ESTA Panic
Thought i'd share a story from today.
Tomorrow, the wife and i are travelling to New York on BA0173 in J. Booked 2 months ago, and ESTA submitted beginning of December.
During check-in for the BA flights, I noticed it would not allow me to print off wife's boarding pass. BA also advised that our travel documents would need to be checked at the airport. The only document i could think of was our ESTA/ approval so I re-checked the ESTA approval and to my absolute horror, noticed her middle name had a one letter mis-spelling "M" instead of "N". Quick search on FT indicated that as this did not match up on the passport, it's as good as useless. NOTE: I scanned her passport to pre-populate the fields and this seems to have caused the issue (however I know it's my fault for not checking)
PANIC!!
11:35 today I resubmitted her ESTA, but in bold red highlight, 72 hours minimum. Body shaking of nerves, I make silly mistakes but correct them immediately and resubmit the application. It prompts me that I have an existing ESTA open that will be cancelled if resubmitting. Pausing for a second, I question whether I should do it, but knowing how precise US customs can be, I thought its the only option available.
11:45 I call BA Bronze Helpline to discuss my predicament. The guy i spoke to was extremely helpful and understanding and gave me some options to consider, and a number to call should I need to change flights.
12:00 Go for lunch with a friend but can't stop thinking about this ridiculous mistake i made and crossing fingers we get approval in time.
13:00 Get back from lunch, check status, all approved!!
PANIC OVER! Well kind of. I'm now paranoid i've made another mistake somewhere, or that BA won't process it in time for our flight, or US customs won't receive it in time for our arrival.
I'm sure it's all fine but the lesson from this story? Be wary of the passport image scanner on ESTA site. Recommend filling in all fields yourself!