SusanDK

This is really weird. My husband and I are traveling next week from Denmark to the U.S. on DL - as we usually do a few of times a year. We are booked 100% on DL metal, booked directly with DL via SMS.

Today he received an email from Continental.com, subject: Electronic Travel Authorization Required for Your Upcoming Trip to the U.S. The email reads:

Dear XXX,

Prior to checking in for your flight to the United States, passengers who intend to travel under the terms of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) need to obtain electronic travel authorization (ESTA) from the United States Department of Homeland Security.

There is no cost to apply for an ESTA, and the process takes only a few minutes. In most cases, the ESTA Web site will provide an almost immediate determination of eligibility for travel under the VWP.

We look forward to seeing you onboard.

The message is fair enough; he's a Danish citizen traveling under VWP. But how does CO know we're traveling? We didn't book with CO and aren't flying any CO flights or codeshares. CO isn't even in SkyTeam any more, and we have not flown CO in several years. Last time we flew CO was in connection with an SK TATL trip, connecting to a CO domestic flight.

We do have CO Gold (via AmEx Centurion), so we have CO accounts, and this email was sent to the address associated with his CO FF account. But we have never booked a trip directly with CO and have only flown CO in the last 15 years on a few connections from SK.

Why is CO welcoming us on board next week, when our flight is booked on DL?

Susan

pbarnette

I think they simply sent this to all CO FFers with addresses in VWP locales. I got the same email despite the fact that I 1) don't have any flights back to the US currently booked with any carrier and 2) have an American passport.

Davescj

This happened to me too. I have a CO FF#, so I was told about having to register with DHS, even though I've never flown internationally with CO.

Dave

SusanDK

Thanks, I guess it was a random email then, and not linked to the fact we are flying within the week to the U.S. It just seemed kind of Twilight Zone when we received it since we are, in fact, traveling next week, and the way it was written sounded like they expected us soon on board.

Susan

kylemore

The only thing I might be a little suspicious of is if there is an outgoing link imbeded in that email. I know its probably being overly paranoid but this seems like a good way to send people to a fake website and then collect a bunch of sensitive information.

jamm1edodger

I received an identical email yesterday, even though I have no flights booked with Continental, and last flew with them ~10 years ago.

Coincidentally, I am flying UK-US with Virgin later in the year, and was initially concerned that CO had obtained my flight details. However, the Virgin booking is made in my wife's name (and email address), so I believe that the CO email is just a general broadcast message as pbarnette suggests.

jms_uk

This must be it - no flights to US booked at all + my passport is not from VWP country even though I live in one.

They also sent one email few hours later with some apology for that randomness.

SusanDK

My husband also received a correction email this morning:

You recently received an e-mail regarding the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) that was sent to you in error. We want to make sure that you know your contact information has not been affected and that you were not intended to receive that e-mail.

If you do plan on traveling to the U.S. in the future, you can apply for an ESTA at any time before you travel, and the application is valid for two years provided there are no changes to your travel documentation and/or your answers to the questions in your original application.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to seeing you on board soon.

Strange, but I guess nothing to be overly concerned about based on replies here.

Susan

Alt

From the CO board....