Given that it’s the airline who are the gatekeepers now it makes sense to put the passport details for the country you’re flying to on the outward leg in the API, especially for the UK at the moment. At least then you know you’ll be allowed into the flight.
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Do you know how much they pay for a place on a boat? A bit more than getting an ETA or British/Irish passport 
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I don’t know if that’s the case for all airlines, but I have been shuffling passports for years because that’s what the US government requires. I always:
- Input the US passport for the API when booking the flight.
- Exit CH using the Swiss passport.
- Enter USA on US passport.
- After in the USA, update my API on the airline website to the Swiss passport.
- Check in and drop bags with Swiss passport.
- Go through US security with US passport (although the Swiss one would be okay too).
- Enter Shengen/CH with Swiss passport.
It’s a bit ridiculous, but I’ve never had problems and it’s second nature now.
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I was listening to a podcast on this a while ago. Even then the places on the boats are not guaranteed. They shell out 2-3000 EUR then take a gamble whether the guy who sold you passage “remembers” you when the time comes to cross. Apparently up to 20-25% of payments are to scammers, and some of it is deliberate because these scammers need workers, so rope migrants in with their schemes so they can “earn” enough, usually through illegal work, to be included on a future crossing. They are then trapped in France or Belgium or wherever, beholden to these thugs running the trafficking.
I think an ETA is deffo the easier option. 
Actually the way it used to be on a small boat was, unless you were arriving at an actual harbour, was for you to raise a small yellow quarantine flag upon entering British waters.
When you arrived at shore and entered a river’s estuary, you’d find a convenient place to moor up.
One (and only one) person was allowed ashore and they had to leg it to the nearest telephone box and call the number for UK customers.
A few hours later, either a customs boat, or a car would arrive at your boat, do the paperwork and check your passports, perhaps do a search and then you’d all be free to go ashore.
The small boats you are thinking about are not following the rules.
I’ve had exactly the same issue too. Although ETA rules have been in place for some time, some kind of grace period came to an end at the tail end of February. Suddenly, the screen said “denied to board” and I had to faff around while they updated my details.
So, if I have it right… I need to do online check in on Easyjet with my English passport, travel to the airport and show my Swiss passport at the Swiss passport check (English one will not suffice as they look for a visa which isn’t there since I don’t need one), board at the gate with the English passport, show my English passport on arrival at the UK customs check, and on the return leg use either to get through security in the uk and only the Swiss one to get out of the airport once I’m back on the ground in Zurich.
Even if I wanted to get an ETA, I can’t under the current rules. Hardly seems like the best solution.
Exactly ! Here is what Swiss immigration require from Swiss citizens to be let in (from their own website) :
I don’t think any airline will allow entry with the last three…
What travel documents do Swiss citizens require to enter Switzerland?
Swiss citizens have a right to enter Switzerland. In order to enter the country, you must prove or demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that you are a Swiss citizen. The following documents are accepted as proof of identity:
- passport or identity card;
- a photocopy of a valid passport or ID card;
- an expired travel document;
- an official document showing your identity and/or citizenship (e.g. a driving licence).
My VD driving license shows my lieu d’origin which suggests my nationality is Swiss, but who would even know that, other than another Swiss.
Just like the secret handshake..
and read this in The Times and The Guardian:
Same issue as a dual citizen, but waiting for British passport renewal.
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What a mess!
In a further setback, officials at the Passport Office told her father they would cancel Hanne’s passport application made weeks ago because they now knew Hanne was overseas. She would have to start again with an application from outside the country that could take six weeks, they told him.
OK. That’s just an extra kick in the teeth.
Wow, and I thought Swiss bueraucracy was bad.
I experienced analogous inflexibility using their online passport renewal system. I typed something into google and clicked on the link to the passport office and starting filling everything out, etc. and at a certain stage, I had to enter the address, but it had to be a UK one.
I had to start all over again and do the same thing but from a different link which lets you enter a non-UK address. Why they couldn’t merge the whole thing into the same system is a mystery.
Careful with that! A friend recently did that for ESTA to get to the USA and wound up not on the official site, but on a scammer site. He only realized the mistake after entering all of his passport details, and ended up having to cancel that passport and request a new one urgently just in case!
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Has anyone applied for a replacement UK passport recently and received it?
If so, how long did it take?
Thanks
Five weeks from submission to dispatch and a further week thereafter for it to arrive so six weeks in total.
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Thanks!
My dual CH/UK partner and I just travelled to Bristol with SqueezieJet. Before departure I did the API putting in her UK passport details. I had a problem at GVA despite my CH passport matching exactly the information on my confirmation email. But once they saw the email they waived me through.
I had intended to change her API for the return but forgot. At BRS she did the bag check and showed the agent her UK passport. No problem with that. At Geneva she used her CH passport in the machines, again no problems.