UK rolling out Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)

[RB001]

The EU ETIAS has age exemptions:-

ETIAS for Australian Citizens

Explore the essential ETIAS guide for Australian citizens traveling to Europe. Discover eligibility, application process, and benefits.

etias.com

Fee Waivers: Australian citizens under 18 or over 70 years of age will benefit from waived ETIAS application fees.

Indeed it does (Post 31 mentions just this) - a number of online articles confuse one with the other.

 

[Pushka]

The EU ETIAS has age exemptions:-

ETIAS for Australian Citizens

Explore the essential ETIAS guide for Australian citizens traveling to Europe. Discover eligibility, application process, and benefits.

etias.com

Fee Waivers: Australian citizens under 18 or over 70 years of age will benefit from waived ETIAS application fees.

That's what brother was talking about then, not UK. Despite his wife being born in the UK and rellies there, they never return. France? As frequently as possible.

 

[Himeno]

Finally got around to dealing with this UK money grab for upcoming flights.

Had approval back within 1 minute.

 

[mrsterryn]

We need to go back to the 60s when Brits and Aussies were free to live in each others counties without Visas.

We don't even have a reciprocal social security agreement with them. Though we do have a Medicare one

 

[Scash]

Indeed it does (Post 31 mentions just this) - a number of online articles confuse one with the other.

That's what brother was talking about then, not UK. Despite his wife being born in the UK and rellies there, they never return. France? As frequently as possible.

We're heading to both EU and UK in May so have to apply for both!

 

[RB001]

We're heading to both EU and UK in May so have to apply for both!

For May, it's not possible that ETIAS will be up and running.
Per the EU, ETIAS won't kick in until 6 months after EES (Entry/Exit System), which hasn't officially started yet in any case. (Due to start in 2025)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Surprisingly executivetraveller (ausbt) seems to have made the same omission as many other blogs in reporting that ETAs aren’t required for transit passengers. While they caveat this with the words ‘pax who don’t cross the border’, what they don’t point out, and what airlines also don’t tell you, is that you can only transit airside at Heathrow and Manchester. You cannot, for example, at Gatwick… this would affect connecting pax on Emirates and Singapore Airlines for example.

 

[Scash]

For May, it's not possible that ETIAS will be up and running.
Per the EU, ETIAS won't kick in until 6 months after EES (Entry/Exit System), which hasn't officially started yet in any case. (Due to start in 2025)

Thanks @RB001.

 

[elanshin]

It also indicates that the transit exemption may be only a temporary thing.

Clear as mud?

As I understand, BA was more than a little upset at the need for transit travellers for ETA (and probably LHR airport itself). Would make transiting in UK an absolute pain for EU > LHR > US.

So they backflipped the need for ETA for transit pax.
But it does beg the question, what happens if you're a transit pax, arriving late into LHR for another late night departure and that plane is now delayed until the next day.

How does the airport, airline and government handle that. Force those pax to do a ETA on the spot? Given LHR isn't open overnight...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As I understand, BA was more than a little upset at the need for transit travellers for ETA (and probably LHR airport itself). Would make transiting in UK an absolute pain for EU > LHR > US.

So they backflipped the need for ETA for transit pax.
But it does beg the question, what happens if you're a transit pax, arriving late into LHR for another late night departure and that plane is now delayed until the next day.

How does the airport, airline and government handle that. Force those pax to do a ETA on the spot? Given LHR isn't open overnight...

Some nationals already require a visa just to transit LHR, so this isn’t exactly new for BA.

I think probably the sheer volume of people getting caught out? Not realising they would need an ETA just for transit.

But as mentioned above, the only places this is applicable is Heathrow and Manchester. You’ll still need one to transit other airports, but I guess that doesn’t affect BA too much.