I entered the US using ESTA about two weeks ago thru BOS and was very surprised when the CBP officer requested to see a copy of my itinerary. I offered to show him my complete itinerary on TripIt or in my e-mail but as phones are not allowed in that area, he wouldn't have any of it. So we went back en forth a bit about how this is ALWAYS a requirement (according to him) when entering the US using ESTA and me pointing out that I've been in the US on a regular basis without this. The CBP officer almost got angry when I pointed out that I had been in NYC on vacation 30 days before without being asked for a printed itinerary. "You must have been!" was his response.

Finally, he asked me if I had a business card or something else that would substantiate that I had an employer back home in Sweden.

Having travelled back and forth to the US and about 60 other countries on a very frequent basis over the last 10 years and never heard about this "requirement" before, I was very surprised by this whole debacle and decided to do some research.

I found that most airlines have a disclaimer that one should print the itinerary but there is nothing on the CBP website that says that I need anything except a customs form, a valid passport and a valid ESTA. I sent a question thru the CBP website and very specifically asked about this issue but all I got back was a nonsense response about having a valid ESTA etc.

So, what's the deal? Do I really need to carry an extra piece of dead wood to enter the US or was the CBP officer making up his own rules? If this really is a requirement, where is it officially documented?