-
Advice:
“You are eligible to apply for admission under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) if you… have a return or onward ticket”
“if entering the United States by air or sea… are holding a return or onward ticket“
Flew into Boston with Air Canada last year and out with BA a few days later. The airline isn’t worth worrying about, if you have a ticket and an ESTA then you are good to go. It’s CBP that have the final say and for 99.9% of people it’s a few questions at immigration and you are through and ready to enjoy your holiday. I wouldn’t pay any attention to some random group on FB. The horror stories you hear about are people trying to enter on a one way flight without the funds to support themselves.
Airlines HAVE TO worry about it. They have a legal responsibility to check you comply with the entry requirements*. This is done haphazardly but they can ask you lots of stuff and have absolute right to deny you boarding. Going to the US you also sometimes have random security checks done before check in or before the gate, and they can also check this stuff.
*The EU-US open skies agreement was at one point in jeopardy of starting in the agreed timeframe because the US said that TAP Air Portugal was not checking US entry requirements properly, an issue that has been longstanding with them (in the mid-1990s Portugal was at risk of being downgraded on the FAA list and TAP being banned from flying into the US because of that; at the time it was solved by the personal relationship of Guterres with Clinton).
Clinton has solved the problems of many EU airlines back in his day. He personally overrode the opinion of the US DOJ to not allow the LH-UA joint venture after a dinner with the German Chancellor (where they reportedly ate 5,000 calories each). Lufthansa was to declare bankruptcy if the JV was denied (or so it was claimed).
You wouldn’t, however that’s not what you said if you remember…
To maximize the cost of $21 over its 2 year validity you are risking the whole cost of a trip. Dumb idea.
I agree (and as my wife nearly found out). Since she booked the trip last minute on Avios LHR/JFK she created stress that wasn’t necessary. Now we have a rolling ETSA just in case – just like we renew passports with a year left on (in the winter when demand/strikes are lower). 10% of the cost “wasted” is pennies for peace of mind.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
