No ESTA but BP issued

[Phoenix-1]

Hi all,

Unusual situation. My brother is flying to the USA this afternoon (MEL-SFO at 1PM, with a domestic VA connection to MEL) but his ESTA has not been approved. He's booked on a VA reward seat. Before I could check the rules and advise him not to check in, the check in staff already supplied him with a BP for the UA flight. After enquiring with them again, the staff told him to take the flight to MEL and ask the staff there to assist.

What are the actual options at this point, assuming the ESTA doesn't get approved in the next few hours? Is the reward flight forfeit if he no shows after checking in? Can staff do anything to change the flight at this stage? Should they even have issued him a BP without an ESTA approval?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Pushka]

Hi all,

Unusual situation. My brother is flying to the USA this afternoon (MEL-SFO at 1PM, with a domestic VA connection to MEL) but his ESTA has not been approved. He's booked on a VA reward seat. Before I could check the rules and advise him not to check in, the check in staff already supplied him with a BP for the UA flight. After enquiring with them again, the staff told him to take the flight to MEL and ask the staff there to assist.

What are the actual options at this point, assuming the ESTA doesn't get approved in the next few hours? Is the reward flight forfeit if he no shows after checking in? Can staff do anything to change the flight at this stage? Should they even have issued him a BP without an ESTA approval?

Any help is appreciated.

Last time I flew to US in 2019 before you are allowed onto the US bound flight there will be security checks which are required by the US including what you are going to do there and when you are leaving. We had flown from Adelaide to Melbourne on to SFO and we had boarding passes. Thats when the issue will occur.

 

[UP4014]

Hi all,

Unusual situation. My brother is flying to the USA this afternoon (MEL-SFO at 1PM, with a domestic VA connection to MEL) but his ESTA has not been approved. He's booked on a VA reward seat. Before I could check the rules and advise him not to check in, the check in staff already supplied him with a BP for the UA flight. After enquiring with them again, the staff told him to take the flight to MEL and ask the staff there to assist.

What are the actual options at this point, assuming the ESTA doesn't get approved in the next few hours? Is the reward flight forfeit if he no shows after checking in? Can staff do anything to change the flight at this stage? Should they even have issued him a BP without an ESTA approval?

Any help is appreciated.

When did he apply for it?

Mine have taken no more than a couple of hours to come back approved, do another one is my immediate suggestion.

 

[Phoenix-1]

36 hours so far. Good idea.

 

[Brissy1]

When did he apply for it?

Mine have taken no more than a couple of hours to come back approved, do another one is my immediate suggestion.

My last was less than 1 hour. Has he checked application status? On submission he would have received a link like...

Thank you for applying for ESTA. Your application number is R69xx_xx_xx_x. You will need this number to retrieve your application. You can check the status of your ESTA at
Official ESTA Application Website, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

 

[bcworld]

Is the reward flight forfeit if he no shows after checking in?

Cancellation needed to made at least 24 hours before the domestic sector...so the check in today doesn't make that situation any worse.

 

[muppet]

Cancellation needed to made at least 24 hours before the domestic sector...so the check in today doesn't make that situation any worse.

I’d argue it makes it better by giving him time to get approved.

I’ve seen stories off AFF members offloaded from their domestic connection because of a lack of ESTA despite them often arriving so quickly.

 

[bcworld]

I’d argue it makes it better by giving him time to get approved.

I’ve seen stories off AFF members offloaded from their domestic connection because of a lack of ESTA despite them often arriving so quickly.

I was more referring to the "is the reward flight forfeit" question. It needed to be cancelled 24 hours prior to the domestic sector. Or changed 24 hours prior to the MEL-SFO sector.

 

[Phoenix-1]

UA staff in Melbourne rebooked him for tomorrow which was very nice of them. I'm assuming they had no obligation to do so.

edit: And his ESTA arrived just as his bags were offloaded.

 

[Pushka]

UA staff in Melbourne rebooked him for tomorrow which was very nice of them. I'm assuming they had no obligation to do so.

edit: And his ESTA arrived just as his bags were offloaded.

Well, that’s a good outcome I guess but sucky timing.

 

[Phoenix-1]

Better safe than sorry I think!

 

[VPS]

Very lucky - because I had a friend who was off loaded and had to buy a new ticket because he didn't realise his ESTA in his old passport was not valid in his new one

 

[Himeno]

At the start of a DONE3 on my last passport, I was flying ICN-NRT-DFW. The JL station manager at ICN didn't want to check me in because I didn't have a US visa, I had a valid ESTA. The manager claimed it wasn't valid because my passport, issued before Oct 2006, didn't have a chip. Passports issued before Oct 26 2006 didn't require a chip (and said as much in the databases).

He let me check in once I showed a US entry stamp marked with VWP from a few months prior.

 

[encryptededdy]

I've had a family member in this situation before (many years ago), and I remember the AirNZ station manager was able to call up someone and get the ESTA application approved on the spot whilst we were standing at the check-in desk. Not sure if that's still a thing or what actually happened there.