Renew Registered Traveller?
Feb 13, 2019, 11:19 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Washington, D.C.
Programs: BA Gold Lifetime, AA 2M, Delta 2M, Hilton Diamond, Hertz President's Club, EK Platinum
Posts: 948
Renew Registered Traveller?
I am coming up for renewal of my Registered Traveller status in early March. I had read that e-passport would become available to USA passport holders in early 2019? Is this still the case?
Feb 13, 2019, 11:25 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,194
Yes the U.K. government has announced that passport holders from a small number of countries will be able to use the e-gates to,enter the U.K. ( not an e-passport) but no specific date has been announced only the vague ‘summer’.
Mar 27, 2019, 1:43 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2018
Programs: alaska
Posts: 2
Does anyone know if e-Gates means all the same benefits as Registered Traveller scheme? For example, RTs don't have to fill out a landing card. Will that be the case for US passports going forward once this changes?
Mar 27, 2019, 5:16 pm
#4
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,854
The way the e-gates currently work, there is no place to put a landing card. That could be changed, of course.
Apr 11, 2019, 8:53 am
#6
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Newton Centre, MA, USA
Programs: DL 2MM Gold, AA Plat Pro; Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium (via SPG), IHG Plat
Posts: 2,192
The question is are there any other benefits other than using the E-gates? At one time if the E-gates were down you could use the EU lines if you had Registered Traveller. Is that still the case? Are there any ports of entry without E-gates that you get to skip the ROW (Rest Of World) mass lines if you have Registered Traveller? Etc.
Apr 12, 2019, 5:53 am
#7
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Peterborough, UK
Programs: BA Silver; IHG Spire; Avis P+; Global Entry
Posts: 1,505
noone really knows at the moment, the most upto date info can be found on gov.uk
ePassport gates eligibility expansion confirmed for June
ePassport gates eligibility expansion confirmed for June
Apr 16, 2019, 6:37 am
#8
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Newton Centre, MA, USA
Programs: DL 2MM Gold, AA Plat Pro; Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium (via SPG), IHG Plat
Posts: 2,192
This would tend to imply that there are no additional benefits other than the e-gates:
Dear Richard,
Your Registered Traveller Service (RTS) membership
From June 2019 nationals of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States of America will be able to use the ePassport Gates routinely for free, without needing RTS membership.
As a result of this change, we are no longer accepting new or renewal RTS applications from nationals of these seven countries .
We have made arrangements for the fee you paid to be refunded to the card you used for payment. This process can take up to seven days.
Kind regards,
Registered Traveller Team
Dear Richard,
Your Registered Traveller Service (RTS) membership
From June 2019 nationals of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States of America will be able to use the ePassport Gates routinely for free, without needing RTS membership.
As a result of this change, we are no longer accepting new or renewal RTS applications from nationals of these seven countries .
We have made arrangements for the fee you paid to be refunded to the card you used for payment. This process can take up to seven days.
Kind regards,
Registered Traveller Team
Apr 17, 2019, 2:09 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: California
Posts: 463
The question is are there any other benefits other than using the E-gates? At one time if the E-gates were down you could use the EU lines if you had Registered Traveller. Is that still the case? Are there any ports of entry without E-gates that you get to skip the ROW (Rest Of World) mass lines if you have Registered Traveller? Etc.
Apr 17, 2019, 9:27 am
#10
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: YYZ (ex-LHR)
Programs: BA Silver, VS Red, OZ Silver
Posts: 446
I was told by one officer (so YMMV) that RT means I can have my pick of lines - EU e-gates, EU staffed, and ROW. However I've never tested it - in fact often at STN the ROW line had nobody in it whereas the e-gates had several people queuing for each gate, so I self-banished to the ROW section.
That said, you would likely receive pushback from the Heathrow 'Helpers' or equivalent.