Easyjet Edinburgh/Madrid - Passport details required

[Beagle-eye]

Just been booking some flights from Edinburgh to/from Spain for week after next.

Ryanair to/from Alicante is no bother but Easyjet to/from Madrid is interesting.

Easyjet tell me that I cannot fly, or indeed check—in inline, without providing my passport details (number, date and place of issue) in advance via their web-site. I am not too uncomfortable doing this, I have to do it whenever I travel to the USA, but why should I have to do it for Madrid and not for Alicante or any other European destination ?

B-E :confused:

[Final 3 Greens]

Beagle-eye

You should also provide these details to Ryanair or you will be denied travel.

As to why, the UK is outside the Schengen area and APIS is required by Spain for flights from non Schengen countries.

See this article Advance Passenger Information Requirements :: Spain and Portugal for Visitors :: The travel guide to Spain and Portugal (http://spainforvisitors.com/module-News-display-sid-221.htm)

Another result of the UK's 'half in half out' approach to Europe.

[Beagle-eye]

F3G

Thanks forthat information. I have not had to go to Spain recently and most of my European travel is UK, Germany, France and Sweden.

Just curious as I have not been asked for this information before and whilst EasyJet requested the information in an email including a lurid yellow box with red lettering, Ryanair did not mention it.

Perhaps I will be asked for it when I do online checkin before departure.

Thanks again

B-E :ok:

[Browners]

I'm glad this thread has cropped up. We were nearly caught on the hop with Advanced Passenger Information, booked to go to Fuerteventura on 3rd March and only through talking to one of my friends did I find out I had to enter my API details. I wasn't advised by Thomas Cook at all that I had to do this and would probably not be allowed on the flight if i hadn't inputted it on their website.

I don't think API has been well publicised or advertised at all and there will be people who get caught out on this.

[Final 3 Greens]

Perhaps I will be asked for it when I do online checkin before departure.


Yes, you can enter it then.

[wiggy]

The UK Government has been requiring APIS pre-flight ( both into and out of the UK) under it's own e-borders scheme for over a year, the fact that Spain is the destination is coincidence.

[al446]

We flew to ADM with EZY in December and had mot provided details. Check in told us that from Jan if we had failed to do so prior to check in we would be denied boarding. You have been warned.

[Remers]

This is not correct wiggy. On a lot of flights out of the UK passport details are not collected by the airlines for the government. It really annoys me when government ministers are on TV claiming this is done and it is a basically a lie.

[wiggy]

Remers, I don't really care if you think what I say is wrong, instead I refer you to:

UK Border Agency | Advance information on passengers (http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/travellingtotheuk/beforetravel/advanceinfopassengers/)

If you do not provide your details on-line before you fly the data should be collected at the check-in stage. In my experience over the last 12 months (roughly 30-40 return trips between continental Europe and the UK) that data has been demanded by the airlines I have flown with (BA, Ryanair, Easyjet and Air France).

[lexxity]

Add bmibaby to that list too. If you add it online before you fly there is no charge if you add it at check in then there is a fee of £5/passenger/sector.

[west lakes]

BA requested it for our flights to GIB last October - probably as we may have been crossing the border into Spain (and that AGP is the alternate?)

[Capt Wannabe]

Wiggy / Remers

I can assure you that not all airlines from all airports are live for eBorders yet, although most are nearly there if not live :ugh:

[Phalconphixer]

My wife is a regular commuter on the Southampton-Malaga route operated by Flybe. API information is collected at the check-in desk by the simple expedient of swiping ones passport through a reader.

Squeezyjet could probably do the same if they could be bothered...

Ryan could as well but of course they dont have check-in desks anymore...

API collection is mandatory for all passengers arriving in Spain from all non-Shengen countries including the UK.

If it isn't already required it will soon be required for all flights arriving / departing the UK irrespective of departure country...

[Pontius Navigator]

Just flown Easyjet to Cyrus. At no point were our passports reconciled with us.

I had checked in online and delared our passport details. The only time we showed our passports at Luton was at departure gate. Then it was a cursory glance to see that they were our passports. Our boarding cards were scanned but as I say, no corelation with the passport information.

Even the tearoff portion of our boarding cards was not torn off - only the computer scan to do the correlation.

[fincastle84]

Were you staying in Block 101?:ok:

[A2QFI]

When I was recently asked to file API for a flight to Lanzarote I also had to supply the address of my first night's stay. Tricky, as I used to book a flight and a hire car and see where I finished up. B&B, hotel or whatever