Again,

I'll take the knowledge I have from this site, go to the check in desk and see what they say. Either way i'll be using the EU passport when in Europe, and the Canadian one when I get back to Canada.

Checking before one travels is a very good idea, if one is not sure; and I agree one should always double-check advice from an internet forum.

On the other hand, I would NEVER ask check-in staff, or "security" for advice on, or verification of, another country's immigration requirements. They will have absolutely no clue, and are not required to. All they need to know is do you have the requisite documents to board the plane.

S

Yep. Which is why you present both passports and inform them that you will be using the EU passport to enter Europe and the Canadian one when you come back... Sounds like pdarwin had a good experience with the check in agent but thats not gonna happen all the time...

And I agree, never show security/customs/passport control more than 1 passport, just show them the one you need to enter/exit that country, nothing else.

Why always? Canadian citizens are able to enter the UK visa free just as UK citizens can enter Canada visa free. And why in heaven's name would the airline give a monkey's whether you have more than one passport? You show the passport linked to your ticket at check in and that's that. I have flown internationally dozens of times since being a dual citizen and never once told any airline that I carry 2 passports.

There's lots of different ways to doing it and i'm sure most if not all work... But I prefer the showing both method as the airline could pass on passport info to the Canadian and/or EU authorities, meaning if you only show the airline the EU passport, the Canadians think you are an illegal EU living in Canada, whilst the EU think (rightly) that you are a EU citizen. But if you only show the Cdn one, everything is hunky dory on the Cdn end, but the EU think you are only Canadian, then you get there and all of a sudden show an EU pport, they might ask a few questions.


And regardless if you could use a Canadian pport to enter the UK if a UK citizen, it would be much easier to use the UK one now wouldn't it.

With the Cdn one you run the risk of being denied entry and having to use the longer international pport lines. With the UK one you can use the EU/EEA/Swiss/British line and/or the automatic kiosks at LHR.

I was asked this question last time I went to the UK by the check-in agent and she was so dozy she didn't realize I'd given her a Canadian passport.

Well it's not that simple - Canada requires you to provide evidence you can enter Canada and I know people on here have said they didn't have a problem but I certainly have been asked on multiple occasions. So if you pull out a British passport and you're on a return ticket, the question is going to be what legal right do you have to live in Canada? Now the regs give certain examples of things you can use, but check-in agents aren't necessarily going to be familiar with them, which is why IATA insist on a passport.

Also next year they're going to introduce "CeTA" or whatever it's going to be called and that's only supposed to be used by visitors, not residents. So the combination of IATA rules and CeTA basically compels you to use your Canadian passport at check-in when travelling to Canada. Once you're actually at the POE you can use almost anything, birth certificate, citizenship certificate, anything CBSA can look you up with in their system.

Because maybe you haven't used one passport to book your ticket - also they usually share the manifest with immigration so that can cause confusion if you flew using one passport and enter the country using the other one. I've had that happen too.

They are required to, under the Canadian transport regs, FL quoted them awhile back, sure you can look them up if you want to. The check-in agent HAS TO determine as a matter of Canadian law that you have a legal status in Canada, CBSA recognizes a whole bunch of things but IATA basically only recognizes a passport or a passport in combination with something like a visa.

This, and this.

I've had two passports for awhile, Portuguese and Canadian, and when I was living in the UK, I always always travelled with both.

When flying to Canada, I booked the flight using my Canadian passport. I presented my Canadian passport to board the flight, and used my Canadian passport to enter Canada. I then used my Canadian passport to board my return flight back to the UK, and presented my Portuguese passport at the border in the UK.

For a myriad of BS reasons that I won't go into here, my names don't match exactly on my two passports (HEADACHE), which means that I have two frequent flyer accounts for all airlines, one under each name. Awhile back I did an experiment to see what would happen. I booked a flight from the UK to Switzerland and booked it using my Canadian passport. I used my Canadian passport to board the plane, and when I got to Switzerland, presented my Portuguese ID Card (not even passport) at POE and was let in no problem. On the way back I again used the Canadian passport to board, and presented the Portuguese ID card to get back into the UK. No problems, all super smooth.

Aside from the security considerations with the airlines, the airline wants to know that you aren't going to get turned away when you show up in the destination country as it's then their responsibility to fly you back. A friend of mine a number of years ago booked a one-way flight to the UK and booked it using his Canadian passport. The airline questioned him about it and he showed them his British passport as his "evidence" he was going to get let into the country, and he had no problems. On the flipside, last year my brother went to Australia, and had sorted out his visa beforehand, but something happened with the airline thinking he didn't have a visa and refused him boarding (he went two days later after a lot of fighting with the airline as it was their fault). The airline refused to board him because they didn't think he was going to be let into Australia, despite him having evidence of it.

A good demonstration in the difference between the two systems. Australia requires all non-Australian or New Zealand citizens to have a visa to go to Australia for any purpose ergo no visa, no flight. Any airline letting someone on a plane to Australia without a valid visa is heavily fined. The UK only requires visa nationals to have authorisation to fly.

Yep. Actually, after I moved, my very first trip back home was via the US, and I booked my flight using my Portuguese passport by accident (didn't quite have my head around the ins and outs of it). When I went to check in, they asked where my visa was to visit the US, and I just said "uh I don't have one, I'm Canadian". They looked at my Canadian passport and let me on the plane no problem. Crisis averted!

Not true. As a former Check-in agent for an international airline I can speak from experience. In my case the security screeners the passengers had to get through before getting to me weeded out anyone not carrying the correct documents for their planned travel and I had to know who was able to TWOV (transit without visa) through the US. You could argue it's not really immigration policy we knew, but we could tell you who was and who wasn't allowed to board a plane.
Every time I have checked in for a flight to Canada I have been asked for proof of my right to be going there on the return leg of my ticket and had to show my PR card. When coming back from the Bahamas, the lady in Nassau got confused when I told her I needed both my passport AND PR card to get back into Canada. She was fine knowing I had a valid passport.
Any airline that flies someone without proper documentation will be responsible for repatriating that person in case of deportation, so check in staff and any associated security staff need to be VERY aware of what documentation is needed to prevent them for flying you back on their dime!

A visa-waiver passport is an acceptable travel document to travel to Canada, on a ticket terminating in Canada. As far as Canadian law is concerned, at least for now. Not clear what point otherwise is intended.

Don't you get quizzed by CBSA on the way back to Canada because you have no UK entry stamp in your passport to prove you traveled there? That's what I'm concerned about so I use my CDN passport only for trips to the UK. I figure it's less hassle on getting back into Canada. For further travel within the Shengen zone I sometimes use my UK passport.