Denied boarding with approved esta

Why not, when you plan to go to the US, check EVERY single person involved has an ESTA individually when you book the ticket. Check their expiries if they have one, and apply for ones when needed.

This to me is as basic as it gets. Book ticket. Check and get ESTA. Then plan your holiday...

I agree. It should be entirely the passenger’s responsibility to make sure they’re approved to fly in good time - airlines shouldn’t be expected to waste time chasing the CBP on behalf of forgetful passengers.

The CBP is perfectly clear on this. If you don’t apply for an ESTA at least 72 hours before you fly, you MAY not be allowed to fly. Instant approvals have stopped and if you leave it to the last minute you are taking a big risk.

It's a good lesson to learn

Several years ago I arrived in Boston with my valid passport, and was told I didn't have a visa.
I actually DID have a Visa, which was in my 'expired' passport - although the Visa was still valid - which i'd forgotten to bring with me

I got hauled off to TROV land, where I was given access to their internal wifi so I could sit in the corner, apply for a Visa, and let them know when it arrived -

Nowadays either I'd have to sit in the corner for 3 days, or more likely be sent back home at Virgin's expense

Peter

Just to wade in, I applied for 3 ESTA's a few weeks ago for me and two friends. I am now onto my 4th ESTA, and the two guys are on their first.

In all three cases I got the "Application Pending" at the end of the process. Logged out and back in and they had all approved instantaneously, but very distinctly gave the impression that it would take 72 hours for that to come through.

It very rarely takes 72 hours. It’s normally minutes, if that. But the point is it COULD take up to 72 hours if your name raises a red flag or yours is one of the applications randomly sent for checking.

If you’re happy to take the risk and apply on the day, fine - but it IS a risk and, as the OP discovered, if you leave it late the airline might not let you fly and may take the view that it’s your problem, not up to them to chase the CBP for approval on your behalf.

It very rarely takes 72 hours. It’s normally minutes, if that. But the point is it COULD take up to 72 hours if your name raises a red flag or yours is one of the applications randomly sent for checking.

If you’re happy to take the risk and apply on the day, fine - but it IS a risk and, as the OP discovered, if you leave it late the airline might not let you fly and may take the view that it’s your problem, not up to them to chase the CBP for approval on your behalf.

Can you point me at the virgin Atlantic website that stipulates the esta needs to have been approved for X amount of hours/days or boarding will be denied? I had an approved esta at 8am for a 10.10 flight.

Even better why not state when trying to checkin 24hrs before that there appears to be a problem with the esta (as BA do) rather than displaying a message saying online checkin issue but don’t worry just turn up at the airport to check in lol

It very rarely takes 72 hours. It’s normally minutes, if that. But the point is it COULD take up to 72 hours if your name raises a red flag or yours is one of the applications randomly sent for checking.

If you’re happy to take the risk and apply on the day, fine - but it IS a risk and, as the OP discovered, if you leave it late the airline might not let you fly and may take the view that it’s your problem, not up to them to chase the CBP for approval on your behalf.

Can you point me at the virgin Atlantic website that stipulates the esta needs to have been approved for X amount of hours/days or boarding will be denied? I had an approved esta at 8am for a 10.10 flight.

Even better why not state when trying to checkin 24hrs before that there appears to be a problem with the esta (as BA do) rather than displaying a message saying online checkin issue but don’t worry just turn up at the airport to check in lol

https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/cont ... ation.html

It very rarely takes 72 hours. It’s normally minutes, if that. But the point is it COULD take up to 72 hours if your name raises a red flag or yours is one of the applications randomly sent for checking.

If you’re happy to take the risk and apply on the day, fine - but it IS a risk and, as the OP discovered, if you leave it late the airline might not let you fly and may take the view that it’s your problem, not up to them to chase the CBP for approval on your behalf.

Can you point me at the virgin Atlantic website that stipulates the esta needs to have been approved for X amount of hours/days or boarding will be denied? I had an approved esta at 8am for a 10.10 flight.

Even better why not state when trying to checkin 24hrs before that there appears to be a problem with the esta (as BA do) rather than displaying a message saying online checkin issue but don’t worry just turn up at the airport to check in lol

https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/cont ... ation.html

Mojojo - that link doesn’t say anywhere that your esta needs to have been “approved” X amount of hours/days before boarding?

