Advance passenger information system (APIS)

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The governments of various countries require Finnair to collect Advance Passenger Information for passengers prior to travel and to transmit that information electronically once check-in is completed.

For passengers travelling to countries that only require the machine readable data from the passport, Finnair has made the decision to collect that data at the check-in counter, for time being, using readers to ensure that the data is correct. Should the passenger have a connecting flight on another carrier in the same booking it is however recommended to add the API data in the PNR (SSR DOCS).

For passengers travelling to countries that require additional data, the additional data shall be entered in to the PNR 48 hours prior to departure.  In order to ensure that your customers' check-in at the airport is as smooth as possible and to avoid any additional queues, you are strongly advised to ensure that this additional information has been inserted for all passengers in each booking before the day of departure.

Countries that require additional data

USA

Laws in force in the USA require Finnair, in addition to collecting data from the passport, to collect some additional information from all passengers travelling to the USA. The additional information required is: Country of Residence and Permanent Resident Card details (if applicable) as well as destination address in the USA. The first two data elements Finnair has chosen to collect at the time of check-in, but the destination address shall be inserted in the PNR.

Destination address in the USA shall be inserted in the PNR 48 hours before departure: Destination address in the USA is required for all passengers except US Citizens or holders of Permanent Resident Cards (so called Green Card).

Customers can also enter this data themselves through the Finnair website (the booking reference is required).

To enter address information in the PNR

The complete address of the first destination in the USA (private home, hotel, car rental company) shall be entered including:

  • street and house number
  • city
  • state
  • ZIP code

SR DOCA AY HK1-D-USA-1600SMITHSTREET-HOUSTON-TX-77001/P1

Below is clarification on what information should be included on the manifest for those passengers who are: (1) visiting the US; (2) joining a cruise ship; (3) picking up a rental car or; (4) those not knowing their address while in the United States:

1) Visiting the U.S., and the passenger has a known address.

Example:

Street Address: 1300 Pennsylvania Ave
City: Washington
State: D.C.
ZIP Code: 20229

2) Transit to a cruise ship: CBP will accept, “transit to Cruise Line and Vessel/Cruise Name” in the address field. The city of cruise embarkation should be included.

Example:

Street Address: Transit to MV Princess of the Seas
City: Miami
State: FL
ZIP Code: 99999

3) Rental car pickup: CBP will accept if the first night stay is NOT known, the general itinerary of the traveller. If for example the traveller will be touring, the general itinerary city, state and zip code (if known).

Example:

Street address: Touring the Grand Canyon
City: Grand Canyon
State: AZ
ZIP Code: 99999

4) Hotel: For those passengers who are destined to a hotel and do not know the street address for the hotel, CBP will accept, Hotel name (if known), City (of first night stay), State. ZIP Code should be provided if known.

Example:

Street Address: Downtown Hotel Hilton – (be as specific as possible)
City: Houston
State: Texas
ZIP Code: 99999

Several passengers with different addresses

If the reservation contains several persons and they have different addresses, the information must be entered separately for each passenger and linked to that passenger, If all passengers stay at the same address the data can be entered once as long as it is linked to all the passengers in the PNR.

In the following cases, the address is not needed:

  1. The passenger is a US citizen and holds a US passport.
  2. The passenger is travelling via the United States to another country (within 8 hours).
  3. The passenger is a US resident and has a Permanent resident card (Green Card) but no US passport (NOTE: for persons holding long-term temporary student- or employment visas the address is required).

DOCA entry is not compulsory if the passenger is a US citizen or permanent resident in the US. However, in order to avoid additional queuing messages, add

SRDOCAAYHK1-D--US CITIZEN---

If you know where the customer is in transit to, add

SRDOCAAYHK1-D--US TRANSIT TO… (destination)

Passport information is collected from the machine readable data by Finnair at the check-in counter.

PNR-access information to be given to passengers

The governments of some countries require by law that airlines give access to data collected in the passenger’s PNR for all reservations that include a flight segment to/from/via that particular country.

At the moment the following countries require PNR-data: Australia, Canada and USA. Several other countries will be included to the list within the coming  few years including most EU-countries, Japan and South Korea.

The Data Privacy Authorities of EU countries require Airlines and Travel Agents to inform passengers who want to book a flight to/from/via any of the above countries about these governments being able to view the data that is inserted in the booking. This information has to be given to the passenger prior to the reservation being confirmed. If a passenger does not agree to his/her data being shared with the relevant government the booking can not be completed.

The below information shall be given to all passengers who want to make a booking to/from/via Australia, Canada and USA

Short notice for phone sales or tickets (to be read to passengers)

"Applicable laws require that your personal information that is inserted in the booking will be made available to competent authorities in the country that you are flying to/from/via."

Further information on PNR-access, including FAQs is available at www.finnair.com.