My wife has both passports and therefore cannot get a UK ETA, so she needs to travel out using her British passport. Returning the Swiss want to see proof of eligibility so she needs her Swiss passport to return.
Is there anyway around this Catch-22?
Yes. This should always have been what she did. I show my Swiss passport to Swiss immigration (entry and exit) and my British passport to British immigration.
Edit: I also always take my British passport with me when going on holiday elsewhere and only needing the Swiss one - just incase I need to do an unexpected trip to the UK for a family emergency.
I’ve not travelled to the UK since the evisa was enforced.
Previously entry to the non-Schengen section of Zurich airport involved showing a passport. Then it would be Swiss. Before boarding another passport check was made - UK or Swiss both OK and a boarding pass stamped, even if you have it on your phone one as issued to be collected for boarding.
Now I guess Swiss passports must have some sort of evisa check at this stage too - or a UK passport.
It’s so retrograde and annoying…
Just checked in for flight tomorrow to UK - what a palaver.
Firstly you no longer just add passport numbers, passports must be scanned using your phone.
My other half has only a Swiss pass, so with the ETA paid for her’s went through w/o problem. I have both CH and UK passports and previous logic was leave CH with CH and enter and exit UK with UK.
My Swiss pass without the ETA scanned OK, but no boarding pass could be released. So I had to repeat the check in with scan of my UK passport.
This will surely screw up the EU "Entry and Exit* system as I will have exited CH and entered the UK. Likewise on return I will enter Schengen with Swiss Pass having never left it…
Let us know how it goes. I have to make my first UK trip this summer and nervous with all the changes and 2 kids in tow.
I travelled back and forth three weeks ago - dual national. My trip went smoothly because I:
I went back in May, no issue at all. Checked in for UK flight with UK passport. Checked in for Swiss flight with Swiss passport. Showed Swiss immigration my Swiss Pass and UK immigration my UK passport. Simples!
Shirley not has found the secret!
You deal with the airline and with governments by giving them what they need. Check in with airline with UK passport, exit Swiss Immigration with Swiss passport, give airline gate agent UK passport. Give UK immigration the UK passport. On return checkin with Swiss passport (no UK immigration check) give airline gate agent Swiss, enter CH with Swiss. Have the other one in your pocket if someone asks but they likely won’t.
Just back from the UK. Flew from Heathrow. There is no passport check - except to confirm you are the holder of the ticket/boarding pass. And this was checked a number of times.
Information is given to non-Schengen passport holders that they need the European EE details on their passports - but no check to see is they have it. If not at Zurich Airport there is a bank of machines to take fingerprints and credit cards of those who didn’t do it.
Arrival at Zurich varies wildly depending on the time of day, from massive scrums to “are we sure this is right? There’s no one here!”…
What do you mean there was no passport check?
As always, the boarding/check-in agent in Heathrow will check that your passport allows you to enter Switzerland. As you have a Swiss passport, clearly you are fine. What other checks would there be? If you’d had a 3rd country passport with no visa they would definitely have noticed.
In Heathrow they do nothing with EES (European border control do that on arrival) and ETIAS is not operating yet so they don’t need to check people for that.
There is no more passport check when you are deparing UK.
The airline staff is simply glancing at your boarding pass name and your passport, there is no actual check like a border guard that will actually properly check it.
I was flying and couldn’t actually believe we were at the gate having not passed by passport control, I mixed the boarding pass and the passport with the one of my wife and the airline clerk didn’t even see it, the check is non existant, it is happening right before you board the plane with 200 people waiting in line behind you.
Mind boggling really. This means anybody can fly out the UK with a fake or passport under a different name because there is no effective control at departure
Online check-in seems to be a frontline check these days. Depending on the passport info you enter at that stage will determine whether it checks you in and issues a boarding pass. I messed it up and tried to enter my Swiss passport on my outbound flight and it blocked me because there was no ESTA (or whatever it’s called for the UK).
Had I checked in with my UK passport from the outset, it would have gone without a hiccup.
Similarly, if you have to check in at the airport, they always ask for your passport at that stage anyway.
Online check-in requires photographing your passport with a phone from and to UK. That’s with Swiss…
Didn’t as of 3 weeks ago. Swiss have a system for storing passport details for future use (to save having to do it individually each time) but it’s not actually required at present afaik and is a complete pita to actually use.
But I used UK passport out and Swiss back…
My wife gives the airline her UK passport out and Swiss passport in. She also gives her UK passport to UK immigration arriving there. There is no UK immigration controls leaving the UK. She also gives her Swiss passport to Swiss immigration leaving and returning to Switzerland.
Everyone is happy they get what they need to do their jobs.
Now here’s a thing:
I was supplied with a Miles and More card when i opened an account in April 2006. It continued only my first and last name.
When I book a flight with Swiss the M&M details are automatically added and there is no provision on the Swiss booking form for anything more that first and last name.
This was never a problem and I happy travelled dozens of times with a passport showing my middle name and e-ticket or boarding pass without.
Thanks to the UK’s ETA system and Schengen’s EE sytem, I have to scan my passport with my phone to get a boarding pass. Now I get a warning that there is a miss-match and don’t do it again. Well, I can’t not do it again! Every tries altering a name with airlines??
Can you update your profile on M&M? It may allow for name changes (marriages, divorces, etc)?
I’m really not sure why it is doing this to you as in my case (and rest of family fwiw) it doesn’t. Ai summary says:
"When checking in online via SWISS Online Check-in or the SWISS app, you will be prompted to manually enter your passport details (such as the document number, issue date, and expiry date).
In some cases, entering the data online only issues a pending or non-usable boarding pass. You may be required to scan your passport at a self-service kiosk at the airport or show it to an agent at the check-in desk before a valid boarding pass is printed or activated on your phone."
The first paragraph was exactly my experience 3 weeks ago.
I scanned my passport and got told there was a mis-match as my middle name wasn’t on my booking. I just said “noted” and carried on, no need to have your middle name on your ticket.