Dual citizenship and API
 

On checking the API form on BA.com, it looks as if BAEC members can only choose one set of passport details.

Does one have to keep updating passport details between travels (depending on which passport is required) or is it enough to show a perfectly valid (albeit different) passport and immigration/passport control etc.?

You unfortunately have to update them manually :-(

My daughter have 3 passports, and depending on where we go and why, have to change them, which is quite a pain... However, as far as I know, there is no link to what is in your booking and what passport UK immigration sees, as I frequently use two different ones...

What I do is have a cut and paste note handy, so I can quickly swap them over more easily. It's about the country of final arrival that matters. Not all countries use API but for the USA in particular it's important to get it right. Occasionally API goes into a loop where it apparently hasn't accepted the update - it probably has in reality but the final screen is ambiguous in that respect.

My companion, who is a dual citizen and required to travel to/from the other (ie the non-British) country using the passport of that other country, has left the BAEC fields blank for this reason. The API details are completed for each booking, as appropriate, and updated mid-trip if appropriate. Needless to say, I have now memorised both sets of passport details given the number of times I have done this ...

I am a dual citizen too, have my US passport in API but actually only travel to and from the US on that passport. All other travel, mainly Europe, I do on my UK passport, never update the API and has worked for me for years.

That will work for one or both of two reasons: as a US citizen you are able to enter the country concerned and are in good standing with those countries; secondly these are countries that don't process API information. You have to be a bit more careful with some other locations, Australia is one that comes to mind. You are of course required to use your US passport on travel to the USA.

I entered Australia on my UK passport, obviously with a visa. Now I do not remember anymore if I changed it in API, could well be.

Oh well, I do sometimes run into issues when the AA system seems to think I need a visa to enter the UK. I then just show them noth passports and all is well. Would be convenient if BA would allow to enter 2 or more passport details and that you can then select the one you wish to have connected to the specific trip.

Could it be that at that point the airline updates the API with a passport that's not going to cause problems (eg the UK passport for a flight to the UK)? As is pretty obvious, check-in desks can capture API.

I really do not know. But with my US passport I don’t need a visa either. Nobody can ever explain why this seems to happen.

The issue will be that you are on the second leg of the trip, and do not have a ticket showing in the system to leave the UK. Whilst you are allowed to enter the UK without a visa, there is a time limit to that on a US passport (without a work permit) If a roundtrip is started in the US it will not be an issue. If the roundtrip was started in the UK, the system will flag it - until someone overrides it (either by showing a valid work permit, a valid second passport entitling you to remain in the UK, or an onward ticket showing you will leave the UK within the allowed time)

Could be but not entirely convinced as I usually have a connecting flight to AMS, so leaving the UK on the same day. I always thought it was linked to the same glitch that when trying to checkin for some flights to the US I am not able to download a BP as ‘I am not travelling on a valid passport’ and have to show my US passport at the checkin desk. Nothing major, just all very incovenient.

Yes, and it shouldn't be beyond the realms of IT specialists.

I have full UK and Swiss passports (and a Swiss ID card which is very practical in most of Europe). The Swiss PP/ID is marginally more useful - no Turkish visa and in theory at least lower Chinese visa costs.

If the dinosaurs have their way in 2019 and travel to EU countries changes, I can see my UK passport becoming redundant except for the US. That would be a sad day. I'd like the option of using either or both for API.

I have US and UK, but it is the UK one that I have saved in BA so that it auto-populates, and that is perfect for 90% of my travel. When I am headed to the USA and if I don't remember, my UK passport obviously has no ESTA so MMB helpfully reminds me the details are not complete. There is also something about "where are you staying?" which AmCits don't have to populate - this may in fact be the trigger for incomplete API. When outbound I always check-in with the US passport as well, ie I don't change nationality mid-air. Same inbound, I use the US passport I arrived on whilst exiting America, however I do suddenly become a UK citizen again at the UK border which to date has never been an issue.

As more countries start to ask for passports with check-in and more countries deploy ESTA-type electronic visas I predict life is going to get more irritating for those of us with multiple passports.

My residency is based on one passport (and must enter home with it), my US work authorization in another and, well, to be honest there is really no need for me to have my British passport any more - even if it is the one I most often instinctively use.

My apologies for dredging up this old thread but hopefully someone can help with my query as it's related. I have recently obtained British citizenship and now have dual German / British citizenship. I always travel on my German passport (but have started to use my British passport at the eGates in LHR) and my travel profile on the BA site has my German passport information. So far, no issues.

I am going on a trip which first takes me from London to Seoul and then to Shanghai, then back to London. As I am a UK resident I had to get the Chinese visa using my British passport. My flights to Seoul and back from Shanghai have been booked with BA and I will have a separate flight booking to go from Seoul to Shanghai.

Do any experienced multi-passport holders know whether I need to change my API on my BA profile so that the whole trip takes place using my British passport? My thinking is that I can travel to Seoul on my German passport (which I have done a couple of times in the past), I will then include my British passport details for the flight from Seoul to Shanghai (which will be entirely separate) and obviously use my British passport at Immigration in Shanghai. But I suspect here's where things could go tricky... I assume that I have to leave China on the same passport on which I arrived, but could I board the flight from Shanghai to LHR using my German passport and API information? I'm probably making this way too complicated and it's probably easiest if I just stick with one passport throughout the trip, but if anyone here has experience, then it would be great if I didn't have to change the API on my BA profile.

Thanks very much for any advice you may have.