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

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• George K says:

  17 Jan17 January 09:12

  Do you think that will be a good incentive for LGW to reopen the Flight Connections route? It never came back after the pandemic…

• limiting_factor says:

  17 Jan17 January 09:20

  Just a note, not mentioned above, the government press release just said the transit exemption was temporary. Obviously doesn’t mean they can’t keep it forever, but also means that can slip it back in without losing face.

  “However, following feedback from the aviation industry, the government has agreed a temporary exemption for passengers who transit airside, and therefore do not pass through UK border control.”

  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-for-a-more-efficient-immigration-system

  • Charles Martel says:

    19 Jan19 January 10:22

    Which is pretty useless, if I think i might be declined the ETA and the government might impose it at any moment would I risk booking a ticket transiting through LHR? This still leaves uncertainty for citizens of higher risk countries.

    • abc says:

      20 Jan20 January 14:12

      The purpose of the exception is not that people that think they might be declined the ETA can transit through the UK, it’s that people that easily would get an ETA are not discouraged to transfer through the UK by the cost and effort of getting an ETA. Also they won’t reintroduce it without notice in any case.

• Jan says:

  17 Jan17 January 09:59

  Isn’t this the same as UK residents need an ESTA to enter the USA and the current cost is $21 for 2 years. I am sure this doesn’t deter people flying to the states

  • CamFlyer says:

    17 Jan17 January 10:22

    The US does not have airside international transit; a yone touching the US on a flight must clear US immigration and customs. The UK does have airside transit. This policy would have confused things, requiring travelers to have the ETA even if never entering the UK.

  • Aman says:

    18 Jan18 January 07:25

    Exactly my point. Nothing wrong with all this!

• NFH says:

  17 Jan17 January 10:12

  It is misleading to write “It is rolling out in stages, with the final phase for EU residents launching on 2nd April“. It is not based on residency, but on citizenship. This wording implies that a British citizen resident in the EU will need an ETA, which is not true. It also implies that an EU national resident in Switzerland will not need an ETA, which is similarly not true. In fact, it will apply on 2nd April 2025 to all European non-visa nationals, which includes not only EU nationals, but also nationals of the wider EEA, Switzerland, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican.

• NFH says:

  17 Jan17 January 10:23

  The other damage being caused to inbound UK tourism is that more than 200 million potential visitors from EU/EEA/CH countries have identity cards but not passports, and the UK ceased accepting them on 1st October 2021, even secure biometric cards, which are similar to passports but without the redundant paper pages. Simon Calder explains this at https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/brexit-european-id-card-tourism-b2514433.html

  The ETA app ought to be amended to read biometric cards, just as the Home Office’s app at https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/eu-exit-id-document-check/id1478914184 can.

  • Scotsman says:

    17 Jan17 January 10:34

    Happy to be corrected but the EU/EEA/CH doesn’t accept my UK drivers license to enter the country/area, so why should the UK – it would need to be reciprocal at the very least. It’s worth noting children on school trips don’t need a passport to enter the UK.

    Also if half the EU doesn’t have a passport (likely due to not wanting to or affording international travel) I doubt they would spend the higher cost to the UK rather than go to a neighbouring country in their car, even before Brexit made it a bigger challenge and cost.

    • NFH says:

      17 Jan17 January 10:43

      This is about travel documents (which show one’s nationality such as a passport or national identity card), not driving licences. When the UK was in the EU and issued national identity cards in 2009/10, EU/EEA/CH countries duly accepted them.

    • NFH says:

      17 Jan17 January 11:48

      As for your second point, it’s not that they don’t want or can’t afford international travel. They don’t want or can’t afford non-European travel. Many non-EU/EEA/CH European countries, particularly in the Balkans, voluntarily accept EU/EEA/CH identity cards. Turkey accepts some but not all.

    • Alexander says:

      17 Jan17 January 12:05

      You can travel to around 40 European countries with an EU ID Card including countries like Turkey – it has nothing to do with not wanting or affording international travel. The UK also literally is a neigbouring country to some of the largest EU economies.

      • jjoohhnn says:

        17 Jan17 January 14:07

        What is the point of this additional card they make people have as well as a passport?!

        • NFH says:

          17 Jan17 January 14:16

          For the same reason that a debit card is easier to carry than a chequebook, a card is far more practical. A card can be carried in a wallet or purse. This is why Ireland started issuing optional passport cards in 2015, but only to those who already have or apply for a passport booklet.

