ESTA Panic
Dec 17, 2018, 6:28 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Jersey
Programs: BA Bronze Executive Club Member
Posts: 50
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!
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!
Dec 17, 2018, 6:35 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: LCY
Programs: Mucci des Ancients Matelots
Posts: 769
Thanks for posting this, there have been a few discussions recently around the '72 minimum' specified on the US site, it's good to know that in an emergency, all may not be lost.
Enjoy the trip, I forgot to do my Australian ETA until I was actually at the airport, total panic but it was all fine after a 30 min wait for confirmation. A couple of big whiskeys and you'll be fine!
Enjoy the trip, I forgot to do my Australian ETA until I was actually at the airport, total panic but it was all fine after a 30 min wait for confirmation. A couple of big whiskeys and you'll be fine!
Dec 17, 2018, 6:40 am
#3
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,827
It would almost certainly have worked if the API was submitted without the middle name. If the passport information was otherwise correct then it should have passed the CBP check. It's more important to get the passport number and expiry date correct than the name, given all the various alphabets that there are in the world - transliteration is never perfect. However I can see the point in paying a modest sum to get peace of mind.
Dec 17, 2018, 9:35 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,541
I sympathise! For my November trip, I realised that I totally forgot to do my new ESTA since I had to get a new passport as the old was full. A lot of panic for a short period then thankfully all got approved on time. Mind you, queue at LAX immigration as I got the "cross" typical of new passports, was over 2 hours!
Dec 17, 2018, 9:52 am
#7
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 16
I had the standard 72 hour warning message but it was only a couple of minutes before I could be checked in.
Dec 17, 2018, 10:00 am
#8
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: South Yorkshire, UK
Programs: A3*G, LH FTL, VS Red, Avis Preferred, Hertz President's Circle, (RIP Diamond Club)
Posts: 2,364
I remembered I didn’t have an esta on the way to the airport once. Pulled into South Mimms services, filled it in on my iPad and drove on. Didn’t bother checking again, and checked in with VS with no issues at all.
Dec 17, 2018, 10:58 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Balham - Gateway to The South
Programs: BA Bronze
Posts: 2,020
The only exception was the GE lane. The cabin crew had distributed customs forms I filled out mine whilst standing in the queue !
Dec 17, 2018, 11:14 am
#12
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 1,855
It's quite hard to find an official answer on this but it looks like as long as you currently have an ESTA and have visited the US on an ESTA some time before (since 2008) you can use the APC terminals. I had assumed that you needed to have visited on *this* ESTA but that seems not to have been the case. No mention has been made of passport renewal voiding this ability although it does void your ESTA.
Dec 17, 2018, 11:15 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: London Stratford, E7
Programs: BAEC Gold! Thanks to FT
Posts: 3,381
This is my experience too. I forgot to apply for a new ESTA after renewing my passport which led to an uncomfortable few minutes on my blackberry at the check in counter while my wife glared at me.
I had the standard 72 hour warning message but it was only a couple of minutes before I could be checked in.
I had the standard 72 hour warning message but it was only a couple of minutes before I could be checked in.
Cant post the link to this page but hopefully someone can. Maybe title needs to be changed to alert people or new thread started. I know Flyertalkers are normally organised but...
Dec 17, 2018, 11:54 am
#14
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Central Scotland, UK
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 286
It's quite hard to find an official answer on this but it looks like as long as you currently have an ESTA and have visited the US on an ESTA some time before (since 2008) you can use the APC terminals. I had assumed that you needed to have visited on *this* ESTA but that seems not to have been the case. No mention has been made of passport renewal voiding this ability although it does void your ESTA.
I have existing passport, a new ESTA but have been to the US several times on the previous ESTA and had struggled to find anything definitive on this. I shall report back later in the week.