Traveling to the United States
Traveling to the United States involves a different set of rules than when flying to other destinations. One example is that since 2005, airlines have been required to collect supplementary personal information from passengers traveling to the United States. This page provides up-to-date information about the latest rules.
On this page:
Passport
All travelers to the United States must have a passport that can be scanned mechanically. Babies and children must also have their own passport; they can no longer travel on a parent’s passport.
Additional information
When checking in for your flight to the United States, you are required to provide the following information:
- Country where you reside
- Country that issued your passport
- Expiration date of your passport
- If you do not reside in the United States, you have to give a temporary address at which you will be staying. This address must include the house number, street, town/city, abbreviation for the state, and the zip code.
These rules also apply to passengers traveling with other travel documents such as a Permanent Resident Card or an Alien Resident Card.
Check-in
The supplementary personal information has to be provided during the check-in procedure. This can lead to a longer wait in line. If you have an e-ticket, you can use Internet check-in to save time by filling in this information yourself. Internet check-in for flights from Amsterdam to the United States is available from 24 hours to 1 hour before departure time. Internet check-in is also available to passengers traveling on flights operated by Northwest Airlines that depart from Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, London Gatwick and Paris-Charles de Gaulle for destinations in the United States.
If you are traveling to the United States but you do not have an e-ticket number, you cannot make use of Internet check-in. To avoid having to fill in all the information during check-in at the airport, you can download the form here, print it out and fill it in ahead of time. This will save you time during check-in at the airport.