Travel Question: Do I need to provide my personal data before checking in at the airport?

Q We booked an all-inclusive holiday with a leading tour operator and are booked to fly out on 25 June. The firm offers no way of inputting API details online. Our booking reference for this simply does not work. I have phoned, emailed and tweeted and the company won’t give us any advice. With less than a week before we fly, have you got any advice for us?

Sarah B

A Advance passenger information (API) is personal data – name, gender, date of birth, passport details – about every passenger on a particular flight, which is sent to the destination country to let them know who is on their way. I have my doubts about whether most countries do anything at all with the information – except in the case of the United States, which demands data in advance so it can be checked against terrorist “watch lists”. This can even apply to passengers whose planes will fly over US airspace, for example en route to Canada or Mexico.

Airlines like you to provide this information in advance, usually as part of the online check-in process. And the attitude of some holiday companies makes it sound as though providing it in advance of reaching the airport is essential. For example, TUI says: “You need to give us your API information any time from when you book, up to six hours before you’re due to go.”

The company adds: “TUI also needs this information for aviation security purposes.”

But if you are not checking in until the airport, then stop worrying. It will take slightly less than one second for the essential information to be transferred from your passport to the reservations computer at the airport before departure. Besides the US, I believe the only time you need to worry about an earlier filing of the personal data is if you are travelling to Cape Verde; apparently the €31 visa fee is waived if you provide your details at least a week in advance of travel to these Atlantic islands. But I should stress that I have not been able to confirm this personally.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder