Confused about EU/UK passports for dual nationals travelling to the UK from Europe

[MrsFinchley]

I'm British and live in Europe with my two kids. I recently discovered the law has changed for dual nationals so we're in the process of applying for UK passports (hopefully in good time for our travel plans in the summer 🤞), but I'm still not sure what passport I should use when? Which details do I use to check in (obviously has to be the same outbound and return), then do I have to use the same passport to go through passport control? Do I use the EU passports for the kids then just have to show the UK passports on arrival?

Points to show passport
Outbound:
Check-in online - EU passport
Bag drop at airport - EU passport
Border control departure - EU passport
Passport control arrival - UK passport? EU and UK passport?

Is there some kind of system keeping track of arrivals and departures? When I leave the UK, there's no specific "border control" so if I enter the UK with a UK passport, but have used EU passport details for check-in, might there be a problem in a system somewhere?

Sorry if this seems obvious to some! It seems like a totally stupid rule change and I don't see the point of it.

Also, to anyone who hasn't heard about it, be aware! I only discovered it by chance by reading an article about a poor Scottish woman who got stuck in Spain with her baby. We fly to the UK 3 times a year and I have seen absolutely nothing about any rule changes. ESTA yes, absolutely all over the Ryanair app/emails. But this? Nothing!

We've got both UK and EU passports. DH is EU with settled status. We always book separate trips ie 2 x one-ways. We mostly use the Eurostar, and it really annoys me that their system doesn't allow you to add more than one passport.

DS' passport is currently in UK being renewed, and I just have to hope it'll get back to us in time for our summer visit to the UK. It's madness that, if we had an urgency like a funeral, DS can't go to the UK without that passport.

As always when it comes to all matters Brexit, dual nationals get totally forgotten about.

Am I correct that situation for Irish passports is different? You still don’t need ETAs to enter UK with Irish passports, and they are obviously good for EU too? Irish seems the best sort to have!

Definitely!

I go on package holidays so I'm not sure they are overselling those. I go about 3-4 times a year's and never had that issue.
Problem is that on TUI for example I can only input one set of details per person.
Not sure how to go about it in the future if they will start causing issues.

From a quick Google, it seems TUI do oversell their package holidays! But it would be easier if they just allowed you to add more than one travel document per person.

That's normally the case for us. I'm a dual UK-EU citizen and my partner is UK only. We often get separated but equally sometimes in the past they let him come with me in EU countries so he didn't have to queue.
Last time we travelled it took him less time to get through/register with the new system than it took me to go to EU gate and find someone actually working there🤣

Probably, I just never had it yet. We travel a lot from our regional airport and generally people who do not live in this corner of England don't use it. These are TUI flights with people just going on TUI holidays or cruises and they are hardly ever full so I'm guessing chances of that are slim.
Problem is that if I cannot input details of both passports there is nothing I can do about it. With the amount of dual nationals I'm guessing they will have to update their system sooner rather than later.
If I was refused boarding because of their issue I would make sure I was well looked after, compensated and booked onto the next flight. I'm tenacious like that🤣

I spoke to Thomas Cook yesterday they definitely cannot facilitate 2 passports. TUI is suppose to get back to me.
I am assuming that now cannot do package holidays.
I'm now looking at doing individual flights using the respective passport to hopefully check in online and booking the hotel separately. It's an real palava.....
Surely the flight could allow 2 passports and cross reference so that we can buy all-round flights.

I do package holidays all the time, 3-4 times a year. Never had an issue. I'm not going to be booking everything separately and play a travel agent when TUI/Jet2/easyJet exists😂
Also I'm never the only person on these flights with 2 passports. We are dual citizens, not aliens, every sign travel company/airline knows we exist and travel.

You can not depart EU with EU passport when flying to the UK, as you will be stopped by the airlines- they have to make sure that you have relevant travel document. You will have to show them ETA or settled status on your EU passport. Or UK you will need to check in with the UK passport.

No, when leaving EU you show your EU passport first, to EU border control. Then, when arriving to UK, you show UK passport to Immigration.

Separately, you show to the airline staff at boarding whatever ID shows your name as on the ticket. Dual nationals cannot show an ETA; it's literally not permitted for us to have one!

