USA flights bookings and ESTA query
Apr 21, 2021, 7:47 am
#16
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This is the first I have heard about potential ESTA cancellations. I have had 3 return flights cancelled by BA. I tried to check my ESTA status but it just comes up as applications expired, presumably because I applied more than a year ago (and our ESTAs expire in September. Has BA admitted to this error and is there any way of checking which pax were affected?
https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/individualStatusLookup
Apr 21, 2021, 7:57 am
#17
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Would it be possible to go to a OW hub outside of Schengen (e.g. DOH) stay there 14 days and then fly to the US or are there other restrictions in addition to the ESTA we need to think about?
Hopefully when I'm due to travel (August) it won't be needed and also things may have changed a lot by then.
Hopefully when I'm due to travel (August) it won't be needed and also things may have changed a lot by then.
Apr 21, 2021, 8:42 am
#18
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Apr 21, 2021, 9:58 am
#19
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The early-on ESTA issues were perhaps understandable, but do not speak to the present or future. ESTA is not linked to whether one has one of the numerous exemptions for US travel which a UK national might have. In particular, familial status would not be reflected in a visa or any other official document prior to check-in.
With UK national travel on ESTA at a not insignificant level, reports of odd cancellations seem to have dropped.
With UK national travel on ESTA at a not insignificant level, reports of odd cancellations seem to have dropped.
Apr 21, 2021, 10:22 am
#20
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This is the first I have heard about potential ESTA cancellations. I have had 3 return flights cancelled by BA. I tried to check my ESTA status but it just comes up as applications expired, presumably because I applied more than a year ago (and our ESTAs expire in September. Has BA admitted to this error and is there any way of checking which pax were affected?
BA got my ESTA cancelled
Apr 21, 2021, 11:32 am
#21
Join Date: Jul 2020
Location: UK
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Posts: 250
Ours were cancelled as we were due to fly the Monday after the Proclamation was made in March 2020, I assumed it happened as I had submitted API?
Anyway, they would have expired by now so I am just going to renew them once the Proclamation is rescinded, hopefully before next planned trip in September?
Anyway, they would have expired by now so I am just going to renew them once the Proclamation is rescinded, hopefully before next planned trip in September?
Apr 21, 2021, 11:45 am
#23
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,061
There was nothing to ‘admit to’, and certainly not an ‘error’. In the majority of cases the problem was that the customer failed to remove themselves from the flight before APIS was submitted, despite having no intention to travel. And where BA did submit APIS data - in full accordance with the US law saying they needed to - it was the US government that took a decision to cancel the ESTAs, not BA.
Apr 21, 2021, 11:49 am
#24
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From memory there were a handful of cases reported where folks had applied for a FTV, but at the time BA were taking a few days to process them so the booking remained live and APIS was submitted. I think in those cases the ESTA was cancelled.
Was it strictly BA's fault? Possibly, but considering the huge amounts of travel chaos last March it is not suprising things like that may have happened. In hindsight it would have been great for the passenger to remove APIS data immediately, but we were all learning back then.
Was it strictly BA's fault? Possibly, but considering the huge amounts of travel chaos last March it is not suprising things like that may have happened. In hindsight it would have been great for the passenger to remove APIS data immediately, but we were all learning back then.
Apr 21, 2021, 3:00 pm
#25
Join Date: May 2016
Location: UK
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From memory there were a handful of cases reported where folks had applied for a FTV, but at the time BA were taking a few days to process them so the booking remained live and APIS was submitted. I think in those cases the ESTA was cancelled.
Was it strictly BA's fault? Possibly, but considering the huge amounts of travel chaos last March it is not suprising things like that may have happened. In hindsight it would have been great for the passenger to remove APIS data immediately, but we were all learning back then.
Was it strictly BA's fault? Possibly, but considering the huge amounts of travel chaos last March it is not suprising things like that may have happened. In hindsight it would have been great for the passenger to remove APIS data immediately, but we were all learning back then.
Apr 21, 2021, 3:50 pm
#26
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I let my ESTA lapse and it didnt do anything to my global entry, I've never heard of that condition either to be honest.
Back to the original point, as above, once I let my ESTA lapse I was in Mexico and applied for the new one. Was approved in a few minutes and I flew into the USA with no problems (cleared on global entry as normal).
Wouldnt have any issues booking flights pre-emptively at the moment.
Apr 21, 2021, 4:31 pm
#27
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Like aceman I have let my latest ESTA lapse and no ill effects experienced for my TTP/GE membership - in fact I have just been on the TTP site and am about to apply to renew.
If your ESTA is cancelled though I don't know whether that could cause some issue with your TTP/GE membership or whether you would have issues applying for a new ESTA in the future.
If your ESTA is cancelled though I don't know whether that could cause some issue with your TTP/GE membership or whether you would have issues applying for a new ESTA in the future.
Apr 21, 2021, 10:47 pm
#28
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In the early days of the pandemic, a friend and his wife were due to travel back from BGI to CDG via MIA. They had only spent 7 days in BGI having travelled from CDG via MIA on the outbound. The day before their return they both got an email saying their ESTAs had been cancelled therefore had to re-route avoiding the US.
Apr 22, 2021, 12:18 am
#29
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No, that is not the case. Your GE won’t be cancelled.
Apr 22, 2021, 1:39 am
#30
Join Date: May 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 460
GE Status and ESTA
both I and Mrs Definitas were told at our GE interviews (by the same HS employee) that our GE would automatically expire if we didn’t have a valid ESTA and that we should renew our ESTA in advance of them expiring. I am now thinking that he perhaps misled us given the experience of others on this thread.