bats

Why is it ridiculous to swab a tablet or phone? Bombs don't have to be big.

caretaker

Not necessarily for anything contained in the device, the test is for residue, and people touch their phones and keyboards, car keys etc a lot. It provides a clue if the smuggler or bomber has been careless.

Partially discharged

You're probably now on a list due to telling the CATSA agent that you thought swabbing your tablet and Iphone was ridiculous. My advice in an airport is that ranting about the system isn't going to get you far and that the officials hold all of the cards.

Reading this thread I really don't understand all of the efforts people go through to show a certain passport for flying into or out of Canada or to the UK. It seems like a lot of work.

I live in Canada and intend to for the near future. My UK passport has expired but can be easily renewed. I would have no issue with having to renew it but why spend the money now if I don't need to renew it and having a Canadian passport only isn't going to restrict me in any way.

Back in 1989, I had 2 valid passports and myself a friend of mine had our car searched on the French/Belgian border at a remote little used crossing. The two bored french border guys couldn't understand how I could have 2 passports and in broken french I tried to explain it. Their question in french was basically 'are you canadian or british..you shouldn't be both'. My friends UK passport issued in Northern Ireland with a Northern Ireland code on it triggered something in their computer system I think which caused the car search.

BristolUK

Taken in conjunction with a couple of other comments (like on the Salisbury Affair ) I wonder about you.

Are you:
A) A novelist of spy stories
B) An espionage man
C) A spy or former spy
D) Frederick Forsyth's younger brother

Jerseygirl

It’s usually much quicker to enter the UK and Europe using a UK PP.

I would renew my UK PP no matter how much the cost. It’s one of the little bits of the UK that’s still mine after 22 years...that and my UK bank account.

I agree with your comments about the border/customs officers. Smile sweetly and be very courteous...if they ask you to jump...say how high. There is only one winner if you get into an argument or try to be smart with them...and it’s not going to be you.

Gozit

Fair enough that makes sense.

It was brutal, tons of traffic and I could barely see in front of me driving...took us 3 hours from St. Thomas to Pearson.

Yeah that's odd...though there is something to be said about completely random searches.

I doubt it, the guys were actually pretty nice about it and happily explained everything when I asked. Last time I checked there's nothing illegal about asking why you were subjected to secondary screening, although I wouldn't say that to a TSA agent simply because i'm a guest in the US and they can make it harder for me to come back.

Convenience. I can use the ePassport gates in the EU instead of lining up. I can use the ePassport/NEXUS gates in Canada and Global Entry in the US.

Entering the EU as an EU citizen I have access to the protections of being such a citizen and having freedom of movement, health care/EHIC, and i'm not asked any questions on my way in/out.

If a family member has a medical emergency we can fly out and not worry about how long we are staying/how frequently we are coming and going.

The UK may put into place something like Canada's eTA and you might have to have a UK passport to visit the UK in the future, as you'd be ineligible for an eTA in your Canadian passport based on the fact that you are a British citizen.

Partially discharged

I agree its quicker but for me, I have 2 passports (one expired (UK) and one valid (Canadian) but wife has one (Canadian) son has one (Canadian) and daughter has 2 (same as mine as I applied for one on her behalf when she went to university in France for a year) but the chance I'd be going on my own to the UK are diminishing year after year and our daughter is not likely to go with me to the UK (21 years old now) so on a cost benefit point of view the UK passport isn't high on my priorities.

In terms of lineups, the difference has been walk right through versus a 5 minute wait. You still have to wait to get your luggage the same as everyone else, you don't get a better price on craptastic food at a UK airport.

I know I'm british (especially in sense of humour and sports/tv I follow) so a somewhat hard bound booklet with references to the Queen isn't that important to me.

I'm sure I'm on a list at LHR from my rant to staff there from about a year ago. All on a Canadian passport so maybe if I renewed my UK passport it would smooth things over at LHR. Never ranted at MCR..I think it was being in the 'south' raised my blood pressure.

Gozit

Ah so we all have our moments I guess in the end they are just doing their jobs so we can't blame them.

I travel on my own most of the time so it is worth it for me especially if making a tight connection in FRA/MUC. The times I fly usually there are multiple flights from CA/US coming in so int'l "All passports" line is full, making the "EU/EWR/CH" line much more appealing.

When traveling with family i've had success going through the EU line putting my EU passport at the top of the pile and handing it to the border guard with all of the Canadian passports underneath it. I did get a bit of a stink eye and he was curious why I was the only one traveling on a non-Canadian PP but he let us all through.

But that was in Germany and i've definitely heard of people on here who have been sent back to the back of the line when trying that at a British airport.

jennellapea

You guys are hilarious. There is no "list" when you tell a CATSA Screener that the rules are stupid. They hear it all day, everyday.

Dorothy

Some of us use 2 passports because it's a requirement of the countries we're citizens of. I'm dual Canadian and Australian. Both countries require citizens to enter the country using that passport. So, when I fly to Canada I give my Canadian passport details to the airline. However I also have to give my Australian passport details so I can get on the flight home.

Up until the Canadian government decided to make me renew my passport I always just used my Australian one.

scrubbedexpat091

US is same. US Citizens have to enter and exit the US on a US passport.

So no choice as you say for some depending on what citizenship one holds.

Gozit

+1



So do you show both to the airline at check in both ways or the Canadian one on the way to Canada and the Aus one on the way back to Oz?

Have you ever been asked for the other as I was? I suspect it might be an EU only thing as Frankfurt is the only place i've seen those "document verification" desks.

scilly

Reading through this I have to have a little laugh to myself when remembering what happened the first time we went back to the UK after we got our Canadian passports, in 1975.

At that time, there were 3 lines to go through Immigration ........... UK, Commonwealth, and Others. We proudly lined up in the Commonwealth line, I presented our passports to the officer on duty. He looked in them all, saw OH and I were British born (although daughter was Canadian), and then said "Why didn't you go through the UK line? You're still British even with these. We never let you go."

Believe it or not, we were offended by his comment.

That was repeated with more or less the same words the next 4 or 5 times.

We've not used a British passport since we got the Canadian ones in 1974, never renewed that we then had when it ran out. Never had any trouble entering or leaving any country. Why should we??? We enter and leave using the same passport, and claiming the same citizenship.


I do remember many years ago, when there was some unrest in some part of the world, a warning being issued that people should not carry and travel on more than one passport because it was possible that neither (or none) of the countries would help them if they got in trouble due to the unrest.

I think that is in fact what happened when Lebanese-Canadian citizens who had returned to Lebanon, then wanted Canada to get them out of trouble ...... Canada moved VERY slowly.

Dorothy

There used to be exit controls in Australia so I had to show my Aussie one there, Canadian one at check in and the gate then Australian again when leaving Canada. Now there's no exit control it's Canada on the way there and Aus on the way home.

Atlantic Xpat

I fly frequently enough through a small airport to be on nodding terms with the CATSA people. "So you remembered your Ipad this time" was the comment a couple of weeks back on my last trip.