Under the new regulations, all people travelling to Spain will have to provide the Spanish authorities with their Advance Passenger Information, which includes full names, nationality, date of birth and passport number of all people in the party, including children. The information will be collected by either the airline or travel agent, whose responsibility it is to forward the details on.
Many airport check-in desks have barcode scanning systems which can read the details from a passport, however with more than 12 million British travellers flying to Spain each year, many of whom use charter airlines, which do not have the barcode reading machines, lengthy delays are expected. Problems will be exacerbated by the timing of the introduction, right at the start of the peak travelling season. The Association of British Travel Agents has already been reported as saying, ‘During the peak periods of July and August, we may have to tell people to turn up at airports half an hour earlier than normal.’
The director of the Spanish Tourist Office, Ignacio Vasallo, believes travellers will not be adversely affected. He states, ‘We have established a lead-in period so the industry can adopt solutions to ensure the requirements do not affect travel from Britain to Spain’
British Airways have stated that visitors who do not provide the relevant details will be denied boarding their flight since the carrier is liable to hefty fines of up to €60,000.00 for failure to comply with the requirements. A statement issued by BA said, ‘Staff at check-in desks will be able to collect API data but passengers are strongly advised to supply the information prior to arrival at the airport, or at a self service kiosk where available, to avoid unnecessary delays.
passengers are strongly advised to supply the information prior to arrival at the airport, or at a self service kiosk where available, to avoid unnecessary delays.
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With this in mind British Airways has made changes to its website in order that passengers may provide the required information in the “Manage my Booking” section. It will also prompt passengers to enter their details at the time of booking. More details can be found on their website
Some British airlines feel they were not given sufficient notice by Spain’s Ministry of Interior, however they confirm they will comply fully with the Spanish API requirements, and have now updated their websites accordingly. Guide2Granada.com recommends that all travellers to Spain regularly check the web site of their particular airline by following the links below.
Ryanair
EasyJet
Monarch
Were the UK fully signed up to the ‘Schengen Treaty’, these measures would not need to be introduced.
The Schengen Treaty is an agreement among European states for the abolition of systematic border controls between the participating countries, thus allowing nationals of the member countries free travel, without the requirement to present a passport. So far 30 countries have signed up for the treaty; although at present only 15 have implemented it. These are: Belgium, France, Monaco, Germany Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway
The United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland are the only two EU members to sign up to partial membership of the scheme; they share what is known as a ‘Common Travel Area’ with no border controls between them. The result of this is that Ireland is unable to join the Schengen Treaty without dissolving its existing agreement with the UK. However the UK remains reluctant to surrender its own border controls. Therefore Ireland and the UK only take part in the police co-operation measures and not the common border control and visa provisions.
There will be the inevitable teething problems implementing the new system; therefore, we at Guide2Granada, encourage all travellers to Spain this summer to ensure that the relevant information is supplied to the airline carrier as soon as is practical.