        • Rui N. says:

          17 Jan17 January 14:40

          Most people simply don’t have a passport. And the ID card is used for all sorts of stuff on your day-to-day life instead of requesting stuff like birth certificates and utility letters for proof of address.

        • Rui N. says:

          17 Jan17 January 15:03

          For example, in the EU country I come from I got married online with just our ID cards (had a cerimony with the officer, but that’s just for show; the signatures we did there have no legal value. They even gave me a marriage certificate but that was just because we live in the UK). If I want to get divorced, ditto, all can be done online. Going to the GP? Just insert the card when I arrive and no need to talk to anyone or add personal details in the computer for everyone to see.

        • Paul says:

          17 Jan17 January 19:51

          It confers identity, it allows access to services, and helps limit abuse of services. we could learn a lot. The passport is a travel document to access other countries outwith their own and other progressive countries. Friends of mine in Germany travel extensively across the EU and don’t possess a passport. They simply don’t need it

    • Rui N. says:

      17 Jan17 January 14:39

      A drivers’ licence is not an ID card like people in the EU have.

  • Londonsteve says:

    18 Jan18 January 17:33

    Very good point, NFH. It was daft to stop accepting EU ID cards considering until Brexit the UK accepted them and had the infrastructure in place to communicate with the embedded chips to access the biometrics. A ton of EU citizens don’t possess passports because they’ve no need for them. The cost of sourcing passports for a family of four just to visit the UK is generally prohibitive and reduces the target market of potential visitors just at a time when the UK needs more of them to help stimulate the economy. The UK doesn’t even stamp the passports of EU nationals when entering so I’ve no idea why the demand to use passports with paper pages when an ID card fulfils the same function as the photo page of a passport.

• Peter says:

  17 Jan17 January 11:37

  That’s what you get when you elect sensible people.

• Alan says:

  17 Jan17 January 11:39

  My husband is a Belgian citizen who has been here for 26 years and has ILR but not a UK passport. The Gov’t website is clear that he doesn’t need an ETA, but how will a check-in desk at some remote outstation in, say, India, know that he doesn’t need an ETA?. He is worried that an airline might refuse to board him because they don’t have evidence of his ILR?

  • NFH says:

    17 Jan17 January 12:01

    The carrier will electronically obtain his permission to travel from the Home Office using iAPI (interactive advance passenger information). Therefore it’s essential that he keeps his Belgian national identity card and passport updated in his UKVI account.

    • Alan says:

      17 Jan17 January 14:08

      Thanks 👍🏻

  • jjoohhnn says:

    17 Jan17 January 14:09

    Presumably you can enter ETA information or identify in the data that you don’t need one, just the same as UK citizens.

    • NFH says:

      17 Jan17 January 14:18

      No. Passengers will not indicate to carriers whether or not they have or need to have an ETA. They will enter their identity card or passport number in API data, and the carrier will obtain the passenger’s permission to travel via iAPI from the Home Office.

• TheThird says:

  17 Jan17 January 11:43

  My problem with electronic authorisations to travel isn’t the fee – that could easily be tacked on to airfares automatically, like any other tax or airport fee.
  My problem is that it presents a backdoor means of denying visa-free travel between countries that otherwise have a visa waiver programme in place.
  Eg… British passport holder who has place of birth listed as Tehran or Moscow or Baghdad etc? Surprise, you’re not eligible for an electronic authorisation to travel to the US or Canada, you have to attend a visa interview at the relevant embassy with all of the admin hassles, costs, and risks that entails. I’m sure the reverse will apply for the European and British schemes.
  All of our details are included on passenger manifests and world governments could easily mine those for security information etc. Introducing this separate authorisation is purely a lazy way of depriving visa free travel to a subset of people who would otherwise be eligible.

  • John says:

    17 Jan17 January 12:32

    It’s not a “back door” to denying travel, it’s the entire point

  • Pete says:

    17 Jan17 January 13:28

    They could already do this. People with visa free travel can get boarding permission denied based on the advanced passenger information sent by the airline to the home office

    • GUWonder says:

      17 Jan17 January 20:46

      Indeed there is already a functionality used whereby a government can use APIS info to kick back a DNB (do not board) indicator to the airline.

  • BBbetter says:

    17 Jan17 January 20:49

    Better than being interrogated in a cell at the airport.

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