"Graham Harrison" wrote in message
...

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 07:13:02 on
Thu,
21 May 2009, Graham Harrison
remarked:
US immigration will want to see a copy of the electronic ticket.

And don't forget to remind your friend about the ESTA scheme (they won't
get nagged about it by the airline if you've done the booking).

http://cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/esta/

(Actually, if ESTA is working properly, that could potentially over-ride
the need for carrying the e-ticket because they can check with the
airline
that the traveller has the required return ticket, but things never seem
to be co-ordinated that sensibly).

Airlines sometimes want to see the e-ticket too. I find this is somewhat
random! As well as somewhat of a contradiction in terms.
--
Roland Perry

I had completed ESTA when I last entered the USA. He still asked for my
ticket (and the hotel confirmation as well!).

Now here's another point. Make sure that the name you book the ticket in
is the same as the name in the passport. You may know your friend as
"Bill" but his passport will almost certainly then say "William". You
may
also find that as part of the booking process you are asked for the
passport
number, place and date of issue. That was certainly the case when I used
to do this sort of thing for a friend coming from the USA to the UK.
And,
while I think about it, there was never an issue with the credit card when
I
used to do that.

As for staff asking for tickets I can remember my first flight with BA on
an
ET. Having had some involvement with the BA project team in rolling out
the use of ET to the UK trade I knew that the instruction to BA check in
staff at the time was not to ask for the ticket copy. Didn't stop him
asking for the ticket but when I pointed out it was an ET there was a
short
pause and then everything carried on without a hitch (and without any need
to present the ET). The critical issue is to identify the passenger and
flight. Provided that can be done it should not be necessary to present
the ET at check in. However, as I say, you MUST carry it with you for
immigration.

Thanks to all that replied. I wasn't aware of ESTA requirements but thanks
to this group I am now. Also, I will forward a copy of everything I receive
from the airline to my friend.

Thanks again.