Dual Nationals and ESTA (US) / ETA (UK) / ETIAS (EU) / ETA (Canada) /
Aug 25, 23, 10:56 am
#1
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Dual Nationals and ESTA (US) / ETA (UK) / ETIAS (EU) / ETA (Canada) /
I hadn't thought of it, but with the UK and EU about to announce their electronic travel authorisations this year, suddenly travelling as a dual national may become more cumbersome.
It came about in this thread on X (the social network formerly known as Twitter):
Specifically that is about travel between EU and UK, but would apply to anyone travelling between EU or UK and Canada or USA with dual citizenship. The TL;DR of it is if you can only attach one passport to a return flight, on one of the legs the airline will likely reject online check-in, as you have a foreign passport and no ETA/ESTA/ETIAS.
Example, I live in the UK and hold both UK and Canadian citizenship. If I book a return flight to visit family back home (LHR-YYZ, YYZ-LHR), I can only put in either my Canadian passport or my British passport to cover the entire trip. If I put in my Canadian passport, check-in for LHR-YYZ is fine, but coming back, I don't have my UK ETA, so will have to go and see an agent at Toronto Pearson airport to show my UK passport. If I put in my British passport, then I can't check-in online for LHR-YYZ, as I don't have Canadian ETA so would need to see an agent at London Heathrow (though would be fine to check in online on the way back).
Ideally airlines would update systems to allow multiple passports, but given how technology on their systems seem to move, that's probably a pipe dream. One way tickets would work (which is fine for easyJet and the like), but would likely incur additional cost for the mainline carriers.
Anyone else had any thoughts about this?
It came about in this thread on X (the social network formerly known as Twitter):
Specifically that is about travel between EU and UK, but would apply to anyone travelling between EU or UK and Canada or USA with dual citizenship. The TL;DR of it is if you can only attach one passport to a return flight, on one of the legs the airline will likely reject online check-in, as you have a foreign passport and no ETA/ESTA/ETIAS.
Example, I live in the UK and hold both UK and Canadian citizenship. If I book a return flight to visit family back home (LHR-YYZ, YYZ-LHR), I can only put in either my Canadian passport or my British passport to cover the entire trip. If I put in my Canadian passport, check-in for LHR-YYZ is fine, but coming back, I don't have my UK ETA, so will have to go and see an agent at Toronto Pearson airport to show my UK passport. If I put in my British passport, then I can't check-in online for LHR-YYZ, as I don't have Canadian ETA so would need to see an agent at London Heathrow (though would be fine to check in online on the way back).
Ideally airlines would update systems to allow multiple passports, but given how technology on their systems seem to move, that's probably a pipe dream. One way tickets would work (which is fine for easyJet and the like), but would likely incur additional cost for the mainline carriers.
Anyone else had any thoughts about this?
Last edited by GregWTravels; Aug 25, 23 at 10:58 am Reason: there/their/they're
Aug 26, 23, 3:35 am
#2
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Its not a common problem so I doubt anyone will invest in IT to make it work. Especially given the legal requirements some countries have that their citizens enter and exit their country on that countries passport.
Aug 26, 23, 11:01 am
#3
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It makes growing sense for IATA and the airlines to invest in allowing the loading and transmission of passengers additional international travel doc info beyond just one primary international travel doc for cross-border air travel by commercial means.
Governmental moves toward more comprehensive cross-border monitoring and control of common carrier airline passengers comes with governments de facto backing away from visa waivers and that is what the move toward ETAs, ESTAS, ETIAS, evisas and such are designed to do and are doing. The move toward de facto visa requirements by whatever name and PR games are played in this regard happens even as there are a growing number of foreign persons who are exempted from such de facto visa regimens while most of those foreign persons homeland compatriots are increasingly subject to new/younger (de facto) visa requirements. Take that dynamic and the hassles airlines and passengers face when denied entry after being permitted travel by the airlines, it will make growing sense to allow passengers to upload additional international travel docs confirming other visas, residency documents, special orders/letters, and other such things that spare airlines and airline passengers from being unexpectedly denied travel and/or entry. Also, there is the additional nuisance of having to manually check-in the very kind of people more likely to travel across borders than the average person: foreigners exempted from destination visa requirements but whose documents make them more admissible on arrival than the foreigners average compatriot who happens to ne subject to a de facto visa requirement to be able to fly and enter the country by scheduled passenger flight.
With more and more de facto visa requirements hitting, online check-in is going to become a bigger mess for me than it already has become when I happen to be de facto visa-exempted as a foreigner in a way not applicable to my compatriots.
