PADI E-Cards

[Attonine]

They carry no authority at all. A charter can require one and reject the other if they choose. It may not make business sense but they can do it. Nothing you can do about it. Nothing PADI can do about.

Well, scanning this thread, it seems as though the rest of the world has already moved on. Hopefully your charters in the US will catch up one day.

In the meantime, I still hold that ecards should be the default and the traditional cards available upon request, possibly for a small fee. £30 though, that's just too much.

Ooh, just think, if PADI stopped issuing the traditional cards as default, it may force some of these charters to educate themselves......

 

[Codger81]

You do that with your boarding pass when the airport/airline allow you to do that. Try doing it on a Southwest international flight.

That's the point: if it's offered they should be accepting it. Never had one declined from an airline that offers it.

 

[ReefHound]

That's the point: if it's offered they should be accepting it. Never had one declined from an airline that offers it.

Of course, they should accept it if they offer it. But they are under no obligation to accept it when they do not offer it but someone else offers it. PADI can offer e-cards all they want but they cannot dictate that a charter accept them.

 

[ljpm]

Tell ya what, next time you guys travel just leave your passport at home. When you have to pass though immigration just show the agent a pic on your phone of your passport or tell him to "look it up". If he balks explain that the physical passport could be faked up by your IT department as easily as a pic can be doctored. If that still doesn't sway him then gently pressure him to get with the times and lament how other places are ok with electronic id and how surprised you are that anyone would reject it. Enjoy your visit.

AND this is what we call a false analogy. Are you seriously trying to equate a passport to an ecard. Really?

 

[luscioman]

Let us not forget that just like fake passports there are fake Padi E-Cards out there. Just because one has a physical card to does not guarantee it is authentic.

Florida Atty Gen.: Miami guy sells fake course, PADI cards

Scuba diving shop in Doral issued fake certifications, authorities say

 

[ReefHound]

AND this is what we call a false analogy. Are you seriously trying to equate a passport to an ecard. Really?

You must be misunderstanding the principle here. It's not the card being compared but the enforcement of policy.

In both, you have a person charged with enforcing policy. The agent enforces the policy of his country, the dm/employee enforces the policy of his charter. In both, the policy is not going to be changed because of your arguments however reasonable and logical you may think they are. In both, you will comply with the policy or you will be denied entry, be it a country or a boat.

A passport analogy was used because it's something everyone is familiar with and understands you aren't going to change the policy with an argument. For some reason, people think you are going to nudge or educate a charter op that doesn't see it your way.

You can and should vote with your feet and dollars. If you insist on using e-cards and a charter hassles you over e-cards then take your business elesewhere. However, that won't help you at the moment if it comes up. You will be sitting in the bar trash talking the charter while the others are out there diving.

Side point - if you refuse to carry physical cards and insist on e-cards then you should verify this will be ok if planning a trip with an unfamiliar operator.

And please note, I'm not arguing against how it could or should be. If I was king, everyone would honor e-cards and card pics.

 

[ljpm]

You must be misunderstanding the principle here. It's not the card being compared but the enforcement of policy.

In both, you have a person charged with enforcing policy. The agent enforces the policy of his country, the dm/employee enforces the policy of his charter. In both, the policy is not going to be changed because of your arguments however reasonable and logical you may think they are. In both, you will comply with the policy or you will be denied entry, be it a country or a boat.

Not quite. A border agent does not enforce policy, they enforce the Law. A better comparison would be forgetting your library card and having a copy of it on your phone. The Librarian is able to see the image as well as look it up on her system.