Interesting check in process this am

[FlyboyAl]

Checked in at Adl 10 mins ago for a flight to LAX and had an interesting experience.
The "check in chick", who had an attitude issue, asked for my printed itinerary. I asked her why, and gave her the booking number in my pda.
She said that was insufficient and had to see a PRINTED copy of the itinarary.
She said imigration needed to know we were returning to Oz.
I told her we had return reservations and gave her the details, but we had to have a PRINTED itinarary to prove we were returning home to Oz!!!!
I would have thought the return booking was a pretty good indication we were coming home, but no, that was no good.
Burried down the bottom of a suitcase was a mangled copy of the itinerary which I found after 15 minutes looking.
It would be really good if someone told someone to have this in their posession on check in, as this is the first time ever that I've been asked for it since the last trip to the US in june last year.
Maybe everyone else knows about it, but I didn't, and with this post, others will know too.

By the way, they also weighed the hand luggage at domestic check-in. My backpack was queried at 9kg, but was passed ok when I said there was a laptop in it.

 

[serfty]

Yes, I have seen this advice many time.

On check-in Always have available:

• All ticket number relating to your travel.
• Any Paper tickets realting to your intinerary and
• A printed copy of all E-tickets related to you itinerary.

You may never need them - but there is always the chance that you will!

 

[Dave Noble]

It would be really good if someone told someone to have this in their posession on check in, as this is the first time ever that I've been asked for it since the last trip to the US in june last year.
Maybe everyone else knows about it, but I didn't, and with this post, others will know too.

Qantas etickets do say to to print out and take it when travelling internationally. The 1st thing it says at the top of the document is

This document contains your flight details. Please carry it with you during your trip as you may be required to present it. We recommend that you also retain a copy for your records. International passengers will need this information for Immigration, Customs, Airport Security checks and Duty Free purchases. Thank you for choosing to fly with us and we hope you enjoy your trip.

Dave

 

[NM]

A booking reference identifying is not sufficient for the airline or immigration staff. That is just a record locator in an airline's reservation system. What they need to verify is that you have a valid ticket issued. And its quite possible they cannot see the ticket number from the reservation booking reference identifier, especially if the booking was created on a different system that the check-in airline uses.

And since its likely to be an e-ticket, the only way to verify is to sight a printout of the e-ticket receipt or an itinerary that includes the e-ticket number.

The airline has a legal responsibility to make this verification. If they take your word for it and later you are found to be in breach of entry requirements, the airline is responsible for your return (an seat on their plane) and for a sizable fine. So the airlines have instructed their staff to make absolutely certain that you meet the entry requirements for the country you are visiting. They will not check you in for an international flight until they have verified that you meet the entry requirements. For many countries, entry requires that you have valid issued tickets for departure within the time of your entry entitlement (usually 90 days for USA entry under the Visa Waiver Program).

At the same time they check your passport validity (different countries have different validity requirements, usually at least 3 months from planned departure from that country and sometimes as much as 6 months). They check that you have a Visa or are entitled to visa-less entry etc. Its all part of the checks for which the airline is responsible for verification.

Your travel agent or the airline from which you purchased the ticket will usually provide you information about what you need to have in order to travel. This generally includes a recommendation to carry a printed copy of the e-ticket receipt or itinerary with you at all times when travelling through airports.

 

[Kebaba]

Looks like standard operating procedure to me - I've even been asked to produce my itinerary at immigration at LHR/LGW on numerous occasions.

 

[Nigelinoz]

I always carry a print out of the itinerary with me but can only remember a few times when I've been asked for it,I just present my passport and FF card.,which leads me to ask a seperate question,so maybe I should start new thread on the subject of technology and airlines.
for instance,how much data is stored on plastic FF cards and do the airlines make as much use of the technology as they perhaps could?
Why for instance shouldn't I be able to take my FF card to a travel agent when I make a booking and have them swipe the card through a reader/writer and load the itinerary onto the card.
Any comments?
(Sorry for going O/T)

 

[dajop]

Was the return itinerary in a separate booking? If it was therein lies your explanation. I have never had to produce a return itinerary to check-in when it is under the same booking, but always have had to if in two separate bookings (even on the same airline).

I like others will indicate that one should always have a copy of their itinerary (and particularly their e-ticket number) handy when travelling internationally. But I will admit to having a less than perfect track record on this, one does get complacent! Although I can always if required load up a pdf copy on my laptop ... not that this necessarily helps because printed copies are of course much more bonafide, and can't be forged

 

[docjames]

Well I've never been asked to see a paper copy.

It strikes me as preety dumb to have 'e-ticket" then have to carry a paper copy around - they may as well have stayed with paper tickets.

 

[serfty]

Well I've never been asked to see a paper copy. ...

I was asked in HNL immigration to show how I was staying at BOS! The printout of my e-ticket was most useful! :shock:

... It strikes me as preety dumb to have 'e-ticket" then have to carry a paper copy around - they may as well have stayed with paper tickets.

It save the airlines time & effort (=cost) - not you!

 

[docjames]

I was thinking along the environmental lines, not cost.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Also have your USA address with you at checkin

It was recently introduced that all airlines flying to the USA must obtain the address of where pax are staying in the USA so these details can be entered at checkin snd sent immediately off to the US Department of Homeland Security for verification.

