FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - ESTA ("Electronic System For Travel Authorization") see here for threads and Q&A's
Old Jul 12, 2014, 4:45 pm
  #4  
AA_EXP09
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere I need to be.
Programs: OW Emerald, *A Gold, NEXUS, GE, ABTC/APEC, South Korea SES, eIACS, PP, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 16,046
Originally Posted by Nadeem1980
Hi this is my first post on this forum and i am hoping to get some advice on my ESTA.

I applied for my ESTA last June and initially it took 3 days to be approved. The plan was to travel from the UK to the USA in the Summer 2013. I ended up changing plans and decided to travel this summer instead.

As the ESTA was valid for two years i didn't give it a second thought and just checked it again in February to make sure everything was ok. To my surprise it had reverted back to authorization pending. Again it took 3 days to be approved.

I went ahead after it had been approved and booked a week holiday to LV. I am meant to fly out in two weeks and logged on today to print the ESTA and it has again reverted back to "Authorisation Pending." This has got me extremely worried.

What i would like to know is what all of this means. I have never been in trouble with the law and work in the NHS which requires regular criminal records checks. I am sure it will be approved again but my worry is that on the day of travel it'll say "Authorisation Pending" and i will be denied boarding.

Another thing, my first name is Mohammad and i am 34 so i don't know what effect that has.

Any advice is appreciated. Should i just pack the whole thing in and just take the losses or wait till the day and run the risk.
Your name in itself should not matter as I know a French national whose name is Mohammed and he was allowed into America with an ESTA.
AA_EXP09 is offline