Do I need A Passport Number To Book A Flight?
 

I'm going on tour with my local football team (UK) to Amsterdam next June. I haven't got a passport yet, I was planning on getting one in January in plenty of time for the trip. However the club are booking the flight on Dec 1st. Do I need a passport number to book the flight, or can they just book me on it without needing it the passport number until we fly?

Cheers in advance.

Policies may vary between airlines I guess, but when I booked my flight to London a couple of years ago, no passport # was required. (I am sure, because I didn't even have a passport until about a month later).

It does vary from airline to airline but I'm pretty sure you can book the flight without the passport number but you will need to fill in details online (via your flight booking) including passport number before your flight. It may be required a certain number of days prior to the flight, so do check that.

Kay

In my experience you don't need a passport to book a flight but you do for on-line check in. With Easyjet that is from 3 months before up until 40 mins before departure.

Some airlines do require a passport #. And rules change/tighten all the time. But what they ALL require is that your names on the ticket and passport must match exactly.

But -- why not just get your passport now. If you start the paperwork tomorrow you'll likely have by the first week of December, though the Thanksgiving holiday may delay it a few days.

I don't believe that I have ever entered a passport number to purchase an intra-European flight.

The airlines - even the cheap European ones - are changing their security requirements all the time. The information required now is different to what they wanted a few years ago and no doubt will change again.

Kay

I have -- three times -- all on European airlines. And one other time w/ an on-line booking engine.

Most of the time - no, but some airlines do require it.

And oops -- I missed the UK bit. obviously thanksgiving weekend has nothing to do w/ anything :)

My comment about 2 week passport turnaround applies to the USA. I'll go back to sleep now :D

If memory serves me correctly, when going to Spain last year, I had to enter my pasport number, but just had to do it before departure, not at the time of booking. This was with Easyjet, but I believe was required by the Spanish authorities. Don't think we've had to do it for Italy (also with Easyjet)

Try asking the airline.

I think this for all flights to or from the UK. It shouldn't be a problem to book the ticket as long as you fill in the information before you fly. I presume it is for the government to check you against a list of undesirables before you get to the airport.

EasyJet do ask for passport information, but this can be given at a later date. I don't know what happens in a group booking, which is what your club will be making. I don't know what the policy is with other airlines.

Also, if you are British, you can travel in the Eurozone on a Driving Licence, as long as it has your picture on it and is not one of the old pink paper ones!

I booked a trip to Portugal on TAP and it wouldnt let me book without a passport number being entered at time of purchase. Easyjet, Ryanair and BA require it for flights but you can enter it at a later time. I think it depends on the country you are entering...but I'm not sure.

You cannot travel on driving licence - you can travel on identity card within EU countries, but since Britain has no identity cards you must have a passport. No need to enter details when you are booking.

You definitely need to enter the passport details if you book TAP UK - Lisbon at the time of purchase.

It is important that the ticket is booked in exactly the same name as will appear in your passport. This is especially true if you normally are called Phil - the ticket must be in the name Philip, assuming that is your full name.

Why not get your passport now just to be on the safe side?

A driving licence is not a valid ID for international travel.

Cheers for all the replies. I can't get a passport yet for the simple fact I can't afford it until January. I would ask the airline about their policy but I haven't been able to find out yet which one the club is using. From reading all these replies it seems as if not having a passport number at this moment in time will not stop be from being able to book. I will have a passport by the end of January, which will still be nearly 5 months before we fly, so I can't see it being a problem.

Phil-Richards, I agree but do apply for your passport as soon as you can afford to as I fear, with all the upcoming cuts, there could be strikes or work to rule within the Public Sector.

Just this morning I booked a flight (on British) departing Heathrow for Berlin in 2011.

I was aksed for the names of the passengers, my credit card details, my billing address, and that's all. I have the e-ticket receipt in hand. I suspect eventually the passport details may be required.

Phil

It's API (Advance Passenger Information). We flew from the UK to Amsterdam with easyJet. When making the booking online we were asked for everyone's API information e,g, passport number, when and in what country it was issued, plus date of birth. The booking was accepted without the details being entered but we were reminded that we would not be allowed to fly unless the API was provided online prior to the departure date.

The same happened when we flew with them to Athens, also from the UK.

On each occasion I was making bookings for a group and didn't have all their API details. It was good the system accepted the reservations and allowed me to fill in the information later.

Thomsons (UK) also allow the online addition of API after bookings have been made. In September Aegean Airlines at Heathrow took the details from us at check-in as they had no API registration on their website booking page.

Jon