Panic, no esta and at Gatwick

[Ariel's Mum]

What an absolute nightmare. I would never have coped with this as calmly as you. Yes I would have sent hubby and kids on then regretted it immediately and would have gone to pieces. Only you know what's right in your situation and you guys have handled it incredibly. Your daughter sounds like a wee trooper!
I hope the 4 of you have THE best holiday ever. You so deserve it. And in years to come this will make a fab story for the grandchildren. x

[thatdavieguy]

Originally Posted by ROBBOTOO

I too think you’ve dealt with this amazingly! You’ve said how good your 6 year old daughter has been too! It sounds like she takes after her mum!

It’s a shame the ESTA website isn’t clearer! Perhaps it should have a tick box where you confirm you know if you go past a particular point it totally voids a valid ESTA.

I’d assume the words “submitted” would including “paid”! Clearly not! So I too would have done in your case what you did!

So pleased you’ve got flights sorted tomorrow. Enjoy your holiday you all deserve it.

See more...

We could go round in circles about the ins and outs of the esta process and it's site but the whole thing is ambiguous as hell and there are so many boobytraps that this is just another grey area that can cause hassle, unfortunately it's something that's happened to the OP but would have happened at some time.

The esta sites wording could be better and it could have safety nets but everyone knows that they don't do them so you learn from your mistakes when you do it, on this occasion we have found that if you get the warning about an existing esta linked to the passport then if you click to continue past that and complete it or not, the site will cancel your current esta because the designers of the esta site assume that you've read that message and understand that your current esta will be gone and you'll then go on to complete the new application.

They give you a warning, granted it isn't a big list of questions like: "hey, you're going to lose your esta now..ok?" "We mean it, you'll lose it are you sure?" "Sure you're sure?" "No backing out now, ok?" Before letting you carry on, the esta site is full of challenges, the list of yes/no questions that people get caught out with and end up rejected shows that...people will just need to be aware of this going forward.

[maidmarian]

Read every post on this thread as I was mortified for you all. Just try and concentrate on that wonderful holiday you are going to have. I know Ł1000 is a huge lump of cash to lose but life is short. Ignore the insensitive posts and have a fantastic time. 😉xxxx

[boarder4life]

As others have said memories and being their for your family is priceless.

Imagine the rest of the family went through and then the credit card issue happened on her own and they were unwilling to not deal with it because it wasn’t the card holder.

The family stuck together and helped each other out. You cannot put a price on that or a family holiday in my book.

Let’s be honest holidays are stressful enough and blame and fall outs could have easily happened in that situation. It says a great deal about yourselves as a family in a crisis. You should be proud with over coming such a nightmare of a situation

[Rachy]

Hi everyone. It’s Carl, Rachys partner. Firstly I’d like to thank you all for the support you all showed and all the advice you have. You certainly kept Rachel occupied whilst we went through this awful ordeal.
In all honesty it’s mostly my fault this happened. Rachel intended to purchase a new esta and only when I saw the warning to say her existing one was still valid that I convinced her not to complete it. I just didn’t see the point when it was clear hers was valid until 18th Sept. I completely missed anything to say an existing Esta can be cancelled.
There was a lot of confusion this morning because I knew for sure rachel did have an esta so couldn’t understand why Norwegian couldn’t see it. It wasn’t Norwegian air who was checking the esta database it was homeland security who is based at Gatwick. Norwegian was talking to this person and it was he that could see the July application cancelled the 2017 esta. This guy was so rude and had no empathy towards our situation but he did know the facts which we did later confirm with Esta. One truly expensive lesson learned. I’ve been with rachel now for 18 months and never once have had any failings out and this whole experience has just made us even closer. Love her so much 😊
So there was no way I was going to leave her alone in the hope her esta would get approved in time for tomorrow’s flight.
Thanks again to each and everyone of you for all your kind words. Hopefully Rachel will be letting you all know in 2 weeks time what a great holiday we’ve had.
Just one last thing, This isn’t the first glitch we’ve had with our holiday, our cruise was supposed to have had an overnight stay in Havana , but all that got changed several weeks ago when Trump banned ships from visiting Cuba. Fingers crossed for no more glitches 😊

