Have we ruined our DisneyWorld trip?

[Odellio]

I need some reassurance or advice. We are due to fly to Florida for DisneyWorld this afternoon with SC and DS. We have little knowledge of international travel, I knew we needed ESTAs but didn’t understand the process. I checked with in-laws who are organising the whole trip if they had sorted ESTAs, and they said they had. Obviously I misunderstood that they were talking about their ESTAs only and not ours. We applied yesterday afternoon as soon as we realised we didn’t have ESTAs. Still pending authorisation. I am hugely panicking now that we won’t get them in time to check-in.

Not true - they scan your passport at check-in and if you don't have one linked, they won't let you on the flight (because the airline has to pay costs of sending you home if you get to America without one).

I flew to the US 3 weeks ago.

If the kids would be gutted, consider staying tonight in an airport hotel? I know you live close by, but it would avoid the massive come-down of going home again.

If it comes to re-booking a flight for tomorrow @Odellio, and if you come to the conclusion that the weekend makes a difference, don’t forget the time difference. It won’t be Monday morning working hours in the US until afternoon our time. Book a flight late on Monday just in case x

Just looked at the sites and you can tick a box saying it is urgent and apparently processed faster. More expensive option but possibly worth a try.

Mine took about 2 hours last Sunday to come back but previously it has taken 36 hours.

I wouldn’t rely on anyone except maybe my dh to do my esta, it’s so important. And as for the ridiculous advice to just board the flight anyway, no. Just don’t.

FFS There's always one! 😂 Is that all you can take from this thread?! The fact that the OP has changed her surname to her husband's on marriage? 😂 Ya know like NINE OUT OF TEN women in the UK do.

@Odellio I am sorry to hear what's happened, and if your ESTA doesn't come through, I hope you can get a later flight with not too much cost or inconvenience, and have a lovely trip at Disneyworld!

No one is saying just board the flight, obviously that couldnt happen, I think people are saying try to check in as the airline system may show that the application is approved even if the OP hasn't had the confirmation

Where exactly did you find this?

From what I can see that’s not from a genuine ESTA website. There is nothing on official US government sites about a rush application and if you google it all the results are third-party sites. I recently helped my mum apply for an ESTA and there was no rush option.

@Glenthebattleostrich further to which. Those sites prey on people who are too anxious and stressed to slow down and do due diligence.

I applied at around 3pm on a Saturday and it was approved just after midnight. It was just 1 application. Hang tight, it will be through soon. ESTAs are processed very quickly.

You're also not supposed to allow others to do it for you - to ensure the questions are answered accurately.

I have no advice but I can’t be the only one keep checking back for OPs posts eagerly waiting for them to update they are through ! 😁 I’m so invested in this thread ..
fingers crossed OP 🤞🏻

I did ours last week and it took 48 hours. I have never received an email but know they are approved from signing in and checking the ESTA website. Fingers crossed for you op.

This was for me, dp and 2 kids.

Oh OP we had a blunder like this a few years ago when we travelled to Seychelles. DH kept reminding me off it (no idea why he couldn’t just do it!) but I thought it was like those PLF’s and can be done instantly. I did it like 2 hrs before we were due to go to the airport and it said 24-48 hrs to come back 😭

I managed to get onto a live chat and they processed it for me instantly. Is there not a possibility of this for you or calling?

I dont think 20 plus hours is very quickly for what must be an automatic system unless there needs to be some kind of manual intervention for unusual cases

I wonder if the recent name change is holding things up

Just a reminder @Odellio if you don’t board your outbound flight, most airlines will automatically cancel your return flight. A few people have been caught out by this. If you do end up having to change your outbound, make sure you’re booked on a return flight too.

You won’t be allowed to board, never mind travel and then get deported, without an ESTA as the airline that took you gets fined and is responsible for paying to return you.

Have a good holiday OP, I am sure you will get there, even if it is a bit later than planned. However, I do hope that given the update on your pregnancy that you didn’t rely on your FIL to book your insurance! I would double check the small print before you fly if you did.

Hope you get good news re your esta very soon. If not I hope you can change flights .

Sending hope

We did our Estas a couple of days before leaving. We had all of ours approved straight away apart from DS (2years old)
We ended up separating our luggage just in case and ds and I had to get a later flight. We were just about to set off for the airport and his arrived on the last refresh of the page

However doubled barrelled surname proved an issue. BA don’t recognise the hyphen and the Estas had the hyphen. Fortunately they waved us through at the check in desk as they took the common sense approach. Given the lack of common sense in the world today I don’t think we would have ended up going.

On all Estas since I have left off the hyphen so we match the airline ticket.

I gave this advice to someone recently who had a passport snafu at the airport, it was with a budget airline and I was pleasantly surprised that the airline said it was no problem and they did get home fine as I expected the first thing they do was to cancel it. They were able to fly out the next day with a different airline even and it was OK

That’s good, but I know some airlines do it automatically. I read about it in the Money section of The Times, someone had either missed/ changed their outbound flights, turned up for their return and had to pay for new ones. I think with budget airlines they’re sometimes booked as 2 singles, rather than a round trip. I’d always double check though!

You're right that budget airlines often book you as two separate flights but the 'scheduled' ones book it as one trip - we an the unfortunate experience a few years ago and it cost us £1000 in new flights.

I agree, I fully expected that she'd have to buy a new ticket for the return flight and maybe wouldn't even have been able to get back if they were all full. You could be right about the separate tickets for budget airlines, I don't know which one it was.

This is not true - you can do a group application for people travelling together. Honestly this thread is just a mess of misinformation. OP i really hope this comes through for you and lets face it as a result of this you will never find yourself in this situation again.

Mine came through very quickly last year- within 24h. Hopefully the weekend doesn’t affect it