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Edinburgh aims for US pre-clearance
Edinburgh Airport is aiming to attract a number of new flights to the US by becoming the first UK pre-clearance zone for travellers. The airport is working towards securing permission that would allow passengers to complete US immigration checks and customs inspections before their departure.
This means that US-bound passengers would arrive as a domestic passenger and make the airport more attractive to US airlines and travellers. Gordon Dewar, the airport’s CEO, expects the pre-clearance operations to open up three or four new American destinations, as well as increase interest from travellers and exporters around Europe. Dewar said “Realistically it is no less than two years away to get the approvals and plans together.ā
The airport is confident it can follow a similar growth trajectory to that of Dublin Airport, which saw a significant increase in passenger numbers after introducing its pre-clearance facility.
Edinburgh currently has Scotlandās only direct flights to the US to Chicago, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Washington and Orlando.
Marriott Buy Bonus
For the first time in many years, I actually bought some hotel points as prices in many cities are just ridiculous and it works out cheaper to buy points than it does to pay cash. Luckily with Marriott, nights booked on points still count towards status. For example, I’ve been looking at relatively modest hotels in Boston as the dates I am there a Residence Inn is $606 a night. If you buy the points, it costs $550 so over a few nights it is a reasonable saving. Just make sure you are paying with a card that does not have foreign exchange fees. I cover this in the latest episode of This Week in Travel.
Marriott has a new buy bonus of 40-50%, which is individually targeted. If you go to the Buy Points page and sign in, it will show you what you get.
You get a 40-50% bonus when you buy at least 2,000 points until 2 July.
Finnair’s special centenary wines
To celebrate 100 years of flying, Finnair has introduced a collection of special celebratory wines curated by international expert and wine consultant, Ken Chase.
The Castilla la Mancha White 2022, named āDestination Northā, features a blend of AirĆ©n (85%) and Verdejo (15%) grapes, designed to please palates even at 30,000 feet. Finnairās Castilla la Mancha Red 2022, named ā100,000 islandsā, contains a blend of Tempranillo (85%), Syrah (10%), and a dash of Cabernet Sauvignon (5%).
The labels for the new bottles are based on Finnairās original posters designed by Erik Bruun in the 1950s and 60s. Economy Class customers can enjoy the newly developed red and white wines from today, while those in Business Class can indulge from later this spring. I have a few Finnair flights coming up, so if I manage to try some, I will let you know what I think. I do love the labels and think the bottles would make a great addition to my flight memorabilia ( to go with my Finnair champagne glasses).
Lauri Ahonen, Finnair Concept & Category Manager, said: āFinding the perfect wine for a Finnair flight for our customers to enjoy at 30,000ft is always a challenge, but even more so during our centenary.ā
You can read my review of Finnair’s new long haul business class flights here.
To learn more about Finnairās onboard menu and its centenary celebrations, visit finnair.com
7 comments
“Realistically it is no less than two years away to get the approvals and plans together.ā I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest Mr Dewar’s experience of working with US State, Homeland, CBP, TSA and all of the 3 letter Federal Agencies, Congress and the Senate is somewhat limited.
Two years. Edinburgh before LHR. Well the guy knows how to get a laugh I’ll give him that much. Country’s ruling party can’t get their books in order and the only ones willing to touch them is an auditor who, I kid you not folks, failed to submit their last accounts and are recorded as being in default of their accounting compliance requirements. But yeah it’ll be two years tops before there’s an external border point up and running š¤£
I don’t see the link between the SNPs finances and Edinburgh Airport. Also, maybe LHR doesn’t have this as an ambition. If Dublin can negotiate it, I see no reason why Edinburgh can’t as well.
Because the point of entry bar is set pretty high & requires a lot of ability & compliance standards. If the ruling party cannot be trusted financially then it raises questions about trust on an institutional level along with the increased risk of bribery etc.
It is Mr Dewars timeline that I have the biggest issue with not so much any locations stated desire to pursue the idea.
Many years ago LHR had US pre-clearance at T4, I’m not sure why we lost it. The fact that Dublin has it encourages passengers from UK regional airports to use Aer Lingus, although I still simply cannot understand why the airline hasn’t been incorporated into OneWorld. A BA fare to the US from BRI using EI flights on a codeshare basis is often nearly twice as much as the same flights with EI flight numbers. I can get Avios and Aer Lingus status with the EI flights, but not BA Tier Points. As Aer Lingus is a wholly owned subsidiary of IAG, and it was said some time ago that EI would join OneWorld, why hasn’t this happened?
When did LHR ever have US Pre-clearance?!
The Aer Lingus not joining oneworld thing is a mystery that remains elusive till date with no apparent signs of change due either!
My guess is because Aer Lingus in some respects in low cost and doesnāt want the costs associated with being one world and being usually very profitable they donāt need to.
There was pre-clearance at LHR back in the early days of T4, so this presumably only applied to BA.
A contributor to airliners.net puts this in the early 1980s, but as the Terminal didn’t open until 1986 it must have been slightly later.
On a different point, I wonder if Air Malta is the only airline to have operated from T4 throughout (except of course during the Covid closure)?
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