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Big win for BA and Virgin Atlantic as transit passengers exempted from ETA permits

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Regular readers will know about the disaster (for British Airways, in particular) of the launch of the Electronic Travel Authorisation programme.

The ETA scheme forces most people visiting the United Kingdom who do not require a visa to apply for entry permission in advance of travel. It is rolling out in stages, with the final phase for EU residents launching on 2nd April.

There is, in itself, nothing wrong with this. However, the previous Government insisted that transit passengers must pay it too.

UK Electronic Travel Authorisation

This caused a major problem for the airlines using Heathrow, and to a lesser extent Manchester. These are the only UK airports which allow passengers to transit.

Tourists heading elsewhere were choosing not to travel through Heathrow, and so not travel with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, because:

  • they had to pay a £10 per person fee for the ETA
  • they had to fill in all the paperwork required to receive an ETA
  • they had to take a small risk that their ETA may be refused after a flight had been booked

…. purely for the ‘privilege’ of changing aircraft at Heathrow.

Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam suddenly looked far more attractive places to transit.

The Government has now seen sense

In an announcement slipped out quietly yesterday, the Government has decided that transit passengers will no longer need to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation.

Heathrow’s chief executive, Thomas Woldbye, said:

“The removal of airside transit passengers from the ETA scheme is the right decision and we welcome it.

“This is a critical move to ensure Heathrow and the aviation industry as a whole can continue to deliver for everyone who depends on our world-leading connectivity.

“It shows that the government is listening to industry concerns and is willing to make the necessary changes to strengthen the UK’s competitiveness and drive economic growth.”

The Government isn’t prepared to see any loss of income, however. The ETA fee for everyone else is being hiked from £10 to £16 per person, adding £64 to the cost of a UK visit for a family of four. Even babies have to receive an ETA.

Richard Toomer, Executive Director of the Tourism Alliance, said:

“It is staggering that the Government has taken the decision to further increase the costs for tourists visiting the UK especially in light of its ambition to grow inbound tourism numbers and deliver economic growth.

“This is especially a kick in the teeth for our European visitors that just as they are required for the first time ever to apply for advance permission to travel to the UK, the cost for doing so has been put up by 60%. 

“Even before this hike to £16 per person, ETA was already an additional cost for travellers, and crucially uncompetitive against to the EU’s own forthcoming travel authorisation scheme (ETIAS) both in terms of cost (€7 vs £16), validity period (three years for an EU ETIAS vs two years for a UK ETA) and in terms of the exemptions. The Government has just made matters worse.

“The Government recently announced a target to grow our inbound tourism to 50m visitors by 2030 up from 38m in 2023. Hitting that target will not happen if the Government keep viewing tourists simply as a cash cow. Tourists make decisions in a competitive global marketplace. We are already 113th out of 119 countries for price competitiveness. We need the Government to help address that challenge, not compound it.”

Who is exempt from an ETA?

Everyone entering the UK (but no longer everyone in transit through the UK) will require an ETA unless they have:

  • a British or Irish passport
  • permission to live, work or study in the UK
  • a visa to enter the UK, or
  • are travelling with a British overseas territories citizen passport

Confusingly, Irish residents (non passport holders) are only exempt if they enter the UK from Ireland, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. They will need to apply if entering from any other country.

How long will an Electronic Travel Authority last?

An ETA will last for two years.

However, it is linked to the passport, not the person. If the passport is renewed, a fresh ETA will be required.

Find out more

You can find out more on the ETA website here.

You can read more about the transit passenger exemption here. It isn’t clear if this is effective immediately or if it needs new primary legislation to be passed, which is the case for the fee increase.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (176)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Paul says:
    17 Jan17 January 04:09

    I know a lot who won’t bother transiting now – eg Israelis will fly direct to Tlv from US as till now a lot of them were busy retaining gold & GGL exec cards. Not any more…

  • The Lord says:
    17 Jan17 January 04:27

    This will help kickstart growth. Well done successive useless governments.

  • Dave says:
    17 Jan17 January 04:28

    It’s the way the world is going. It’s good they’ve dropped it for transit passengers but they’re late to the party anyway. US, Australia, NZ, Canada, and soon to be Europe are all using it.
    Thanks to BA not interlining baggage on separate PNRs, I have to pay the Australia ETA of $20 to spend five hours in Sydney airport! Annoying but it seems to be the new normal

    • Scandinavian traveler says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:14

      Australian one was free when I got it in October last year. Where are you from? There are a lot of “scam” websites claiming to help you with it and charging money for it, but my understanding is that it is free to get.

