USA and Canada
Entry Regulations for the USA
Travellers to the USA are required to provide additional Secure Flight data as well as complete an ESTA electronic travel application.
Recording Secure Flight Data (API)
Passengers from and to the USA have been subject to a security check by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Airlines are obliged to send the required information to the TSA three days prior to departure for checking, and to verify the Security Administration's results. Condor will send the information, encrypted under the strictest security standards, to the American TSA. Your data will not be used further.
All USA-bound flights operated by Condor are affected: when entering or leaving the USA, stopping over in the USA, and on some flights over the USA (flyover destinations: from/to Cancun, Havana, Varadero, Holguin, San Jose, Santa Clara and Toronto, Vancouver). It does not matter whether you booked your Condor flight via condor.com, through a physical travel agency, an online travel agency or as part of an all-inclusive arrangement with a tour operator.
You will be asked for your Secure Flight data (title/gender, first name, surname, date of birth, Redress Number* if available) when you make your booking through condor.com and the data will be automatically be forwarded to the authorities in the USA. In this case, there is then no requirement for the data to be recorded separately in the API data form at condor.com. If you did not provide this information when you made your booking, please do so as quickly as possible, and ideally right after you book your flight. Please have your travel and identification documents ready for providing the data.
Your data that is recorded for the "Secure Flight" programme is valid for your booked Condor flight, including all parts of the route operated by code sharing airline partners. When entering your data in the API data form, you are only required to state the primary Condor route.
Make sure that all the information is entered by 75 hours prior to the scheduled departure date for all flights booked up to that point, so that it can be forwarded to the TSA. It will not be possible to enter this data using the online form after this time. If you have forgotten to enter the data online as required by 75 hours in advance, you can enter the data later on at the airport, upon payment of a €5.00 fee. In this exceptional case, please go directly to check-in. If your data is not entered, Condor will be forced to refuse carriage.
In some cases, the TSA may be unable to complete its security checks successfully and there may still be questions concerning passenger data. In this event, they will be resolved at check-in.
Please note that a boarding pass will not be issued if the TSA is unable to successfully complete its security check, and you will not be able to travel on your flight to the USA.
Please note the following information that Condor is required by the TSA to provide:
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requires you to provide your full name, date of birth, and gender for the purpose of watch list screening, (under the authority of 49 U.S.C. Section 114, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and 49 C.F.R parts 1540 and 1560). Failure to provide this information may result in denial of transport or denial of authority to enter the boarding area. You may also provide your Redress Number, if available.
The TSA may share information you provide with law enforcement or intelligence agencies or others under its published system of records notice. For more on TSA privacy policies, or to review the system of records notice and the privacy impact assessment, please visit the TSA website at www.tsa.gov.
*If you have already gone through a security check by the USA security authority and received a negative result (e.g. based on a mistake in names) and you sought redress, you will have been assigned a Redress Number.
API Data Form
The online form (API Data Form) for entering the Secure Flight Data can be found here:
API Data Form
Additional information on “data protection information for flights to the USA”
ESTA Electronic Travel Application
All nationals from countries included in the Visa Waiver programme must obtain an online-based travel authorization well in advance before they travel. Every traveller from a Visa Waiver programme country must apply for the "ESTA" (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) travel authorization up to 72 hours prior to departure at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov. If applications are submitted later than this, the U.S. authorities cannot guarantee that they will be processed in time. Due to a change in procedures, real-time ESTA approvals have no longer been available since December 2018!
Please note that incorrect or incomplete information provided during the ESTA application process will lead to a denial of carriage. We recommend that you only use the provided official CBP link for your registration.
Fees and Procedure
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charges a fee for the ESTA application, which comprises a processing fee (a charge for processing the application) and an authorisation fee (if the application is successful and an authorization to travel is issued, an additional fee of USD 10.00 becomes due). If an electronic travel authorization is not issued, you only have to pay the fee for processing your application. All payments for electronic travel authorization applications must be made by credit card. The ESTA system currently accepts the following credit cards: MasterCard, VISA, American Express and Discover (JCB, Diners Club). If you renew your passport during the two-year validity period of an existing ESTA application, you will have to complete a new form, for which you will be charged. Your ESTA registration status will be verified during check-in. Please note that we are only authorized to check in passengers with “ESTA OK” status, based solely on the information stored in the ESTA system. We regret that we will have to deny carriage to any passenger whose status is not “ESTA OK”. However, please note that successful ESTA registration does not guarantee an entry permit into the USA. As before, the decision whether to grant or deny entry is up to the American Immigration Authorities at the destination airport.
Passengers who are assigned an “ESTA NOT OK” status when they register are asked to contact the U.S. Embassy or a U.S. Consulate. If you are assigned an “ESTA PENDING” status, your travel authorization is still being processed. Please visit the website again within 72 hours and click on the table with the green background located on the right hand side. You will need your application number, passport number and date of birth to check the status of your application.
Once you have successfully registered for ESTA, i.e. you have been assigned the "ESTA OK" status, it is valid for 2 years. Therefore, if you make several trips to the USA within 2 years, ESTA registration is only necessary the first time you travel there. It is not possible to extend your ESTA registration. At the expiry of the two-year period, you have to submit a new ESTA application. If you have been issued with a new passport, you also have to register again,
even if the two-year validity period has not expired yet.
If you have dual nationality, please enter the passport number and name of the issuing country (not the country of residence). If you have more than one passport (even for one country), you must complete a separate ESTA application for each passport you intend to use for travel to the USA. Since the formalities for entry and departure will soon be fully electronic, we strongly recommend that you use the same passport when you enter and leave the country!
Countries included in the Visa Waiver programme:
Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Austria, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea, Taiwan, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
IMPORTANT! ESTA registration is also required for nationals of a Visa Waiver country if they have a stopover at an airport in the United States during their outbound or return flight!
According to the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 passengers who hold citizenship of Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria in addition to a citizenship of one of the Visa-Waver-Countries are not eligible to take part in the Visa-Waiver Program. This also applies for passengers being nationals of a Visa-Waiver-Country who have traveled to or been present in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, or Syria on or after March 1, 2011. This does not affect travelers whose presence in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and/or Sudan was to perform military service in the armed forces of a program country, or in order to carry out official duties as a full-time employee of the government of a program country.