hi juby5....been with thomson to rhodes last year and with thomascook to grancaneria last year as well...knew this advance passenger info was going on....but I didnt get asked to do anything ...nor was it mentioned to me by travel agents.

Going gran caneria again this year ....booked ages ago....with thomascook same as you....no one has mentioned it this time either....

Is it where Im going or because Im on a package Im not being told about it.....but I know spain is one of the euro countries who ask for advance passenger info....Im puzzled now

Hi tweetie, the thomas cook website has a list of countries which you have to provide the information, as you say, mainland spain have done this for a couple of years now, but it doesn't mention the canaries.
we are on a package holiday too, booked it last september for this march, but only got the letter yesterday.
I've just rung my thomas cook shop and explained that it won't let me do it and they confirmed my booking reference is correct , so am going into the shop tomorrow to try and sort it .
Think this may be a new thing for mexico though, be interested to hear if anyone else has had to do this recently .
cheers,
juby

Friends travelling at new year had to fill in API with Swiss online with scheduled flights and I had to provide it for my travelling between Geneva and Bristol this weekend with Easyjet. It seems to be becoming the norm rather than the exception .........

On Saturday I went into our local first Choice Shop to collect our tickets for Benidorm on the 28th, and they told me to go on line to register our passport details. It was all very straight forward to do.
We didnt have to do this last November when we went though.
Sue

We didnt have to do this last November when we went though

An awful lot of tour operators collect all this information at check in via scanning your passport, Thomson does this.

It would be helpful if the budget airlines....Easyjet et al could adopt the same system

Juby, I think this is a new thing for Mexico. We didn't have to do it last September when we went to Mexico, but I've noticed when pricing up online for this year, it does mention it in 'important information' Don't worry the shop will be able to sort it out.

Denny

I did it with BA when going to Tunisia in September. I don't know whether I need to do it for Denmark in March but Ryanair haven't said anything yet.

Just a little update, went into my TC shop yesterday to try and sort it, and the lady got the website up and tried to put my details in and lo and behold it came up still saying ' not been recognised' !!!!
she phoned head office and they said they were having problems with the website and to keep trying , and if it still can't be done, gotta do it at the airport !!
Now, obviously, this is going to be a problem for all TC customers who have to do this, so I'm thinking about the nightmare delays at check in !!
I have about 9 weeks to hope their website is sorted, so, wish me luck !!!!!!
cheers,
juby

Good luck Juby - I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

I wouldn't worry about it. They will get all the information they need from a quick scan of the passports at check in which they do anyway whether you have already provided the API or not.

luci

Hi Luci, on TC website it says the airline have to provide the API information to the relevant customs of that country 72 hours before and failure on the passengers part to provide the passport details online could result in refusal to travel !!!! !! so you can see my worry here !
As I say, luckily I have just under 9 weeks to hope they get the website sorted !!

Hi juby ... although airlines may submit API information to the relevant authorities 72 hours in advance, they may also change or update that information right up to the departure time of the flight. This allows for problems with their data collection systems, or for passengers who book within 3 days of departure, or for passengers who might have obtained a replacement passport immediately prior to departure, etc. With 9 weeks to go, I wouldn't worry about it, hopefully Thomas Cook will have resolved the problem long before then.

David

I'm confused Juby! We have Thomas Cook flights booked to go to Cancun in March and Turkey in April. We have added the API for the Turkey flights on their website but there is no mention of API when I go into the Cancun booking. I phoned the airline and after an age waiting was told it isn't required for Mexico, only the US, EU and Turkey.

cazz, we go 22nd march and got my letter to do this on 6th january. thomas cook airlines website has a list of all countries you need to do it with and mexico is definately on the list !
can't understand why the airline would tell you its not needed ?
Blimey, i'm starting to think its only me that got a letter !!!
I thought there would be more people than me here on HT that were going to mexico , so was surprised when no-one else posted back to say they'd had problems too !
What date do you go cazz ?

Juby, we go on the 7th March but have done DIY through TravelRepublic so maybe that's why we didn't get a letter. I wasn't worried about the API for Mexico following the airlines advice but I saw your post on a TA forum a while ago and was starting to wonder I'll go back onto the TC airlines website and have another look but there's definitely no option under the 'manage your booking' option for me to add API for the Cancun flight whereas the Dalaman flight had a big box on the page saying 'API required'. It's all soooooo confusing .......

Juby, we have now booked our holiday to Mexico. The girl in the TC shop gave us letter about the API. Thomas Cook defo require it for holidays to Mexico,I did tell her the website doesn't work properly yet,and she says it will be up and running soon (we are going in Sept so don't need to do it until at least middle of June) Did you try going into TC shop and getting them to do it?

Denny

API.....
I know I have to provide the information, but the collection of this data between the various airlines is topsy turvey to say the least.

I've only ever flown with Thomsonfly from Doncaster since API was introduced and I have never been asked to provide the information beforehand, and the information was always obtained at the check-in desk.
I've booked a flight in June to Malaga with Monarch and I know I can go into my account and give them the info, but the point is that they have not once asked for it.( they are bombarding me with e-mails nearly every week to book another flight) and if I'd just booked my flight, printed off the ticket and never went near a computer again, then if I didn't know about API, how would I know how to give them this info.? am I to presume they would collect it at the airport, the same as Thomsonfly.?

I've booked a holiday with First Choice in April and straight away they sent me an email with the confirmation details informing me that I have to provide API, that's no problem and it's no big deal going into my account, but as Thomson & FC have merged, I will be using the same airport (Donny) and probably using the same check-in terminal as Thomson customers, so why do FC customers have to provide the information beforehand and Thomson customers don't, when the Thomson terminals at Donny can read the encrypted information.?

They don't make things easy for the customers do they.?

Sanji

I got through to Thomas Cook eventually this afternoon (after an age on hold) to be told I did need to add API for Mexico

There seems to be some problem with adding the API I was told, especially for Mexico as for some reason when the booking ref is input the system isn't recognising that API is required and therefore doesn't show the necessary click box to input. They couldn't add my details at their end as whatever computer was needed was down for maintenance. They have said they will ring me on Thursday but I'm not going to hold my breath! Thanks Juby for posting your experiences otherwise I would have turned up at the airport unaware ..... as I'm sure others will.

Hya, Denny, yeah, the girl in TC shop tried to do it too and came up with the same response as I did !
Cazz, glad its not just me, was starting to get paranoid !!!
I fired off an e-mail to customer services yesterday ang got an automated response telling me they would get back to me when they weren't so busy !!
Okay, now girls, lets see who's first to do it succesfully ...................................
cheers all,
juby