Gladstone Tim
Member
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2021
- Posts
- 164
In September I travelled with my wife for three weeks for our first ever foray into the wilds of North America.
Stage 1. BNE Check-in
Our flights between BNE and SIN were Velocity awards in Y with a cash component for extra legroom. SIN-SEA return were commercial premium Y.
The SQ kiosks wouldn’t check us in so we were referred to an agent. She identified it was because the linked bookings had slightly different names. She fixed it up and referred it back to the kiosk. The kiosk continued to show us no love so this time we’re attended to by Ben, who appeared to be a more senior CSA handling calls from check-in staff using three phones and attending to real people, with complex issues. He said we didn’t have an ESTA attached to the bookings. I was sure I had organised them but in my mad scrolling of emails the fear grew. I came across “C B P” email subjects and assumed the “C” stood for Canadian. “What had I done?” I was madly thinking of ways to overcome the problem…sometimes new applications are processed quickly. Maybe they’ll let us board and by the time we get to SIN our ESTAs will have been issued. My heart was pumping so hard and my skull was aching. Thankfully, I realised C B P stood for U.S Customs and Border Protection and after showing Ben the right documents, we were free to complete in-person check-in. The CSA did confirm that they would have flown us to SIN and had the issue dealt with there if we couldn’t show our ESTA.
I didn’t take notes or a lot of photos so this report will just be a lot of reflections. Happy to answer any questions. Being my first North American trip, I utilised the services of a bricks and mortar agent my daughter had used for a three month European adventure earlier this year. The agent booked …flights into, within and from North America; Alaskan cruise, train-Anchorage to Whittier and some accommodation. I organised the award flights between BNE & SIN, SIN and some other accommodation, 5 day coach trip of the Rockies.
Stage 1. BNE Check-in
Our flights between BNE and SIN were Velocity awards in Y with a cash component for extra legroom. SIN-SEA return were commercial premium Y.
The SQ kiosks wouldn’t check us in so we were referred to an agent. She identified it was because the linked bookings had slightly different names. She fixed it up and referred it back to the kiosk. The kiosk continued to show us no love so this time we’re attended to by Ben, who appeared to be a more senior CSA handling calls from check-in staff using three phones and attending to real people, with complex issues. He said we didn’t have an ESTA attached to the bookings. I was sure I had organised them but in my mad scrolling of emails the fear grew. I came across “C B P” email subjects and assumed the “C” stood for Canadian. “What had I done?” I was madly thinking of ways to overcome the problem…sometimes new applications are processed quickly. Maybe they’ll let us board and by the time we get to SIN our ESTAs will have been issued. My heart was pumping so hard and my skull was aching. Thankfully, I realised C B P stood for U.S Customs and Border Protection and after showing Ben the right documents, we were free to complete in-person check-in. The CSA did confirm that they would have flown us to SIN and had the issue dealt with there if we couldn’t show our ESTA.
I didn’t take notes or a lot of photos so this report will just be a lot of reflections. Happy to answer any questions. Being my first North American trip, I utilised the services of a bricks and mortar agent my daughter had used for a three month European adventure earlier this year. The agent booked …flights into, within and from North America; Alaskan cruise, train-Anchorage to Whittier and some accommodation. I organised the award flights between BNE & SIN, SIN and some other accommodation, 5 day coach trip of the Rockies.
