Originally Posted by
edmundronald
In Valencia people without a passport get to sit in the baggage area and served water. On an international flight into the US they'd get carted off to jail as undocumented immigrants / potential terrorists and have to wait for a few days in detention until consular services wake up and supply them with documentation - and then they'd have to get their credit card company to reissue cards without which they can't get around, and then find their kids wherever the system has put them as they'd have been taken away to a different place. No airline employee would venture to get in the way of Homeland and ICE who would have a field day protecting the nation from invasion.
I think this went rather well for an unplanned arrival - I wouldn't have complained: Healthy, on the ground, unhurt, and not in detention, in a safe environment. Europe has its good sides. Any flight you are allowed to walk away from is a good flight.
Edmund
After the BA engine fire in Houston the passengers were accommodated in the BA lounges until reunited with their luggage / passports, but were free to come and go from the lounge. They were then let back into the US with no immigration checks. They were let out of the US the next day even though they no longer had the little white piece of paper you used to have to hand in when you left. This is not anecdotal. I was one of them. It took a while (nearly 6 hours) but that was not surprising under the circumstances.