Following the Directive (EU) 2016/681  of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR)* data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime, all passengers travelling to/from:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Hungary
• Italy
•  the Netherlands
• Luxembourg
• Poland
• Portugal
• Spain
• Sweden

should inform their travel document details at the time of bookings or until 72 hours before flight departure:

• Full Name (mind the maximum characters allowed for name element) 
• Gender
• Date of Birth
• Number and Validity of Document of Identification (ex: ID card or passport)

For the time being, however, this rule applies to international flights.

Domestic flights within Portugal are, for the time being, exempted from the data registration requirement. 

These details must be inserted as an SSR DOCS.

A warning equal or identical to one of these, "DOCS INFO RQRD BY GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS" or "MANDATORY DOCS ARE  RQSTD BY AUTHORITIES" will appear whenever a flight segment is booked to/from one of these countries but will disappear after "END TRANSACTION".

All bookings without the mandatory information will receive notifications 15 Days before the flight, 07 Days, 04 Days or 03 Days until the minimum required information is inserted.

 *do not confuse with the same designation used by GDSs to identify a reservation.

Since the 24th of July 2013, all passengers, including nationals of Portugal, travelling to or transiting Portugal from non-Schengen countries, must inform their passport details at the time of booking or at least 72 hours before departure:

• Full Name (mind the maximum letters allowed for name element) 
• Gender
• Date of Birth
• Number and Validity of Document of Identification (ex: identity card or passport)

These details must be inserted as an SSR DOCS.

This information became MANDATORY from the 1st of October 2014!

The warning “DOCS INFO REQUIRED BY PORTUGUESE AUTHORITIES” will show up when building a PNR. The warning will disappear after “End Transaction”.

All bookings without the mandatory information will receive notifications 15 Days before the flight, 07 Days, 04 Days or 03 Days until the minimum required information is inserted.

Following Directive (EU) 2016/681 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data for the purposes of preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting terrorist offences and serious crime, passengers to/from Portugal must provide at the time of booking, or up to 72 hours before departure, the following identification details.

For now, this rule applies to international flights only.

However, it is recommended, with immediate effect, the insertion of APIS in all bookings that include TAP AIR PORTUGAL flights from/to any Member State of the EUROPEAN UNION, containing the following data:

•  Airline Code;
• Passport Code (P), Identity Card Code (I) or other Identification Document accepted for travel;
•  Travel Document Issuing Country Code
•  Travel Document Number;
•  Passenger Nationality Country Code
•  Date of Birth;
•  Passenger Gender Indicator;
•  Travel Document Expiry Date
•  Passenger SURNAME / GIVEN NAME / MIDDLE NAMES

Domestic flights in Portugal are, for the time being, exempted from the data registration requirement. 

Due to legal requirements from the United States of America Authorities, all passengers travelling to this country must provide the following information at the time of booking or at least 72 hours before departure:

• Full Name ( mind the maximum characters allowed on name element) 
• Gender
• Date of Birth
• Number and Validity of Document of Identification (ex: passport)
• Redress number, if available

These elements - Secure Flight Passenger Data - are absolutely mandatory and must be inserted in the reservation through SSR DOCS before issuing the tickets.

As of 15 October 2010, TAP automatically notifies all bookings where PNR data are missing to/from the United States by sending the IATA SSR ADPI:

SSR ADPI - Additional Passenger Information.

Ex: SSR ADPI TP HK1 TP103 REQ SEC FLT PSGR DATA 72HBD FOR ALL PSGRS 

All reservations that do not contain the mandatory SSR DOCS will receive this notification 15 days before the flight, 07 days, 04 days or 03 days before so that all agents may take the necessary action in the reservations filling out the minimum and mandatory information of DOCS on time.

The lack of this element in the reservations is cause for inhibition of issuing tickets.

By order of the US authorities, passengers are required to provide, at the time of reservation or within 72 hours of travel, and in addition to the DOCS, the following elements:

• US address/destination address (SR DOCA)
• Telephone contact (SR CTCM)
• Email address (SR CTCE)
• Emergency telephone contact (SR PCTC)

GDS ENTRIES

More information on the Help pages of your GDS s under the keyword APIS:
Galileo: H / APIS
Amadeus: HE APIS

All eligible international travellers who wish to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program must apply for authorization.