If all is well they will generate a message back allowing the checkin process to continue and all boarding pass(es) will be issued to the US. If they don't like you the airline won't be able to proceed with the checkin process and you will be referred to an airline duty manager who will takeover from there.

It should be said as well that even if you get the green light at checkin say in Adelaide and are then are happily winging your way to SYD, DHS are within their right to change their mind and it's still possible to be denied boarding once in SYD.

So in short make sure you have the full address of where you'll be that first night in the US Hotel name, street number and name, suburb or city, state and zip code. If you cannot provide this at checkin, it's not possible for the airline to check you in to the US.

DHS have warned airlines of stringent penalties for non-compliance eg withdrawal of traffic rights etc so Uncle Sam is not to be messed with.

 

[MrHyde]

I normally don't carry a printed copy because I don't have a printer at home and am a last minute booker online.

I've been asked for a paper ticket once so far (I travel internationally to NZ every week) and I was told that they wanted to verify that I was returning. Luckily, that time, I did have a return ticket booked and after they checked their systems, they found the return ticket.

What I don't understand is why they were asking that for NZ. These days I've been booking NZ-Aus-NZ tickets as it is cheaper, so in effect, I am returning to NZ from Aus, but they still ask me where is my return back to Aus.

 

[dajop]

IThese days I've been booking NZ-Aus-NZ tickets as it is cheaper, so in effect, I am returning to NZ from Aus, but they still ask me where is my return back to Aus.

You travelling on non-Australian passport I assume? For those on Aussie passports it wouldn't matter if you come back or not.

 

[JohnK]

It has happened to me once. A couple of years ago I checked-in at SYD domestic international transfer desk a flight to SIN via BNE or PER and these were the return flights of a ticket I had purchased in SIN a few months earlier. She asked if I was returning to Australia and insisted that I had to provide a print out of my return journey to Australia. I told her that I had another booking with Qantas and she could verify the details 'My Bookings' but she wanted physical evidence.

What do I do now? I need to check-in for the flight and I do not have internet access. I walked over to the Qantas Sales desk at SYD T3 and asked them to print my itinerary. Went back to to the international transfer desk and was on my way in a few minutes.

I don't recall being asked for verification of return to Australia at any other time and I had a number of return tickets booked in SIN and BKK.

 

[serfty]

It was recently introduced that all airlines flying to the USA must obtain the address of where pax are staying in the USA so these details can be entered at checkin snd sent immediately off to the US Department of Homeland Security for verification. ...

Qantas have implemented a facility though www.qantas.com/yourbooking where you can enter this "Advance Passenger Information".

When looking at your booking you see this at the top:

As your trip involves a flight to the USA you need to provide advance passenger information.

Click the link and you can enter "... the relevant details for each passenger travelling, as they appear on the passport to be presented to border officials at your US arrival port."

It also go on to state: "Airlines are required to provide passenger information to the US border authorities prior to travel. These details will be added to your booking."

Once done, the option to update this is also provided.

Once can also check some of this this information when using www.checkmytrip.com and clicking the "view traveller details

".

This is near the top under "

traveller information".

 

[MrHyde]

You travelling on non-Australian passport I assume? For those on Aussie passports it wouldn't matter if you come back or not.

No, I am Australian and travel on an Australian passport. I know it doesn't matter if I come back from NZ or not, but the check in person didn't and no amount of reasoning with them seems to work.

A colleague of mine has a Brazilian passport, with NZ residence permit and he gets asked about return itinerary every single time. He, even took a print-out from the NZ consulate website saying that he could stay in NZ forever and it still didn't convince the check in person.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

Well, I find this discussion to be quite interesting. I am a dual national UK and Australia and hold passports of both nations. I have never been asked such questions and would feel offended if I had.

There are recourses if you feel hard done by, but you have to be legal, of course. I have had differences of opinion with aggressive Customs officers in Austrlai, but they have come off worst once I have complained to their State director.

So if you have legal status, don't feel timid in complaining if you have been wronged by an official.

And I know what I am talking about, as I was the Director of the Immigration passenger card prcessing section in the Australian government for a period.

 

[dajop]

So if you have legal status, don't feel timid in complaining if you have been wronged by an official.

Yes but the OP(s) wasn't talking about issues with govt officials. MrHyde was talking about check in agents for the airline. So the airline should recieve the complaint. There is nothing in NZ immigration requirements requiring Australians to have return flights - Australian citizens can stay there and never come back if they so desire. And vice-versa. And frankly, if it was any of the 5 major airlines that regularly cross the ditch (QF, JQ, DJ, NZ, EK) they should know better!! (Maybe excuses can be made for Royal Brunei or LAN ...

 

[FlyboyAl]

Mine was a single return booking Adl-Lax return with my wife, also booked at the same time. We are both Aussie passport holders.
Interestingly, no one from customs or any where else asked for the itineraries.
Yes, we had done the US procedure via the net to advise our details.

From the responses, it is somewhat mixed about who gets asked and who doesn't.

On the upside, the QC staff at Adelaide were great and they blocked 2 exit seats for us, and the Syd QC staff did the seating change.

On the whole the 380 flight was great - quieter than a 747 and the seats in Y were a little more comfortable.

The VA innaugural had landed about 30 mins before us at LAX (we were about an hour late arriving)

 

[serfty]

Agents are trained to be very carefull; it can cost the Airline mucho moolah if an inbound PAX gets rejected on arrival immigration ... it's better to be on the safe side.