    • CP says:
      17 Jan17 January 11:06

      Depending on your passport and intentions you could be eligible for an Austrialian eVisitor or Transit visa – they’re both entirely free. The ETA has a $20 service charge.

    • Alan says:
      18 Jan18 January 14:35

      Aussie eVisitor one is free?

  • Bervios says:
    17 Jan17 January 05:21

    Is this just tit for tat with the Eu? Or is there a security argument for the introduction?

    Still, At least our EU friends can still use e gates at the UK border for ease of entry and city tax is still relatively rare in the UK.

    • Can says:
      17 Jan17 January 06:21

      It still amazes me (with jealousy) how many countries can use our eGates, but we cannot even use them in Europe.

      Where is the tit for tat here?!?

      • Alastair says:
        17 Jan17 January 06:37

        We have to let EU pax use our gates because we don’t have enough UKBA staff or desks. Heathrow in particular would grind to a halt if we didn’t.

        • Bervios says:
          17 Jan17 January 06:39

          Most German airports already grind to a halt with the non EU arrivals. Try BER or DUS behind a EK/TK arrival.

          • Flyoff says:
            17 Jan17 January 07:23

            Similarly in Oslo. 1.5 hours to get through immigration with the a queue that many just pushed into. I feel the UK government should negotiate with EU countries that won’t let UK passport holders use e-gates. Brussels was a long queue but I was impressed particularly with the e-gates in Paris and Rome where there was no delay entering or leaving the country.

          • LD27 says:
            17 Jan17 January 11:48

            Don’t forget FRA. It’s the pits!

        • Can2 says:
          17 Jan17 January 07:18

          What a great argument for diplomatic bileteralism!
          Remind me the taxes each pax pays for LHR?

      • Bervios says:
        17 Jan17 January 06:38

        EU ETIAS scheme launching in 2025.

      • Rui N. says:
        17 Jan17 January 06:40

        UK citizens can use egates in several EU countries. EU countries have something called sovereignty to decide what to do.

      • Brian says:
        17 Jan17 January 07:56

        I’ve used e-gates in Turin and Lisbon… Very quick!

      • Charles Martel says:
        17 Jan17 January 08:23

        You can use them in Spain and Portugal, I think Italy allows you to use the EU queue too.

      • Dawn says:
        18 Jan18 January 14:48

        Totally agree, particularly after spending over 1 hour in line at Brussels and watching all the ‘european’ queue whizz through. However, that’s what people voted for Brexit for and you get what you vote for. I didn’t.

    • BJ says:
      17 Jan17 January 06:39

      Since when did egates ease entry? I’ve had nothing but frustration with them.

      • Lumma says:
        17 Jan17 January 08:34

        That’s just the UK ones, which are terrible. Milan Linate last weekend, everyone in the same queue, Egate worked first time. Gatwick South – seek assistance after three attempts with no info as to why it isn’t working

      • Alan says:
        18 Jan18 January 14:36

        They were rubbish but a software update a few months ago seems to have solved the issue for the majority of folks (myself included) in the FT thread discussing the issues.

    • John says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:45

      The egates position is a shambles. Can you imagine Trump allowing foreign citizens to cruise though US immigration and the same not reciprocated to US citizens. Absolutely spineless government

      • Rhys says:
        17 Jan17 January 08:49

        Is it? Or is it about reducing the cost burden? I don’t think the UK Government did that because it was being nice, I think it did that so that it could save money on paying officers.

      • Londonsteve says:
        18 Jan18 January 17:06

        The UK could (and arguably should) direct EU citizens to the ‘other’ queue while British citizens enjoy the benefits of fast access to the UK via e-gates, at least there would be a tangible benefit to Brexit that every British citizen (and resident?) could enjoy. As others have however pointed out, the volume of EU arrivals is such that Border Force would need to double the quantity of manned desks to make it work. It’s entirely within the power of the UK to deny access to e-gates on a reciprocal basis but they’ve taken a decision not to as it would be impractical.

