Dear Annie: Passport pitfalls

Dear Annie: My wife and I had planned to visit Europe this summer with our daughter and two grandchildren. When we checked in with the airline and gave them our passports, at JFK Airport in New York, they would not let me board the plane because my passport – perfectly valid – was due to expire in one month.

They said the country we were flying to in Europe – Italy – required that the passports have at least three months before they expire.

The airline told us that if they let me fly there, they would be fined and I would be put on the first plane back to New York.

I have since researched this and found that many countries require at least six months before the expiration of a passport.

You can’t imagine how much of an inconvenience this caused for our entire family. What seems crazy to me is that the “expiration date” of a passport is not really an expiration date. It is three or six months before the expiration date.

I love your column and wanted to let your readers know about this in case they are planning to travel overseas. – Grounded at JFK

Dear Grounded: Thank you for the heads up. If you are traveling overseas, it’s a good idea to check with your airline about the passport requirements of the countries you plan to visit. I’m surprised your airline did not inform you of the requirements when you booked your tickets.

Dear Annie: There are three finance people in my department. One has a non-finance degree with six years of experience in the field. Another has 10-plus years of experience and an accounting degree. The third has 30-plus years of experience and two accounting degrees. The one with the least education and experience just got promoted above the other two.

One issue is that the boss has a history of playing favorites. When the promotion became public knowledge, our boss was very uncomfortable having to call us in and explain. It was apparent that we were never supposed to find out. To make matters worse, she lied about it.

She blamed her boss and a recent development at work for our colleague in passing us up. In truth, the paperwork was put in three months prior, and it wasn’t based on additional duties, as she said.

I should note that this person’s last promotion was less than three years ago, and the person who has been here longest has not had a promotion in 10 years.

I am concerned about working for this person because they play favorites and I’m not sure that I will move beyond where I am now. But, more importantly right now, I have zero respect for my boss for lying. (We have seen proof of the lie.)

This has really affected the morale in our department.

What advice do you have for me? – Lost Hope in Morale of Company

Dear Lost Hope: My advice is to start looking for a new job. If you don’t respect your boss, then you have no future there. You’re not going to be happy, and my guess is that they won’t be happy with you. It sounds like you’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Try to find a job where it feels comfortable.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.