Like other posters are you getting the words “approval” and “approved” mixed up.

You say you arrived at check-in at 0720, but you didn’t have approved ESTAs until 0800.

CBP states very clearly on its ESTA site: “arriving at the airport without a previously approved ESTA will likely result in being denied boarding.”

You arrived at the airport without a previously approved ESTA so it seems pretty clear cut to me, however aggrieved you may feel that VS didn’t go the extra mile to seek permission to fly from the CBP once you’d successfully obtained your ESTAs.

You say you arrived at check-in at 0720, but you didn’t have approved ESTAs until 0800.

CBP states very clearly on its ESTA site: “arriving at the airport without a previously approved ESTA will likely result in being denied boarding.”

You arrived at the airport without a previously approved ESTA so it seems pretty clear cut to me, however aggrieved you may feel that VS didn’t go the extra mile to seek permission to fly from the CBP once you’d successfully obtained your ESTAs.

Seriously gumshoe? Read back what you wrote.

Let’s pretend that I got the “approved” esta while I was in the hotel lobby rather than at the airport.

Now can you or someone else show me where it states the “approved” esta status has to have been granted X number of hours/days before boarding? No I thought not.

If you haven’t got anything intelligent to add please don’t bother responding.

No, I have never said there is a specific cut-off time for having your ESTA approved.

But, to repeat, the CBP clearly says if you don’t have an approved ESTA when you arrive at the airport you are likely to be denied boarding.

You didn’t, and you were.

And please do not presume to tell me whether I can contribute to this discussion. Maybe it’s time to stop burying your head in the sand and blaming everyone else for what, I’m afraid, was your own mistake.

No, I have never said there is a specific cut-off time for having your ESTA approved.

But, to repeat, the CBP clearly says if you don’t have an approved ESTA when you arrive at the airport you are likely to be denied boarding.

You didn’t, and you were.

And please do not presume to tell me whether I can contribute to this discussion. Maybe it’s time to stop burying your head in the sand and blaming everyone else for what, I’m afraid, was your own mistake.

I apologise for crediting you with more intelligence than you obviously have.

So obviously based on your flawed assumption had I received the approved status at the hotel at 8am before even stepping foot in any airport in the uk I would have been fine lol.

This forum used to be a good place to seek info until the likes of you decided to join. Please don’t waste any more of my time posting on this thread unless you really do have something constructive to say.

Perhaps this thread needs a padlock. Starting to get a bit nasty now.

[/quote]

Mojojo - that link doesn’t say anywhere that your esta needs to have been “approved” X amount of hours/days before boarding?

Like other posters are you getting the words “approval” and “approved” mixed up.[/quote]

Thanks for assuming. I got mixed up. I did not. The point was that the VS website states

“To obtain your ESTA:

You must apply at least 72 hours before you travel.”

No, I have never said there is a specific cut-off time for having your ESTA approved.

But, to repeat, the CBP clearly says if you don’t have an approved ESTA when you arrive at the airport you are likely to be denied boarding.

You didn’t, and you were.

And please do not presume to tell me whether I can contribute to this discussion. Maybe it’s time to stop burying your head in the sand and blaming everyone else for what, I’m afraid, was your own mistake.

I apologise for crediting you with more intelligence than you obviously have.

So obviously based on your flawed assumption had I received the approved status at the hotel at 8am before even stepping foot in any airport in the uk I would have been fine lol.

This forum used to be a good place to seek info until the likes of you decided to join. Please don’t waste any more of my time posting on this thread unless you really do have something constructive to say.

+1 with Gumshoe, you made a mistake [we all do]

Mojojo - that link doesn’t say anywhere that your esta needs to have been “approved” X amount of hours/days before boarding?

Like other posters are you getting the words “approval” and “approved” mixed up.[/quote]

Thanks for assuming. I got mixed up. I did not. The point was that the VS website states

“To obtain your ESTA:

You must apply at least 72 hours before you travel.”[/quote]

Your link didn’t answer the question I asked which was where does it state the amount of time you have to wait after getting an approved esta before being able to board a flight.

I was able to board the next flight on same day as I had an approved esta. No waiting 72hrs after approval.

