jimkwatson

The TAP website says OLCI is available 36 hours prior to flight. I will be flying from London to Miami with a night layover in Lisbon. Will I be able to get both boarding passes when OLCI opens 36 hours prior to first flight? Many thanks.

corporate-wage-slave

It's 24 hours for USA flights in theory but 36 hours on connections I think. Now I am not sure about the overnight component, but for the London-Lisbon section you should get an email a few minutes after the 36 hour point. I would wait for that since there is a URL in that which neatly takes you to the right place. My guess would be the USA service will be greyed out at that point, which it wouldn't be if same day, but you can go in via the same email when you are within the 36 hour point and see if you can get it to move. You need to be on an ESTA for this to work, the mechanism isn't set up for visas. You also need the usual API information, notably your address for the first night in the USA.

jimkwatson

That's fabulous, thanks so much for your reply.

jimkwatson

Sorry just one more question, how does the system know we have our ESTA’s? The three of us travelling do indeed have valid ESTA’s but there’s nowhere in our booking where we state we have one or enter any details? Just curious! Thanks.

corporate-wage-slave

As with all airlines, you don't quote an ESTA reference since it's implied with a combination of your name, date of birth, passport country and passport number. The airline submits this data to the DHS, it sends an electronic tick if it finds your record. The airlines typically send a rolling and repeated data update until it gets a tick back. If TAP doesn't get the green light back from the USA it will show up at check-in stage. The usual problem is a recent ESTA expiry. But if you have a visa then this process doesn't use this electronic process, that uses an old fashioned human check of the visa print out, but during TAP's check-in process it simply says "no ESTA found".

jimkwatson

Thanks so much corporate-wage-slave. The three of each got emails this morning 36 hours prior to check-in inviting us to compete OLCI. Interestingly it had a button to upload covid docs but that didn't seem to be operational and it just let us check in.

It allowed us to check in for the second leg even though our LIS-MIA isn't until Thu. For one of us, although it says 'checked in' for both sectors it says the boarding pass for the LIS-MIA flight needs to be collected at airport, so he has his LGW-LIS boarding pass but is being asked to collect LIS-MIA at airport. My guess is that my friend has been randomly selected for 'SSSS' (secondary security screening selection), would you agree? It's happened to me a couple of times flying BA. It's his first time to USA. When we arrive at LIS for our overnight stay we'll go over to TAP check-in area and, hopefully, collect his boarding pass! Thanks again for all the advice it's fantastic receiving so much quality guidance

corporate-wage-slave

It's possible that it is SSSS, with lightly loaded flights it's presumably possible the chance of it happening goes up per passenger. TAP does do informal extra checks at the gate to some passengers, like BA, quick rummage through hand baggage. There may of course be other reasons, and yes you can try to collect the final boarding pass at LGW too, it may just need a passport scan to release the boarding pass, thinking of it being their first ever use of the their first ESTA, which I suspect is the main reason here. But yes, nothing to be concerned about. Thanks for confirming about the timelines for boarding pass issue even if there is an overnight stay in LIS. This would suggest the break point on this is a LIS stopover in excess of 24 hours.

Stormbel

I've never used the TAP app before but gave it a go.
Tomorrow we are going DUB-LIS and an hour later LIS-OPO
I find the app confusing as when I try to print one BP it makes me exit and start the process before selecting the second one. Even then it appears that I am only getting the second leg.
So I went online to the website.
In the Boarding Passes section - when I use the option 'Load your Covid Health Documents to receive your Boarding Pass and save time at airport' I get a screen with
Requirements for this passenger aren't available. Please check for health restrictions in transit and destination countries."
What am I doing wrong?
Is there only BP for the whole journey?

corporate-wage-slave

Does this link help:

https://checkin.si.amadeus.net/stati...identification

Stormbel

Thanks

It brings up one boarding pass for both journeys. I was expecting two. Is that normal?

corporate-wage-slave

I almost didn't understand the question, many airlines issue one boarding pass with all flights including connections on them, TAP isn't unusual in that respect. Sometimes you will get the first flight fully checked in and a note under for the remaining flights advising that check-in is not complete for these remaining flights, but it's quite clear when that happens.

Stormbel

That was some journey!
The following has no bearing on BPs but made it a memorable trip.

DUB check in opened at exactly 2.5 hours before travelling. The airport requests that everyone arrive minimum 3.5 hours before their flight. Agents sat for 20 minutes at the desk until the allocated time.
Apparently the Portuguese Locator form is no longer required.
No bag drop. New paper BP issued, just the one.

As a point of interest...
Incoming flight 10 minutes late
Outbound flight 40 minutes late due to 5 no-shows and baggage having to be off loaded.
60 minute transfer impossible or so we thought
Turns out same Captain on that and next flight (different aircraft)
Touched down with brakes jammed on allowing speedy exit from runway
Ground staff waiting to guide 5 of us through to far end of terminal at speed
Bypassed all security and passport queues
Boarded
then passenger unwell delaying departure!
Arrived 20 minutes late.

kai.lileboo

TAP is checking me in automatically 23hrs prior the flight for quite some time now They don't honour the *A level whatsoever and they assign you the seat they want.
How on Earth can I cancel the automatic check in? I never applied for it nor am I interested at all!

SK AAR

You can't. Just change your seat online/app for free from 1 hour before departure (T-1). This is extensively covered in another TP thread.

kai.lileboo

Not possible anymore. Happened esterday for both flights of the day BCN-LIS-BCN.