Bits: last chance for the British Airways Winter sale, US and Canada ESTA changes

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• Gavin says:

  1 Feb1 February 05:28

  I’ve been inconvenienced by the ESTA changes as I went on holiday to Iran in December 2011 (with no regrets as it was a great trip!).

  I have two transits of the USA upcoming at the start of May to get to/from the carribean and will likely travel to the US in the future so am now having to apply for a tourist visa, pay $160 and attend an interview at the USA embassy in London. I’ve never had to supply so much information for a visa application!

  • Anon says:

    1 Feb1 February 06:23

    A blanket ban does seem OTT.

    You better hope DJT doesn’t win this year!

• Anon says:

  1 Feb1 February 06:37

  Any rumours of a BA Avios Reward Seat Sale after this revenue sale….?

  Where BA go, Virgin are sure to follow….

• Danksy says:

  1 Feb1 February 06:54

  It’s just crazy… Haven’t they just built the best relations with Iran since the 1980’s?

  • Will says:

    1 Feb1 February 07:23

    The cynic in me would say they just wanted Iran to get exporting half a million barrels of oil a day to keep the price down and strangle revenue further to the Middle East.

    • Brian says:

      1 Feb1 February 08:57

      Only the cynic in you???

    • Callum says:

      1 Feb1 February 11:40

      The price is already low and it’s damaging their large domestic oil industry. While people often think everything the US does is about oil, the conspiracy theories rarely make sense!

• Alice says:

  1 Feb1 February 06:54

  I’m affected by these new ESTA restrictions as I went to Iraq on vacation last year. The list of countries does seem rather arbitrary.

  I have a feeling they’ll be relaxing those new ESTA restrictions for visitors to the named countries pretty soon. If not I’ll be cancelling my upcoming trip to the states and booking a trip to Iran instead.

  • Callum says:

    1 Feb1 February 11:44

    Whil incredibly annoying, those three countries make up the US’s state sponsored terrorism list so it’s not really arbitrary. I can’t see it being reversed any time soon – certainly not if the Republicans win (a rather long shot thankfully!) or probably Clinton.

  • Al says:

    12 Feb12 February 17:58

    Same problem Alice, I went to Iran for a holiday in 2014 (and can assure you it was wonderful). Now I can’t go to the US for my graduation trip as the nearest US Embassy in London is 250 miles away, boo hoo. Guess I’m gonna be back to Iran again.

• Lumma says:

  1 Feb1 February 07:07

  Just interested to know, how exactly would they know about your dual citizenship? Or is it like most of the questions on the ESTA application where they rely on you incriminating yourself? Technically, if you’ve ever been arrested, even if you were later released without charge (even mistaken identity) you should apply for actual visa.

  I also wonder if you could get immigration in these countries to stamp a separate piece of paper rather than your passport (as is recommended for visiting Israel, if you want to travel to many Middle East countries later)

  • Adam says:

    1 Feb1 February 07:17

    As a frequent traveller to Israel, they no longer stamp your passport. Instead they print out an entry/exit slip

    • Mec says:

      1 Feb1 February 09:10

      Was in Israel with a group of friends three weeks ago and some of us who didn’t specifically ask for a separate slip of paper got their passports stamped. I was asked to explain why I asked for no stamp.

  • Pol says:

    1 Feb1 February 07:27

    The new questions are even stricter on this, it now asks if you’ve ever violated (not been arrested or convicted) a law regarding, possession, use, or supply of drugs. So technically anyone who has ever “inhaled” to quote their President needs to apply for a visa.

    • Lumma says:

      1 Feb1 February 08:09

      I’d like to know if anyone has every answered yes to the question about “are you seeking to engage in terrorist acts?”

    • tony says:

      1 Feb1 February 08:50

      Yep, went through the ESTA application process at the weekend and it seems significantly longer than I remember it having been in the past.

      Then after all that, it told me I had a current ESTA – the email I had been sent late last year related to a passport which had expired some time before hand. grr…

  • Andy says:

    2 Feb2 February 08:32

    ESTA applications now ask if you hold dual nationality

• Dale says:

  1 Feb1 February 09:12

  Have to admit some great deals in theBA sale – got Miami from Edinburgh in October for £385 – which was even cheaper than starting at Heathrow, glitch??

• gs says:

  1 Feb1 February 09:17

  For people with two passports or with passports issued after a visit to one of the countries on the list, i don’t suppose there’d be a way for them to know you’ve been there?

  • Danksy says:

    1 Feb1 February 10:02

    Don’t believe it… intelligence agencies share movements of citizens with each other!

  • David says:

    1 Feb1 February 10:16

    Airlines share passenger manifests with intelligence agencies and governments. They’ll know that you’ve been to Iran, if you’ve been.

    • Callum says:

      1 Feb1 February 11:47

      Do you have a source for that? It doesnt sound right.

      • David says:

        2 Feb2 February 05:39

        There was a Snowden leak suggesting that intelligence agencies have access to passenger manifests. Anybody who doesn’t believe it is naïve.

        • Rob says:

          2 Feb2 February 09:08

          I would be shocked if they didn’t.

  • Lady London says:

    1 Feb1 February 12:14

    I wouldn’t mess around with them. Tell the truth. They can, and will, go back to your previous applications since forever if you ever find yourself in trouble with them. If there’s mismatch or something not declared, you will then be in a world of hurt. So tell the truth.

    • Sussex Bantam says:

      1 Feb1 February 13:40

      Do people actually not tell the truth to immigration staff ???

      How do they manage that ? I used to be a nervous wreck just trying to buy more than 2 3V cards at a Tesco till…

      • idrive says:

        2 Feb2 February 12:32

        in that case never never tell that your US trip is for manifactured spending purposes or point arbitrage/MR if they challenge you asking why you are flying from East coast to Dubai/Bangkok via Capetown to reach Miami !! 🙂

• KC says:

  1 Feb1 February 11:48

  Completely off-topic; but I need to fly to Tokyo next week. What’s the best way to maximize tier points?

  I can fly directly from LHR->TYO, or am I correct in thinking I’ll get more tierpts if I fly via Doha/Dubai.

  BA/OW partners preferred flying in biz

  • Rob says:

    1 Feb1 February 13:09

    As long as Doha to Tokyo is over 2,000 miles, then Qatar is a decent bet. You’d get 560 TP return.

    You could also do it on Emirates AS LONG AS you get Qantas codeshares and all flights carry a QF flight number.

    • KC says:

      1 Feb1 February 15:36

      This seems to be the case; will opt for the QATAR options 🙂

  • Rhys says:

    1 Feb1 February 13:40

    I’m going to Tokyo in a couple of months and was looking for the same thing. The connection timings in Qatar didn’t seem to be great so I went for LHR-HEL-NRT return where you can get 440 tier points. First part with BA and the second with JAL on a 787 with some new seat which gives aisle access to everyone.

  • Me says:

    1 Feb1 February 13:54

    Go the other way with some US/AA F-class domestics included. Something like LHR-PHL-PHX-HNL-TYO should just about get you BA Gold in one trip

    • Rob says:

      1 Feb1 February 13:59

      I would have suggested that but it sounded like a business trip and I didn’t think the company TA would be amused!

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