Also CBP states the following about suggesting you apply 72hrs before;

Citizens of participating Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries traveling to the United States are strongly encouraged to apply for an ESTA at the time of booking their trip and no later than 72 hours prior to departure. Applicants who apply on the same day of their flight’s departure risk not having an approved ESTA prior to their scheduled departure. International travelers without an approved ESTA will not be authorized to board their flight.

As I have previously posted the CBP ESTA website - https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

has a banner headline as follows in RED

Apply for ESTA no later than 72 hours before departing for the United States. Real-time approvals will no longer be available and arriving at the airport without a previously approved ESTA will likely result in being denied boarding.

You are on a hiding to nothing. Insulting posters on here or being in self denial is not going to help you.

You were lucky you got an on the day approval and VS rebooked you only by paying the change fee and not a fare change. You or a family member not having a valid ESTA is down to you. Stop trying to blame VS for not telling you that. YOU are responsible. The rules on new passport means a new ESTA are longs tanding.

Enjoy the rest of your trip rather than posting on here.

As I have previously posted the CBP ESTA website - https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

has a banner headline as follows in RED

Apply for ESTA no later than 72 hours before departing for the United States. Real-time approvals will no longer be available and arriving at the airport without a previously approved ESTA will likely result in being denied boarding.

You are on a hiding to nothing. Insulting posters on here or being in self denial is not going to help you.

You were lucky you got an on the day approval and VS rebooked you only by paying the change fee and not a fare change. You or a family member not having a valid ESTA is down to you. Stop trying to blame VS for not telling you that. YOU are responsible. The rules on new passport means a new ESTA are longs tanding.

Enjoy the rest of your trip rather than posting on here.

You are deluded as the rest of them keep quoting that warning. Yes it is a warning that you should apply well in advance of travel as there is a risk approval won’t be granted before departure. But I was granted approval so that statement doesn’t apply.

I really can’t understand why you and a few others can’t grasp that fact. At 8am we had in our possession approved estas. Not sure how many times I have to state that before people stop saying you have to apply 72hrs before a flight.

It even says on the official website that you still can apply same day but risk approval not coming through in time;

Citizens of participating Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries traveling to the United States are strongly encouraged to apply for an ESTA at the time of booking their trip and no later than 72 hours prior to departure. Applicants who apply on the same day of their flight’s departure risk not having an approved ESTA prior to their scheduled departure. International travelers without an approved ESTA will not be authorized to board their flight.

As I have previously posted the CBP ESTA website - https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

has a banner headline as follows in RED

Apply for ESTA no later than 72 hours before departing for the United States. Real-time approvals will no longer be available and arriving at the airport without a previously approved ESTA will likely result in being denied boarding.

You are on a hiding to nothing. Insulting posters on here or being in self denial is not going to help you.

You were lucky you got an on the day approval and VS rebooked you only by paying the change fee and not a fare change. You or a family member not having a valid ESTA is down to you. Stop trying to blame VS for not telling you that. YOU are responsible. The rules on new passport means a new ESTA are longs tanding.

Enjoy the rest of your trip rather than posting on here.

You are deluded as the rest of them keep quoting that warning. Yes it is a warning that you should apply well in advance of travel as there is a risk approval won’t be granted before departure. But I was granted approval so that statement doesn’t apply.

I really can’t understand why you and a few others can’t grasp that fact. At 8am we had in our possession approved estas. Not sure how many times I have to state that before people stop saying you have to apply 72hrs before a flight.

It even says on the official website that you still can apply same day but risk approval not coming through in time;

Citizens of participating Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries traveling to the United States are strongly encouraged to apply for an ESTA at the time of booking their trip and no later than 72 hours prior to departure. Applicants who apply on the same day of their flight’s departure risk not having an approved ESTA prior to their scheduled departure. International travelers without an approved ESTA will not be authorized to board their flight.

Now you’re just being rude. No need for personal attacks

I haven’t posted on this forum for some while now but still regularly read the threads with interest.

However feel the need to join in at this point and ask the OP what he/she hopes to achieve especially now they have digressed into being insulting and rude to folk who are trying to offer advice.

The evidence regarding ESTA application has been precisely & clearly provided. The OP obviously made an unfortunate mistake by not acting appropriately to renew the kids ESTAs well in advance and the buck stops there. It’s not Virgin Atlantic’s responsibility. If the family had ESTAs in the past, then a reminder email would have been sent. I received mine last week and acted accordingly :

“If you provided ESTA with your email when you applied, you will receive an expiration notice when your ESTA is about to expire. The email will advise recipients to go to the official ESTA Web site to reapply. As a general rule, your ESTA approval is good for multiple entries into the U.S. over a two year period”

The time has come to acknowledge your error and move on !