Governmental moves toward more comprehensive cross-border monitoring and control of common carrier airline passengers comes with governments de facto backing away from visa waivers and that is what the move toward ETAs, ESTAS, ETIAS, evisas and such are designed to do and are doing. The move toward de facto visa requirements by whatever name and PR games are played in this regard happens even as there are a growing number of foreign persons who are exempted from such de facto visa regimens while most of those foreign persons homeland compatriots are increasingly subject to new/younger (de facto) visa requirements. Take that dynamic and the hassles airlines and passengers face when denied entry after being permitted travel by the airlines, it will make growing sense to allow passengers to upload additional international travel docs confirming other visas, residency documents, special orders/letters, and other such things that spare airlines and airline passengers from being unexpectedly denied travel and/or entry. Also, there is the additional nuisance of having to manually check-in the very kind of people more likely to travel across borders than the average person: foreigners exempted from destination visa requirements but whose documents make them more admissible on arrival than the foreigners average compatriot who happens to ne subject to a de facto visa requirement to be able to fly and enter the country by scheduled passenger flight.
With more and more de facto visa requirements hitting, online check-in is going to become a bigger mess for me than it already has become when I happen to be de facto visa-exempted as a foreigner in a way not applicable to my compatriots.
Last edited by GUWonder; Aug 26, 23 at 11:06 am
Aug 26, 23, 4:17 pm
#4
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Whilst perhaps, for example, 0.5% of UK passport holders also have a US passport, I have no doubt that they comprise many multiples of that percentage of travelers between the UK and US. So its a bigger issue than many may realize.
From memory (I used to be a dual national), UA can store more than one passport and it allows you to nominate the one you will be using for each flight. But then UAs IT is first rate. BA, by contrast, can barely remember (and often doesnt) just one passport.
From memory (I used to be a dual national), UA can store more than one passport and it allows you to nominate the one you will be using for each flight. But then UAs IT is first rate. BA, by contrast, can barely remember (and often doesnt) just one passport.
Aug 28, 23, 10:51 pm
#5
Join Date: Aug 2023
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Whilst perhaps, for example, 0.5% of UK passport holders also have a US passport, I have no doubt that they comprise many multiples of that percentage of travelers between the UK and US. So its a bigger issue than many may realize.
From memory (I used to be a dual national), UA can store more than one passport and it allows you to nominate the one you will be using for each flight. But then UAs IT is first rate. BA, by contrast, can barely remember (and often doesnt) just one passport.
From memory (I used to be a dual national), UA can store more than one passport and it allows you to nominate the one you will be using for each flight. But then UAs IT is first rate. BA, by contrast, can barely remember (and often doesnt) just one passport.
Aug 31, 23, 9:04 pm
#6
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It makes growing sense for IATA and the airlines to invest in allowing the loading and transmission of passengers additional international travel doc info beyond just one primary international travel doc for cross-border air travel by commercial means.
Governmental moves toward more comprehensive cross-border monitoring and control of common carrier airline passengers comes with governments de facto backing away from visa waivers and that is what the move toward ETAs, ESTAS, ETIAS, evisas and such are designed to do and are doing. The move toward de facto visa requirements by whatever name and PR games are played in this regard happens even as there are a growing number of foreign persons who are exempted from such de facto visa regimens while most of those foreign persons homeland compatriots are increasingly subject to new/younger (de facto) visa requirements. Take that dynamic and the hassles airlines and passengers face when denied entry after being permitted travel by the airlines, it will make growing sense to allow passengers to upload additional international travel docs confirming other visas, residency documents, special orders/letters, and other such things that spare airlines and airline passengers from being unexpectedly denied travel and/or entry. Also, there is the additional nuisance of having to manually check-in the very kind of people more likely to travel across borders than the average person: foreigners exempted from destination visa requirements but whose documents make them more admissible on arrival than the foreigners average compatriot who happens to ne subject to a de facto visa requirement to be able to fly and enter the country by scheduled passenger flight.
With more and more de facto visa requirements hitting, online check-in is going to become a bigger mess for me than it already has become when I happen to be de facto visa-exempted as a foreigner in a way not applicable to my compatriots.
Governmental moves toward more comprehensive cross-border monitoring and control of common carrier airline passengers comes with governments de facto backing away from visa waivers and that is what the move toward ETAs, ESTAS, ETIAS, evisas and such are designed to do and are doing. The move toward de facto visa requirements by whatever name and PR games are played in this regard happens even as there are a growing number of foreign persons who are exempted from such de facto visa regimens while most of those foreign persons homeland compatriots are increasingly subject to new/younger (de facto) visa requirements. Take that dynamic and the hassles airlines and passengers face when denied entry after being permitted travel by the airlines, it will make growing sense to allow passengers to upload additional international travel docs confirming other visas, residency documents, special orders/letters, and other such things that spare airlines and airline passengers from being unexpectedly denied travel and/or entry. Also, there is the additional nuisance of having to manually check-in the very kind of people more likely to travel across borders than the average person: foreigners exempted from destination visa requirements but whose documents make them more admissible on arrival than the foreigners average compatriot who happens to ne subject to a de facto visa requirement to be able to fly and enter the country by scheduled passenger flight.
