USA holiday ESTA advice needed

littlereddevil

Me neither and it shouldn't be necessary

SW17

duchy wrote: »

In twenty odd trips to the US I've never needed to produce proof of my ESTA so I'm quite interested to know the circumstances that you were "glad" to have your printout ?

I've never "needed" it, but it has helped me on a couple of occasions. Once at SNN preclearance, the CBP officer was having a lot of trouble finding me in the system, I produced the printout and he was able to solve it immediately. Saved a lot of time, though I'm sure I would have got through eventually. So, I was "glad" to have it.

photome wrote: »

Me to, also having been a number of times and never had need of a print out given that ESTA stands for Electronic System For Travel Authorizatio

Indeed it does, but reality sometimes gets in the way of logic. Once in Mexico, the only way I could get a boarding pass at the AA checkin kiosks was to show the printout to the attendant (despite the fact that the printout says there is no need to print the ESTA..). That saved me joining a very long queue at the desks.

It's never happened to me, but I know of situations where the ESTA info has not matched the flight booking and people have had trouble at check-in (it gets checked there first). A printout helps there too.

I travel a lot and therefore I don't print much, but there are certain things I like to have as backup. These situations are very much the exception, but they can happen.

John259

Printing the ESTA and taking it with you involves very little effort, and although it's unlikely, it could potentially be invaluable. I see no reason not to take it.

pollypenny

We usually print our ESTA, just the one page with the number.

Never been asked for it though and most immigration officers are very pleasant. The odd grumpy one hasn't put us off.

Kernow666

1st time i went to US after it come in i printed it out but was never asked and have never been since

Gavin83

John259 wrote: »

It's US immigration who can be awkward. Sometimes extremely awkward. But occasionally perfectly ok. They're robots, so it helps enormously to have all your paperwork (physical and electronic) in perfect order.

Last time I went the guy flicked through my passport and questioned various countries I'd been to, made worse by the fact I'm fairly well travelled. I'm going again next month but luckily I've just renewed my passport so this one is totally blank.

In response to the OP the ESTA process is extremely simple and they give you the results there and then. The only complication will be if you have any previous criminal convictions.

duchy

SW17 wrote: »

I've never "needed" it,

It's never happened to me, but I know of situations where the ESTA info has not matched the flight booking and people have had trouble at check-in (it gets checked there first). A printout helps there too.

I travel a lot and therefore I don't print much, but there are certain things I like to have as backup. These situations are very much the exception, but they can happen.

It doesn't matter if the flight info doesn't match the ESTA- there is no obligation to update your flight details on the ESTA for subsequent trips........ I think you are talking about passengers who fail to inform the airline of passport details which a bit different !

Whilst it's great when frequent travellers want to help less experienced travellers -it's a shame when the info isn't quite accurate

I've never found US immigration or customs- even when travelling frequently as a lone female - to be difficult- TSA is another matter though !! (Suppose it depends on what is meant by "difficult" though !)

I've never printed out the ESTA but do have the number written in the back of my passport on the contact page. Handy when updating it to have the number but never needed to quote it on entry.

SW17

duchy wrote: »

It doesn't matter if the flight info doesn't match the ESTA- there is no obligation to update your flight details on the ESTA for subsequent trips........ I think you are talking about passengers who fail to inform the airline of passport details which a bit different !

Whilst it's great when frequent travellers want to help less experienced travellers -it's a shame when the info isn't quite accurate

This has nothing to do with updating flight details in ESTAs, and I am not talking about people failing to inform airlines of passport details. I am talking about passport details in the ESTA appearing not to match the passport details in the booking, which can (and does) result in denial of boarding. This can be caused by various issues around names, inversion of date formats etc.

Just because something has not happened to you, does not mean it doesn't happen...

Faithx

Gavin83 - You will probably know this, Gavin83, but just thought I'd mention it as it may help others reading this post. My daughter and I often travel to New York (yes, I always have a print out of ESTA forms with me but have never been asked for them either) and check and double-check that our forms are valid before we leave. Our last trip was at Christmas/New Year (2015) and our ESTA forms were both valid. What never crossed our minds was that, as my daughter had renewed her passport, that then rendered her present and valid ESTA form obsolete! Fortunately, as ESTA forms are done on-line and there are pay-as-you-go computers at airports, we managed to get a valid ESTA form...and our flight! It was a big shock though at the time being told she could not board the flight and I'm sure many people have been caught out in this way and never thought for a minute that a new passport equals new ESTA form: even though your current one is still valid. Happy holidays and I hope you get through US immigration as quickly as possible. Personally, I find them very, very helpful and efficient: especially the time after I took unwell on a flight to NYC but that's a whole other story but we got through immigration very quickly that visit and I still remember their kindness.

Gavin83

Faithx wrote: »

Gavin83 - You will probably know this, Gavin83, but just thought I'd mention it as it may help others reading this post. My daughter and I often travel to New York (yes, I always have a print out of ESTA forms with me but have never been asked for them either) and check and double-check that our forms are valid before we leave. Our last trip was at Christmas/New Year (2015) and our ESTA forms were both valid. What never crossed our minds was that, as my daughter had renewed her passport, that then rendered her present and valid ESTA form obsolete! Fortunately, as ESTA forms are done on-line and there are pay-as-you-go computers at airports, we managed to get a valid ESTA form...and our flight! It was a big shock though at the time being told she could not board the flight and I'm sure many people have been caught out in this way and never thought for a minute that a new passport equals new ESTA form: even though your current one is still valid. Happy holidays and I hope you get through US immigration as quickly as possible. Personally, I find them very, very helpful and efficient: especially the time after I took unwell on a flight to NYC but that's a whole other story but we got through immigration very quickly that visit and I still remember their kindness.

Thanks for the warning. I completed the ESTA after the new passport arrived so I'll be ok. Certainly something to think about though!