[3disneykids]

Originally Posted by Rachy

Hi everyone. It’s Carl, Rachys partner. Firstly I’d like to thank you all for the support you all showed and all the advice you have. You certainly kept Rachel occupied whilst we went through this awful ordeal.
In all honesty it’s mostly my fault this happened. Rachel intended to purchase a new esta and only when I saw the warning to say her existing one was still valid that I convinced her not to complete it. I just didn’t see the point when it was clear hers was valid until 18th Sept. I completely missed anything to say an existing Esta can be cancelled.
There was a lot of confusion this morning because I knew for sure rachel did have an esta so couldn’t understand why Norwegian couldn’t see it. It wasn’t Norwegian air who was checking the esta database it was homeland security who is based at Gatwick. Norwegian was talking to this person and it was he that could see the July application cancelled the 2017 esta. This guy was so rude and had no empathy towards our situation but he did know the facts which we did later confirm with Esta. One truly expensive lesson learned. I’ve been with rachel now for 18 months and never once have had any failings out and this whole experience has just made us even closer. Love her so much 😊
So there was no way I was going to leave her alone in the hope her esta would get approved in time for tomorrow’s flight.
Thanks again to each and everyone of you for all your kind words. Hopefully Rachel will be letting you all know in 2 weeks time what a great holiday we’ve had.
Just one last thing, This isn’t the first glitch we’ve had with our holiday, our cruise was supposed to have had an overnight stay in Havana , but all that got changed several weeks ago when Trump banned ships from visiting Cuba. Fingers crossed for no more glitches 😊

See more...

This isn't anyone's fault it is a massive flaw in the esta system. I think sticking together as a family was the right thing to do...Hope you all enjoy your holiday and one day this will be a great tale to tell the grandchildren

[disney332]

Originally Posted by Rachy

Hi everyone. It’s Carl, Rachys partner. Firstly I’d like to thank you all for the support you all showed and all the advice you have. You certainly kept Rachel occupied whilst we went through this awful ordeal.
In all honesty it’s mostly my fault this happened. Rachel intended to purchase a new esta and only when I saw the warning to say her existing one was still valid that I convinced her not to complete it. I just didn’t see the point when it was clear hers was valid until 18th Sept. I completely missed anything to say an existing Esta can be cancelled.
There was a lot of confusion this morning because I knew for sure rachel did have an esta so couldn’t understand why Norwegian couldn’t see it. It wasn’t Norwegian air who was checking the esta database it was homeland security who is based at Gatwick. Norwegian was talking to this person and it was he that could see the July application cancelled the 2017 esta. This guy was so rude and had no empathy towards our situation but he did know the facts which we did later confirm with Esta. One truly expensive lesson learned. I’ve been with rachel now for 18 months and never once have had any failings out and this whole experience has just made us even closer. Love her so much 😊
So there was no way I was going to leave her alone in the hope her esta would get approved in time for tomorrow’s flight.
Thanks again to each and everyone of you for all your kind words. Hopefully Rachel will be letting you all know in 2 weeks time what a great holiday we’ve had.
Just one last thing, This isn’t the first glitch we’ve had with our holiday, our cruise was supposed to have had an overnight stay in Havana , but all that got changed several weeks ago when Trump banned ships from visiting Cuba. Fingers crossed for no more glitches 😊

See more...

Carl, situations like this ultimately make you stronger.

You make sure that you remember this holiday, not for the start, but for whats to follow.

Disney332

[CrazyBaby]

Aw Carl, you sound like a great partner to Rachy. Good eggs are hard to come by. I hope you 4 have a wonderful holiday!

[Lottie2004]

Hope you all have an amazing holiday and are able to put the traumatic start behind you ! xxxx

[MariaLynda]

Just been telling my DH about this since I met him at the station for the train home after work.. what a day, feel like we have all lived through this today! So pleased you are sorted out and although its cost you 1k and a day, its done now... gosh you must be mentally shattered.

Without reading back a few pages, not sure if its on there or not, but where are you now? Hope you are finally managing to settle and relax and think about your travel day again... press the reset button and lets get this holiday started! Hope you've had a nice meal by now and a well earned cocktail or two... Hugs to you all.