I haven’t posted on this forum for some while now but still regularly read the threads with interest.

However feel the need to join in at this point and ask the OP what he/she hopes to achieve especially now they have digressed into being insulting and rude to folk who are trying to offer advice.

The evidence regarding ESTA application has been precisely & clearly provided. The OP obviously made an unfortunate mistake by not acting appropriately to renew the kids ESTAs well in advance and the buck stops there. It’s not Virgin Atlantic’s responsibility. If the family had ESTAs in the past, then a reminder email would have been sent. I received mine last week and acted accordingly :

“If you provided ESTA with your email when you applied, you will receive an expiration notice when your ESTA is about to expire. The email will advise recipients to go to the official ESTA Web site to reapply. As a general rule, your ESTA approval is good for multiple entries into the U.S. over a two year period”

The time has come to acknowledge your error and move on !

Lol - I jist love some of the types that frequent this forum - guess it’s time to move over to Flyertalk.

Once again just in case you didn’t read any of the previous posts;

I had an approved esta, whether it was applied for 1year or 2hrs before flight - it was approved - so no amount of warning that you need to apply 72hrs before in case approval doesn’t come though - does not apply here!

No warning about the estas expiring was sent. The last warning email was dec 17 and that’s when I renewed a group application. The issue is that I forgot the kids passports had expired in 2016 so they were renewed on 12 dec 2016 and were valid for last Xmas trip but obviously not this years. I therefore forgot when I renewed last years group it didn’t include 2 of the kids who were still good on the 2016 approved esta.

My beef is with the fact the agent only decided to call someone after our flight had closed rather 2hrs before the flight when we were asking him.as soon as he put the phone down the check in system could see that the kids did in fact have an approved esta and made us pay £1800 to get the next flight 3hrs later.

This is my last post on this forum. But thanks to those who did try and understand the situation rather than keep posting about applying 72hrs before hand even though I had an approved esta 2hrs before flight

[This is my last post on this forum. [/quote]

Please make that a promise !

What a ridiculous thread this has turned out to be. Regardless of whether the OP was right or not this should never have descended into bickering and personal attacks.

If sickbag is right on one thing this is not the V-Flyer I am used to.

I know they are rarely needed but where are the Mods on this forum - why didn't they step in?

I think the main point is that ESTAs expire after two years or when the passport expires, whichever comes first.

[preiffer]

I know they are rarely needed but where are the Mods on this forum - why didn't they step in?

As you say, genuinely very rarely needed to step in.

In this case, a "robust" disagreement is not necessarily a reason to lock a thread (as requested earlier) - if we can't handle dealing with others who have different opinions to ourselves, then the "snowflake generation" is rather sadly taking over.

That said, at the point we start lowering into personal attacks and insults, the line begins to be crossed - and this thread was very much heading in this direction.

To sickbag's point - I actually understand the perspective : Regardless of the "suggested requirements", if, by luck, you manage to do better than those specified time restrictions then you'd expect that to yield a positive outcome.

On the other hand, NOBODY on this forum knows the VS system requirements:
Maybe they need to send CBP lists 3 hours before a flight? (In which case, the 8:00am issue is irrelevant, as it would have needed to be 7:00am)?
Maybe, after a "denial" at check-in, there's a "lock-out" for 1-2 hours or so before trying again?
Who knows?

The point being, this thread has gotten rather out of hand based on ZERO facts and pure speculation - a rather dangerous place to be. This, as always, risks personal attacks and opinions to be formed based on conjecture rather than reality.


sickbag - regardless of your assertions, it is clear (and I think you know it) that this was an oversight on your part. If you'd been LUCKY, maybe you could have gotten away with it, but you weren't, and you didn't. VS don't hold the blame here (given we don't know all the background systems in play), as they do state that an ESTA is required prior to check-in. Attacking other users when they disagree with your opinion is rather self-destroying as far as tactics go.

others - please, please, do try to keep threads on track for discussion of facts rather than reacting to emotional responses and pouring fuel on the fire.

We'll leave this thread open for now, but please - kids - play nice?