With more and more de facto visa requirements hitting, online check-in is going to become a bigger mess for me than it already has become when I happen to be de facto visa-exempted as a foreigner in a way not applicable to my compatriots.
Sep 4, 23, 10:49 pm
#9
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I don’t know about most other airlines but my recent travels have been with UA, LH and BA and for all of them there’s the opportunity to re-enter/change one’s passport info and name etc when checking in online for the return leg of a flight. Perhaps some vigilant frequent travelers can cook up an excel sheet comparing different airlines and taking note of how they deal with adding more travel documents or changing/re-entering the information to have a clearer idea along with any notes about their experiences. I can’t recall in recent memory checking in with any airline where the main passport info is just suck on there permanently for all the legs after the first check in.
Seems like the main issue is if someone has non-identical names on their passports. I know that many don’t prefer to have this taken care of at the check-in desk but it remains to be seen if this delays things for said passengers or passengers in the same flight as a result of this particular problem (adding more people to the line unless they were always going to check luggage, whereby a traveler can just get that document check done).
If they don’t change anything IT-wise to facilitate this issue, they could do something at the counter to accommodate things a lot easier. Perhaps the self-service machines can have the option to scan one’s second passport to indicate they don’t need an electronic authorization of sorts.
Plus, this affects a small percentage of people. How much of an inconvenience can this be and what percentage of these travelers will need to check luggage anyway and so they don’t really need to complete their check-in online as long as they manage to snag a seat even if the e system doesn’t let them check in fully?
I’ve also mentioned this in another thread, but I’d love to hear the experiences of some members who are US-AU or US-NZ or CA-AU or CA-NZ citizens and how they deal with traveling with two passports (especially if they have different names) since they all have ETA programs and the issue presented is surely something they’ve had to deal with (or not) for a number of years now. I know a couple of US-AU citizens but I’m not very close to them so I don’t know specifics about their experiences but all I know is they travel all the time without much hassle over ESTA/ETA.
Seems like the main issue is if someone has non-identical names on their passports. I know that many don’t prefer to have this taken care of at the check-in desk but it remains to be seen if this delays things for said passengers or passengers in the same flight as a result of this particular problem (adding more people to the line unless they were always going to check luggage, whereby a traveler can just get that document check done).
If they don’t change anything IT-wise to facilitate this issue, they could do something at the counter to accommodate things a lot easier. Perhaps the self-service machines can have the option to scan one’s second passport to indicate they don’t need an electronic authorization of sorts.
Plus, this affects a small percentage of people. How much of an inconvenience can this be and what percentage of these travelers will need to check luggage anyway and so they don’t really need to complete their check-in online as long as they manage to snag a seat even if the e system doesn’t let them check in fully?
I’ve also mentioned this in another thread, but I’d love to hear the experiences of some members who are US-AU or US-NZ or CA-AU or CA-NZ citizens and how they deal with traveling with two passports (especially if they have different names) since they all have ETA programs and the issue presented is surely something they’ve had to deal with (or not) for a number of years now. I know a couple of US-AU citizens but I’m not very close to them so I don’t know specifics about their experiences but all I know is they travel all the time without much hassle over ESTA/ETA.
Last edited by Nayef; Sep 5, 23 at 12:00 am
Sep 4, 23, 11:31 pm
#10
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This would affect me as well. I hold a UK and US passport. I usually check in with the airline on the US passport and enter the UK on the UK passport. I mostly travel BA to the UK and I think you can only have one passport in your profile. I cannot recall if you get a chance to change your passport at the time of check-in.
Sep 5, 23, 12:02 am
#11
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This would affect me as well. I hold a UK and US passport. I usually check in with the airline on the US passport and enter the UK on the UK passport. I mostly travel BA to the UK and I think you can only have one passport in your profile. I cannot recall if you get a chance to change your passport at the time of check-in.
Last edited by Nayef; Sep 5, 23 at 4:52 am
Sep 5, 23, 9:16 am
#12
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I had a chat with an expert on this very subject yesterday and he said the airlines have the technical capacity to enter both passports. One goes to the departure immigration and the other can be sent to the destination. Now whether the check in agents have the knowhow to do this is the question.
