A passport holder does two jobs: it protects the passport, and it keeps the few documents you need at an airport in one place you can reach with one hand. It is not meant to be a second wallet. Most of the trouble people have with passport holders comes from carrying too much in them.
What to keep in a passport holder
- Your passport. Obviously — but in the main sleeve, not a card slot, so the cover opens flat when an officer needs the photo page.
- Your boarding pass. Printed or a note of the gate. Most holders have a tall slot for it.
- One payment card. For the taxi, the train or the coffee on arrival. Not your full set.
- A little local cash. Enough for the first hour after landing.
- Visa or entry paperwork, if your destination needs a printed copy.
- A pen. Arrival cards still exist in many countries, and the pen is never where you left it.
What to leave out
- All your cards. If the holder is lost, you lose your passport and every way to pay for a replacement at once. Keep a second card somewhere else.
- Receipts and tickets you no longer need. They fatten the holder until it will not close, which strains the stitching at the spine.
- Your only copy of important details. Keep a photo of the passport’s data page on your phone or in email, separate from the holder.
How to use a passport holder at the airport
Keep the passport in its sleeve through check-in and security, and leave it there unless asked. At passport control, some officers will ask you to take it out of its cover so they can scan it and check the binding — a holder that releases the passport easily saves you fumbling at the desk. Put the boarding pass in its own slot facing out, so you can show it without opening the holder fully.
Once you are through, put the holder in an inside pocket or a zipped bag compartment rather than an outer pocket. It is the most expensive thing you are carrying to replace.
Do you need an RFID passport holder?
Modern passports contain a chip. For US e-passports, the cover itself includes a shielding layer that limits reading while the book is closed; many other countries’ passports do not. An RFID passport wallet adds a lining that blocks the frequency the chip and your contactless cards use, whether the passport is open or not.
The realistic benefit is for the cards you carry alongside the passport rather than the passport chip itself. We explain the limits honestly in RFID blocking wallets explained.
Passport holder, cover or travel wallet?
- Passport cover. A single sleeve that wraps the passport. Slimmest; protects the book and nothing else.
- Passport holder. A cover with a few card slots and a boarding pass slot. The right size for most flights.
- Travel wallet. Larger, with room for cash in several currencies, tickets and a phone. Useful for long trips; too big for a pocket.
Most of our leather passport wallets sit in the middle: a passport sleeve, a boarding pass slot and a handful of card slots.
Tracking a passport
A passport is the one document that is slow and expensive to replace abroad. If you use an Apple AirTag, a passport holder with an AirTag slot keeps it tracked without a loose disc rattling against your documents. More on that in can you put an AirTag in your wallet.
Caring for a leather passport holder
Travel is hard on leather: heat in a car, rain, sweat from a trouser pocket. Let a wet holder dry at room temperature with the passport removed, never on a heater. Do not overfill it — a passport holder stretched around a thick bundle will not close properly again. See how to care for leather.
Short answer
- Keep: passport, boarding pass, one card, a little cash, a pen.
- Leave out: every other card, old receipts, your only copy of key details.
- Browse leather passport holders or RFID passport wallets.
- Want it tracked? Passport holder with AirTag slot.