        People complaining about this need to ask how much more tax they’re willing to pay to cover the costs of enlarging immigration areas at airports and staffing them with the necessary officers. They’re also not recognising th fact that British travellers arriving in Europe are inconsequential to the overall number of arrivals whereas those arriving in the UK from the EU probably form 40% of passengers landing at UK airports.

        • NFH says:
          28 Jan28 January 19:26

          If Border Force was to prevent certain nationalities from using e-gates, it would be akin to supermarkets preventing certain customers from using self-checkouts. Why would any organisation want to increase its costs by preventing the use of automated infrastructure?

          Until EES is implemented, British citizens entering the Schengen area currently need to have their passport stamped by a border guard. In order to save border guards’ time, some Schengen countries require British citizens to go through an e-gate first, before the manual passport stamping. The e-gate is an additional step, not a replacement for the manual step.

          Perhaps notice how ushers in UK airports try to prevent anyone from going straight to a manned Border Force desk. They strongly direct everyone towards the e-gates. Given that e-gates are unnecessarily configured to reject biometric travel documents that lack redundant paper pages (e.g. identity cards of those with EU Settled Status and Irish passport cards), we always go to a Border Force manned desk, and the ushers can be quite obstructive before allowing us to do so.

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    17 Jan17 January 05:29

    This “govt” will now put toll booths up along all of the beaches on the South coast…….instead of addressing the problem!

  • Simón says:
    17 Jan17 January 05:52

    Wonder if anyone else is in this position?

    So my wife, living in Spain with an Irish and UK passport,normally uses her Irish passport when travelling back to the UK, to avoid any questions around the 90 residency rule.

    But would now have to either carry on using the Irish passport and pay for the privilege of entering the U.K., or use her UK passport but potentially be flagged as staying in Spain for over 90 days in the 180?

    • Can2 says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:37

      Don’t you have to use your UK passport when you enter or leave the UK, even if you have other passports?

    • Erico1875 says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:42

      I would gladly pay the entry fee to enjoy the freedom of an Irish passport.
      Thanks to Brexit, we are now prisoners in our own country.

    • Daniel says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:50

      It says you’re exempt if you hold an Irish passport though? It’s only Irish residents that do NOT hold a passport who are not exempt, unless they enter via Ireland, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

    • LittleNick says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:55

      Simón, bit confused why would she not use her Irish passport to enter/stay/exit Spain and then use the UK passport to enter the UK?

      • John says:
        17 Jan17 January 08:00

        Precisely.

      • J says:
        17 Jan17 January 08:32

        Yep. We’ve been told by border control staff that this is the correct procedure. Show your UK passport to UK staff, and your EU passport to EU staff

        • Pete says:
          17 Jan17 January 10:07

          No need for Irish passports. Irish citizens effectively have the same immigration rights to the Uk as U.K. citizens. Just use the Irish passport both ways.

        • RussellH says:
          17 Jan17 January 11:49

          That tallies with the instructions from the Swiss Embassy in London.
          Use the UK passport when entering (and leaving, if there is a departure check) the UK, use the Swiss passport when entering and leaving Schengen.

          Entering non-Schengen countries: I have not done that for 5½ years now and RO, HR + BG all now all in Schengen anyway.

      • Can2 says:
        17 Jan17 January 10:14

        Yes.

    • Oviplokos1 says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:26

      Leave Spain with Irish passport and enter UK with UK passport?

    • Rui N. says:
      17 Jan17 January 09:30

      This is absurd. Your wife needs to give the EU passport when leaving Spain and then use her UK airport when entering the UK.
      If she has an EU passport she also doesn’t need to be concerned about the 90/180 rule.

    • Andrew T says:
      17 Jan17 January 11:32

      I live in the UK. I use my Germany Passport when entering/leaving the EU and use my British Passport to Enter/leave the UK.

    • NFH says:
      17 Jan17 January 14:23

      I use my Irish passport card in both directions between the UK and EU/EEA/Schengen. This will exempt me from both ETA and ETIAS. No need to use multiple travel documents. Keep it simple.

    • Londonsteve says:
      18 Jan18 January 17:15

      I understand the difficulty here as I’m also a dual national. I’ve got my UK passport saved with the airlines in their advance passenger information section, the issue I now have is that when departing for the EU on this passport they’ll expect me to have an EU ETIAS before allowing me to board. Relying on being able to show an EU passport at the boarding gate carries some risk as gate staff may still deny boarding as I’ve recorded a UK passport in their system and that’s the passport they’re expecting me to travel with. The reverse is true if flying to the UK on an EU passport, they’ll expect you to have a UK ETA. The alternative of continually submitting the passport details of the destination country is a lot of admin. As the EU ETIAS is cheaper, I think I’ll just get one for my UK passport when the time comes and continue to board in both directions using my UK passport, showing my EU travel document when entering or leaving the EU to an immigration officer.