Unless it's Eurostar at GDN; first we show our EU passport, and immediately after we show UK passport.

I'm a dual, and recently flew from Italy to London. I went through egates in Italy using EU passport. When we arrived to UK, we went through egates using UK passport.

Interesting … it seems this problem is well known / advised.

While I had never really noticed it in the past before obtaining a second nationality, it is strange there are no border checks upon exiting at UK airports.

However, as commented in this evidence to parliament, what really needs to be adapted, is the ability to note a second passport / nationality on API in airlines’ systems. It would alleviate a lot of this quandary!

committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/151070/pdf/

I love my Irish Passport!

Me too! We went for the British passport first because the process was shorter, but going to get on it for the kids ASAP. It does seem to be the ace in the deck of passports at the moment, for our circumstances anyway!

@SunshineMilla and @MrsFinchley
Thank you both for sharing your knowledge and giving guidance 😊 I gather until the etias is in place it'll be ok I am slightly odd case as I got my citizenship pre settled status so I haven't got a ukvi and my passports are in different names UK married and my EU country only allows maiden name as a primary Name the married name. I'm bracing myself for a nightmare once the etias comes into place 🙈

Hi. The key point is that there is no requirement to use the same passport for every stage of an international journey simply because you are a dual national.
For travel within Europe, you may need to use the EU passport where that is the document establishing your EU rights. However, when entering the UK, a British dual national should normally travel using a valid British passport or another document demonstrating their right of abode in the UK.
Airline check-in and UK border control are also separate things. Airlines provide passenger information to the UK authorities, so using different passports at different stages can sometimes result in additional questions or document checks, but it does not mean that you have done something wrong merely because you hold and use two nationalities.
For the children, I would travel with both passports once their British passports have been issued. That makes it much easier to demonstrate the appropriate status at each border.
There is a useful explanation of what UK Border Force can check, including immigration status and travel information, here:
https://consultantlm.uk/consultant-article/uk-border-force-powers-in-2026-what-immigration-officers-can-check-at-the-border

Following on from this thread, I just wanted to ask what others are doing presently… so outbound UK-EU then inbound EU-UK … what passport should be registered for API purposes? A round return trip, is it therefore best to put UK passport in so there is no hassle for ETA upon return trip to UK? Or is it best to put in EU passport as that is the outbound journey since no ETIAS yet. I do wish the airlines would provide the ability to add in more than one passport !

I use my British passport for API

When we travelled in the summer (to the UK from Europe), I used the kids' British passports to check in as that was going to cause fewer problems - this time! We then went through passport control in our EU country with our EU passports, used British passports on arrival, then EU passports again on our return to Europe. We had no issues, but it remains to be seen what will happen once ETIAS is in operation...

Airline check-in and UK border control are also separate things

Sort of. Yes, you go through passport control on arrival to the UK, so theoretically, if you used an EU passport for check-in, you could show a UK passport at passport control on arrival. But departure? The task of collecting that data has been passed on to the airlines.

Airlines now have the responsibility to check whether you have the right to travel to the UK (and soon Europe), meaning that if they can't check that you are allowed to travel to your destination, they will require proof at the airport. But these days, if you don't check in online, then it's possible you won't be able to board your flight due to overbooking.

It would all be fixed if the airlines just allowed you to add more than one travel document per person!

Take both passports, use EU ones for both legs (advice from EU passport control last time I travelled) and show your British passports when asked for ETA. I've done this several times and never had any issues. The queues are always better too at border control.

Thanks all. It’s the checking in online that causes the issue it seems now. I do wish airlines would enable more than one document to be added. I cannot understand in this world how difficult it is to do this, unless there are legitimate concerns dual nationals are some sort of Jason Bourne aliases !

I am a dual national (French/British) and I always have to ask DH which passport I need going through airports.

It's further complicated because in France women keep their maiden names and can use our married surnames, so my French passport is in my maiden name and my British is in my married surname.
It's me that does the booking of tickets when we travel.

So I can travel out on one name and re-enter on another name.

I've often wondered if they know where I am in the system 😁

Yes

I take both passports every time now. Last time I flew I checked in with UK both ways, showed EU at UK check in as well, but this was before the EU checks were bedded in.

Eurotunnel is better as I can add the right passports to the right leg of the journey.