Online / mobile checkin flying UK-> US, need passport no

Is it just me, or, even though my profile on the Flying Club website knows my passport number, expiry date, country of residence, issue, citizenship, I still have to manually enter all of this when checking in online to fly to the US from UK?

It's infuriating, as often I'll want to quickly check in from my phone 24hrs before the flight (an old BA habit of getting early in the Seq No to hopefully increase chances of an op up ... though I've never once had such luck on VS). And guess what, 24hrs before my flight, I probably don't have my passport to hand, so need to look up the number and expiry date to enter it all in, again...

It's a minor annoyance, maybe, but one of a few jarring UX examples on the VA website and app; is it bad design, or does some regulation mean they're not allowed to pre-populate all that info, even though I've signed in and they know it already?

cheers
Ewan aka Mr Angry

I'm not thrilled with VS IT in this department. Same issue with Global Entry/KTN (Known Traveler Number). While the KTN is in my online Flying Club profile, it hasn't linked to my bookings in the last year and the website doesn't provide any KTN input fields in either the booking or checking-in stages. This means no PreCheck in the US after checking in and, I suspect, giving you a better chance of getting the "SSSSS" on your BP when flying to the US. The annoyingly cumbersome "fix" is to call an agent to un-check you in, they add the KTN and they allow you to re-check in.

[mitchja]

...the website doesn't provide any KTN input fields in either the booking or checking-in stages. This means no PreCheck in the US after checking in and, I suspect, giving you a better chance of getting the "SSSSS" on your BP when flying to the US. The annoyingly cumbersome "fix" is to call an agent to un-check you in, they add the KTN and they allow you to re-check in.

VS online bookings do have a section for entering your KTN if it's not in your Flying Club profile. You just need to open the Secure Flight section of your booking and fill the details in there:

Screenshot 2019-04-27 at 18.00.13.png (215.43 KiB) Viewed 629 times

This means no PreCheck in the US after checking in and, I suspect, giving you a better chance of getting the "SSSSS" on your BP when flying to the US. The annoyingly cumbersome "fix" is to call an agent to un-check you in, they add the KTN and they allow you to re-check in.

The airline you fly with can soon add your KTN to their record if you ask them at check-in. This is what happened when I flew with TAP earlier this year shortly after they joined pre - their OLCI hadn't been updated so it was done when I asked at check-in.

Having a KTN does not exempt you from SSSS.