      • Roosit says:
        19 Jan19 January 23:28

        This is not the case, at least not with BA, in my experience. When they look at your passport at check-in/bag drop/at the gate, they are not comparing it to what API you have entered on the website. I even asked them and they said it didn’t matter. Now whether this will change or not, I don’t know of course but at the moment, they are not comparing. The only time I can think of when it didn’t work was during Covid because of travel restrictions for UK citizens and the “wrong” passport was saved in the API. In that case online check-in did not work but no problem at all once talking to a member of staff at the airport.

  • Paul says:
    17 Jan17 January 05:53

    If the U.K. simply rejoined the EU much of the growth they (and we ) so desperately need would return. Everything else is just tinkering.

    These additional costs are not significantly more than a family of 4 must pay to visit the USA or a myriad of other countries. Indeed the USA also demand it from transit passengers as the concept of international transit does not exist in the USA. Travel globally has not been curtailed or slowed by these charges, city taxes or a plethora of other tourist taxes.

    I think quality of accommodation and other services are a more important factors in determining tourist numbers. Currently at a rather unpleasant crown plaza in the U.K. and frankly will not return.

    • BJ says:
      17 Jan17 January 06:48

      +1 on growth, even custom union would stimulate growth in a heartbeat.

    • LittleNick says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:57

      Rejoining the EU now is not simple, with commitments to join Schengen and the Euro. A case could be made to rejoin the single market which would ease many frictions, which may boost growth but its not going to solve all our problems

    • Brian says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:59

      Germany is in recession… Someone has being listening to too much Rory Smith. It’s actually incredibly hard to join the customs union because we’d need to give notice to the other trade agreements we’ve joined. Wait and see with Trump, expect EU to get hit with tariffs…

      • Paul says:
        17 Jan17 January 19:43

        The so called trade deals were all rolled over from when we were in the EU. The Australian deal should dumped as a matter expediency and because it overtly favours Australia, indeed Truss could only negotiate by giving away. As for the Tango President we should be rejoining to protect ourselves. He doesn’t card for anyone but himself

  • riku says:
    17 Jan17 January 05:53

    There is still the problem that Ireland and the UK are in the common travel area with no border control NI Ireland but the ETA is only for the UK. So it will be quite easy to drive into NI from the south without an ETA and you will have entered the UK without an ETA.

    • BJ says:
      17 Jan17 January 06:54

      Shhh 52% of the country are either ignorant of those issues or have been aware of them but have conveniently ignored them.

      • Charlie says:
        17 Jan17 January 07:32

        Come on BJ, this is a nonsense comment. If you are able to legally travel to Ireland, then in 99% of cases you could have legally entered the U.K. in the first place. If you have illegally entered Ireland, then there is the possibility of illegally entering the U.K. But that issue has existed since 1923 and, on balance, is minor to the benefits of the CTA, whether you are an opponent or proponent of the 2016 decision on EU membership.

      • Mike Fish says:
        17 Jan17 January 09:14

        @BK have you ever consider that the 48% were ignorant of the issues that EU membership caused the other 52%? I suspect not.

    • Paul says:
      17 Jan17 January 07:41

      It is not a problem. The Common Travel Area has been around for ever. People in Ireland can travel freely between the north of the island and the south as well as between Ireland and GB If arriving from anywhere else they require a ETA

      • Brian says:
        17 Jan17 January 08:01

        Do not assume that people travel freely between GB and Ireland, I have seen people intercepted off the plane deboarding… It’s intelligence led.

        • Michael says:
          17 Jan17 January 09:41

          And spot checks by Border Force at the entrance to security in Belfast Airports when only domestic flights leaving.

        • Pete says:
          17 Jan17 January 13:22

          The common travel area free movement rights only apply to uk and Irish citizens. While there is no physical permanent border prescence anyone else can be subject to border controls

    • Lumma says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:37

      You didnt used to need an ESTA to enter the USA from Canada or Mexico by land but I believe they’ve changed it now

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