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I'm trying to check in online to a flight from Eastern Europe to the US that I booked with SWISS. However, the online form is asking me to specify a country in the "Valid for" list, to which I have no idea how to respond.

I would go out on a limb and say "US", but that information would be redundant! It already knows I'm flying to the US and it asked me about my US visa information. I mean, it should be logical to assume that if a person has a US visa, it would be valid for the US, right?

Another guess I had is to specify my home country that issued the passport, but that would make even less sense, as the passport is meant to be "valid for" the entire world.

So what country should I specify in the "Valid for" field?

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    Travel document could be different to the document you have the visa (e.g. if you have two passports). But could you add also a screen shot of the German page. Maybe it is a translation error (lack of context). Or just an error. But no, your passport is not valid for all the world: every country decides which passport they consider valid (country and/or type: temporary passports have restrictions).
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented Jan 21, 2019 at 10:19
  • @GiacomoCatenazzi The German version says "Gültig für" which as far as my German goes is the same exact thing. I agree about the passport, my point was that the passport is meant to be your universal ID across multiple countries. It is not meant to be "valid" in just one foreign country. Mine certainly isn't, at least.
    – はいはいはい
    Commented Jan 21, 2019 at 10:24
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    Funnily enough, the Russian version translates as "Valid until" which is just blatantly incorrect, considering you have to pick a country.
    – はいはいはい
    Commented Jan 21, 2019 at 10:30

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According to a SWISS representative on Twitter, you need to specify the destination country, which in this particular case is the US:

Yes, then it would be the country you're travelling to. https://twitter.com/FlySWISS/status/1087295723387932672

I'm personally not very happy with the lack of common sense in the way the check-in form is composed, but that is the official answer. I can only guess that for some other destinations it is not as obvious whether or not a visa for one country would also allow entry to some other country due to some international agreements.

Upd: I followed the given advice and had no issues with the flight, expect for catching a cold on my way there because climate control in Swiss's airplanes is apparently not a thing, even in cold Russian winters.

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    Sometime a US visa or a Schengen visa allows you to enter in third countries (such countries assumes that if you have such visa, you will not remain illegally in he country). And Guam has some special status. You may have a US visa for Guam (so you must have a transfer flight). But the form is ill formatted in any way. Other airlines ask for final destination, and your visas for the transfer airports, in a much more logical way.
    – Giacomo Catenazzi
    Commented Jan 21, 2019 at 13:03
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    Man, that tweet doesn't inspire confidence. "The country you're traveling to"? I'd have expected the response to be "USA" for someone who understood the confusion...
    – user541686
    Commented Jan 21, 2019 at 18:58

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