To obtain this authorization, known as ESTA, they must complete a form on the Electronic Travel Authorization System website. ESTA must be requested at the time of booking (if possible) and no less than 72 hours prior to the scheduled departure time. 

Requirements to apply online for the ESTA:

• Be a citizen or eligible national of a Visa Waiver Program country.
• Have a valid passport issued by that country.
• Not to be in possession of a visitor's visa.
• The intended stay is 90 days or less.
• Visiting the USA for business or leisure.
• Requesting new authorization for individual or group (2 or more people) stay.
• Inform all requested personal details at the time of the application process.
• Most recent employment information, if applicable.
• Be able to pay USD14 with Credit Card (Master Card, VISA, American Express, Discover, JCB, Dinners Club or Pay Pal.

Application Process:

Log in to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization website and complete the basic identification, and credit card and submit the form.

Once authorized, we recommend that the document is printed and attached to the passport (the one that was registered with ESTA!) in case it is requested while exiting Portugal or at the USA border control.

If the system responds to "Unauthorized Travel" the passenger must apply for a non-immigrant visa at the nearest consulate or embassy.

If the system responds "Pending authorization" he/she should return to the website 72 hours later to receive the final response.

These authorizations are valid for two years from the date they are obtained and for multiple entries in the USA. However, if the passport expires in the meantime, a new authorization must be requested.

The application for authorization may be on an individual or group basis (eg. as a family) and does not prevent a member of the group from travelling alone. The destination address data should be updated, if different, on each journey.

TAP reserves the right to refuse passengers without a valid Travel Authorization to board US-bound flights.

TAP is now able to offer expedited airport security screening in conjunction with the Transportation Security Administration and its TSA Pre✓™ programme.

TSA Pre✓™  screening programme allows pre-approved airline travellers to leave on their shoes, light outerwear and belt, keep their laptop in its case and their 3-1-1 compliant liquids/gels bag in a carry-on in select screening lanes. TSA Pre✓™ is available at TAP’s airport operations at New York’s JFK, Newark Liberty, Boston Logan, and Miami International, as well as – from June – Chicago O’Hare, San Francisco International and Washington-Dulles airports.

Passengers who are eligible for TSA Pre✓™ include U.S. citizens who are members of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler program and Canadian citizens who are members of CBP’s NEXUS program. TSA Pre✓™ is also available for U.S. Armed Forces service members, including those serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, Reserves and National Guard. Later this year TSA will launch an application programme, allowing more U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) to enrol in TSA Pre✓™.

For further details, please check the TSA Pre✓™  website.

After published by the Canadian authorities the communication Passenger Protected Program (PPP), with immediate effectiveness, it is mandatory to add APIS to all bookings to/from CANADA until 72 hours before departure flight:

• Full Name ( mind the maximum characters allowed on name element) 
• Gender
• Date of Birth
• Number and Validity of Document of Identification (ex: passport)
• UNIQUE IDENTIFIER or CANADIAN TRAVEL NUMBER (CTN) – if they have one and have disclosed it to the airline, must be added to the SR DOCO. The CTH is 13 characters long. The first 3 compose the country code (eg: CANZ3F71N20W1).

These details – Secure Flight Passenger Data - have to be inserted as an SSR DOCS.

It is required to insert on every booking, at least 72 hours before departure, the following passenger details:

• Full Name ( mind the maximum characters allowed on name element)  
• Gender
• Date of Birth
• Number and Validity of Travel Document (ex: Passport)

All details must be inserted as an SSR DOCS.

Whenever a booking with a flight to Brazil is made, the warning  “DOCS INFO REQUIRED BY BRAZILIAN AUTHORITIES” will show up below the flight segment and will disappear after End Transaction.

All bookings without the mandatory information will receive notifications 15 Days before the flight, 07 Days, 04 Days or 03 Days until the minimum required information on SSR DOCS is inserted. The lack of this information may result in delays at check-in or boarding.