Miami/FL - Transatlantic NCL - Feb 2025 - Chapter 01

Chapter 01

It’s February 5th, 1:00 PM, and I’m sitting in the SEN Lounge at Düsseldorf Airport. If you read Chapter 0, you know that LX1016 to ZRH took off over three hours ago. So what am I still doing in DUS?

No, the train ride went smoothly—I even arrived early at the airport station. At 8:30 AM sharp, I was at check-in, ready to drop off my luggage. The agent at the counter asked for my ESTA, which is valid until the end of February 2025. No problem—I showed her the digital copy on my phone.

But then… she couldn’t issue my ticket. She asked a colleague for help, and I was redirected to another counter. Then came the bad news: my ESTA had been revoked and was no longer valid. No ESTA, no ticket.

Great, just one day after my root canal drama, another problem to deal with. But I stayed optimistic—I couldn’t understand why my ESTA was revoked, but since I also have Global Entry, I figured, no big deal—I’ll just apply for a new ESTA.

Most of the time, ESTA applications get approved automatically within minutes. So at 8:40 AM, I completed the payment for a new application and started refreshing the U.S. Customs website every 10 seconds.

Then the next shock: “Application under manual review.” 🤯

At that moment, I had 25 minutes until boarding, and my suitcase was still next to me. This was going to be tight. I tried to stay calm and increased my refresh rate to every five seconds. But after 15 minutes, my Authorization Pending Review status was practically burned into my retina.

Nothing changed. The flight closed, and I had no chance of making it to ZRH.

Annoyed, I headed toward Starbucks for a latte and to call the SEN hotline. While riding the long escalator upstairs, I checked my email one more time.

And there it was—an email from U.S. Customs:

🚨 “Status update for your ESTA application.”

At this point, I was a pro at refreshing, and boom—my ESTA was approved, just 60 minutes after applying.

Forget the Starbucks latte — I sprinted back to check-in. By now, it was 10:00 AM, and LX1016 was either in the air or on the runway. The check-in agent told me there was still a way to get to MIA on the same day via MUC and ORD, but he couldn’t rebook me because ESTA issues are the passenger’s responsibility. Fair enough, but since I had never received any notice that my ESTA was revoked, I had hoped for some flexibility from LH. No luck.

Calling the SEN hotline only increased my frustration. The first agent was a disaster—he gave me completely wrong information, so I just ended the call after five minutes. I was already frustrated, and I had zero patience for incompetence.

I tried again, hoping to get a competent agent this time.

And finally—light at the end of the tunnel!

The second agent knew exactly what to do and gave me several rebooking options. Unfortunately, by 10:10 AM, there was no way to reach ZRH in time for LX064, and there were no other same-day options to Miami in Business Class.

Ultimately, I was rebooked onto:

• Feb 5, 18:30 – DUS-ZRH on LX1025
• Feb 6, 12:50 – ZRH-MIA on LX64

So, my long-haul flight was delayed by a day. I’d take a 29-year-old A320 (HB-IJI) to ZRH tonight and spend the night at the Hilton Airport Zurich. My trip was back on track, but I’d arrive in Miami a day late and spend an extra night in Zurich.

Unfortunately, my favorite seat on the 777 was already taken—4A was gone, so I had to settle for 4K.

Since I had packed plenty of work for the trip (I needed something to do on all those long sea days), I decided to stay at DUS and make the most of my SEN lounge access while getting some work done. 🤣

One thing still bothered me—why was my ESTA revoked? And why was my new application manually reviewed instead of instantly approved?

To be continued…

Written on February 5th, 2025 by Thorsten Scherf travel miami ncl