when possible. The destination's embassy can tell you whether it asks for more.
5. Make sure the name on each ticket matches the passport exactly. A mismatch is easy to fix when you book and awkward to fix at the desk.
6. Decide who physically carries which passport, and write it in the last column of the table.

When to do it

Passport processing has been running about 4 to 6 weeks for routine service and 2 to 3 weeks for expedited, according to the State Department. Check the current figure on its site, because it moves.

1. 6 months before

   Read each passport's expiry. Look up entry rules.

2. 3 months before

   Start any renewal, visa or authorization.

3. 1 month before

   Confirm names on tickets. Sort consent letters.

4. Night before

   Print the page. Check passports are in the bag.

Domestic flights need ID too

Don't stop at the international documents. Since May 7, 2025, TSA no longer accepts a state license or ID that isn't REAL ID compliant. A compliant card carries a star, a flag symbol or an "Enhanced" marking. A U.S. passport works instead, and so do a few other federal IDs. If your license isn't compliant and you have nothing else, TSA says you can pay a $45 fee to use its ConfirmID process, which is a poor way to start a holiday.

TSA doesn't require children under 18 to show ID on domestic flights, but airlines can set their own rule, so check the one you're flying.

What to have findable on the day

These are the things you'll be asked for while people are waiting behind you.

A photo of a passport is not a backup

It won't board you and it won't clear a border. What it's good for is filling in forms and knowing what a number was. The thing that resolves a problem at a desk is knowing what exists and where it is right now: whose passport is in which bag, whether the insurance is under one person's name, which parent has the child's letter.

We'd still keep a photo of each passport's photo page on your phone, and a printed copy in a different bag from the passport itself. If a passport is lost, the copy speeds up what comes next, which this guide on lost passports, wallets and phones abroad covers. For what to print, see what to keep on paper when you travel.

What goes wrong with more than one traveler

Two people can hold the same fact and both be wrong. Both of you assume the other renewed the passport. Each assumes the other packed the child's letter. The fix isn't more vigilance, it's one page that names the person responsible for each item. If you're sorting this for a whole group, how to plan a group trip covers who's on which booking. If you're bringing children, the kids and baby guide covers what to note for each child.

What the Companion does with this

Travel Companion has a Documents section where you record the kind (passport, visa, insurance, ticket), a label, whose it is, where it's kept and an optional expiry date. It never accepts an upload. Anything with an expiry that falls before or during the trip, or up to about six months after it ends, shows up under "Dates worth a look". It only compares dates you entered and says so: it doesn't know any country's rules, so the entry page is still yours to read. The printed My Trip Book is blank, with a number column you fill in by hand. Details are on the Travel Companion page.

Questions people ask