Super urgent: Denied boarding without eTA??
 

Am having a complete nightmare with the Canadian eTA. Booked trip on BA in August to go and see friend now in October, duly applied for an eTA and was, as expected, approved immediately. During the interim, I have been on another trip which required a renewal of my passport as needed to be valid >6 months after entry.
Shock and horror as I realised today (due to travel tomorrow) that I need to get another eTA as passport now changed. Applied immediately, and despite entering the same information, was not given immediate clearance!!!

What should I do? According to the Canadian government immigration website, there is a grace period until November 9 during which persons from visa-exempt countries can travel without an eTA. Do you think they would let me through or should I just bin it?

If possible go to the Canadian High Commission, as the phone system may not help you. Ideally, tou need to talk to people with old and new passports and all relevant documents printed from the eTA you obtained. Further, check with the airline - because they may refuse to allow you to board without the documentation looking as they expect it to be..

Hi and thanks! Have no possibility to get to the High commission before tomorrow as not resident in London (have contacted them through their online form which was the only option). Will bring both passports, have email from IRCC with the old eTA number.
Also, tried ringing BA, was put through to call center somewhere outside the UK, they had absolutely no idea...

Maybe totally useless and/or out of date info but for years I travelled to places requiring a visa and I used to go through passports at a rate of knots. I had the old passport stapled to the back of the latest and never had a problem with the visa being in the old passport. In fact, more than once, the US immigration lot wrote below the current entry stamp "vis in old passport".
I don't know if this may be of use, I certainly hope so. Good luck!

subject
 

I'm with KelvinD on this..

...in 1989 I was granted visa to enter the UK. It states 'indefinate leave to enter the UK' ...I have had 3 passports since then (renewals) and I carry them all in a small folder which I present to the ticket counter before flying and also to the officials upon arrival.

Never had a problem.

Fingers crossed for you .

Bad luck! Just print everything you have with emails, dates etc. Also, allow extra time on departures. Better to have more time airside than to be running.

Earlier this year I found (the night before travel) that Singapore Airlines had a different interpretation in real life than what was on their web site. I allowed extra time and much form signing but it worked.

An eta is not a visa. UK citizens do not require a visa to enter Canada, and they can do so without an eta by other means than air. (i.e. By road or sea).

When the pax checks in the DCS will give a board / do not board response. Perhaps this can be over-ruled. The 9 Nov 'grace period' suggests that it can be.

My British wife entered Canada in Sep with an eta. It appeared to be a much quicker process, with fewer questions, but that could have been an illusion.

If the first application was done immediately on line, have you tried applying for a third time?

The 2nd effort may well have suffered a glitch and therefore is lost in the system.

Just an update: After hours of googling, I finally found a number that one could dial from outside Canada. After being on hold for at least 30 min I got through to a v nice agent at the CIC who assured me it would be fine but to bring the old passport just in case.
Now, the even funnier thing was that when I woke up the morning after, the same day as my departure, I had an email from them that the eTA had been approved! Had it not been so stressful the previous day I would have found it hilarious...

Glad to hear that it all worked out for you in the end. The joys of travel eh!