Is it unusual not to have to give your passport number before you turn up?

[EmmaWoodlouse]

This is probably a silly question but it is only the second time I have been abroad in the last 20 years, and the last time it was a different airline and they obviously did things differently.

I'm flying to a country within the EU in a few days. I'm flying with Brussels Airlines (although the final destination is not in Belgium) and booked through an online agency. I've got my e-tickets, they seem fine. But I didn't have to give my passport number when I booked, and all it says on the e-tickets and accompanying e-mail about checking in is that the last check-in is about 1.5 hours before the flight - no mention of checking in online (which was strongly recommended, but not compulsory, the last time, which was with Lufthansa I think). So the first chance anyone will have to check that I've actually got a valid passport will be when I turn up at the airport in the morning.

Does that sound normal? I keep wondering if perhaps if I'd booked direct with Brussels Airlines they would have expected passport details and perhaps this agency has failed to do everything they should have done. But as I said I'm not a very frequent flyer and I tend to worry a lot, not about crashing, but about the "administrative" side (will it be overbooked, will we miss the connection, that sort of thing).

It's your responsibility to have valid id (you don't actually need a passport within the EU, and, as I found out recently, not even to Switzerland.

Only very rarely have I registered my id number or passport number and have travelled a bit between different continents.

I've only ever needed to give passport details when flying into the UK, never for other countries, not even ones outside the EU. It's a UK border agency requirement, no one else in the EU or indeed other European extra EU require it.

Thank you!

On a related note, if you were a DH with a passion for tidying up, where would you hide the entire family's EHIC cards?

Does he go into your undies drawer?

I would put the eric cards with the passports or with travel plug/adapters or anywhere else that has travel things e.g. Suitcases, cameras etc

Ehic cards

Sorry, I thought you meant to hide them.

I'd look at where the passports are, then medical stuff, then other generic travel stuff, then through all documents.

So, likes to tidy up, but not very organised?

That's about the size of it. They've always been with the passports and suddenly they're not. I can ask him myself in a couple of hours but I thought I might try to solve the mystery myself first (with a bit of help from you lot)!

You don't need passports in theory to fly within the EU, but in practice you certainly do.

Either passports or national ID cards are acceptable, and given that we don't have ID cards in the UK...

And? Not everyone is British. Even in the UK.
So, it's always useful pointing out that a passport is not mandatory.

I keep wondering if perhaps if I'd booked direct with Brussels Airlines they would have expected passport details

Why? There's no APTIS equivalent within most of Europe, so what would they do with the information? The only reason some airlines want a passport number is to tie you to the e-ticket a bit more securely, but your name should do that.

Mind you, to find an airline in 2015 which doesn't do online checkin is a bit of a novelty. Are you going to get a boiled sweet before they load you into the back seat of their Sopwith Camel, or have they progressed to running a Dakota flown by a bloke wearing a leather flying hat? Joking aside, Brussels Airlines have an online checkin facility, which presumably you could use.