When flying from Preclearance airports to the US, do airlines validate your visa before letting you talk to Preclearance agents?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 7 Aug, 2023
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You need a visa to get into the US. The airline and airport have to go through massive hassle if you turn out to not be allowed to board.
Hassle enough it’ll delay the flight and cost the airline a LOT of money.
And all because someone suspiciously didn’t want to show his visa at the checkin desk. Which is unlikely to happen when a passenger has a visa…
The airline will validate the passenger’s ability to enter the US when the passenger checks-in at the publicly-accessible airline counter. Reasoning in reverse order from my memory of Preclearance in Dublin:
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CBP doesn’t issue boarding passes.
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Thus, the passenger must have a boarding pass before being allowed to enter the US Preclearance area.
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Thus, the airline must issue the boarding pass before the passenger is allowed to enter the US Preclearance area.
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The airline must get APIS clearance before issuing a boarding pass, or refuse to issue a boarding pass if "Do Not Board" is returned.
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Thus, the airline will submit APIS data in order to make the issuance decision.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